EP136: The Power of Organ Meats on Health with James Barry

In this episode, Sachin interviews chef James Barry about his career as a personal chef to celebrities, how James became interested in organ meats, what inspired him to formulate an organ meat supplement called Pluck, and his passion for eating the whole animal as our ancestors did. James shares some research on the nutritional density of organ meats. Sachin tells how he broke his meat fast to try Pluck so he would be able to endorse it with integrity.

 

Listen in for ancestral knowledge about eating for your biological needs.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:02] Sachin introduces James Barry, a chef, and the Founder of Pluck, a company that makes organ meat-based seasoning. James had talked about Pluck on the stage at Mindshare where he pitched the idea to Joe Polish in a mock Shark Tank.

 

[2:15] James has found a way to make the delivery of organ meats simple and tasty for anyone. Sachin had lunch with James at Genius Network and they had a fascinating conversation they wish they had recorded! They will try to replicate and extend that conversation in this episode.

 

[2:40] Sachin welcomes James Barry to Perfect Practice.

 

[2:51] James Barry has been a celebrity personal chef for over 20 years. He names some of his clients.

 

[4:25] There was no blueprint for how to be a celebrity chef when James started. When he began, he found a private chef who mentored him. James has mentored many chefs since.

 

[5:22] Most who hire a private chef do so because they value their appearance and their time. Many of us don’t value our precious time. Outsource things that are not your specialty.

 

[6:17] A lot of celebrities are just following the trend. They talk about the most popular book. When James first got out of culinary school the trend was the fat flush diet.

 

[6:38] James learned he had to understand the trending diet, not only by reading but also by working on the recipes to be very good at them. If a celebrity has a nutritionist, you need to execute that nutritionist’s instructions or already know that diet to work with them.

 

[7:11] James had also studied nutrition. When he cooked for celebrities, they only wanted to eat what he cooked for them. Everything was from scratch. He used Whole Foods. He didn’t use anything that was ultra-processed. He focused on clean eating and fairly low-carb.

 

[8:37] James describes celebrities as human beings with extraordinary attention focused on them, more money and resources, but just normal human beings. James treated them like regular people. He didn’t try to become their best friend. He focused on fulfilling his role, honoring their environment and privacy.

 

[9:50] James thinks that sometimes a celebrity’s “why” is a lot clearer. They know why they want to be healthy and mindful of what they put in their mouths. If you have a $300 million movie you are performing in and want to perform at your top, that’s a lot of pressure.

 

[11:17] James has always strived to support people where they are. He learned the culinary arts to help people. Humans are inconsistent and gravitate toward comfort foods. He wanted to improve the foods people were eating.

 

[12:01] James has researched organ meats and calls them the most nutritionally dense foods on the planet. He wondered how to get over the hurdles that people had, eating them. They struggle with the taste, sourcing, how to cook them, and what to do with them.

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