April 1, 2025 • 34 mins
Episode Description:
“I want to create a world of mindful foodies. I don't see this as a little project. I see this as something big.” —Janet Irizarry
Every bite we take is a vote for the planet's future, and our children are the most powerful voters we have. By modeling mindful eating to them, we can transform how future generations understand and respect the journey of their food.
Janet Irizarry is a culinary innovator and passionate educator who has dedicated her professional life to reshaping how families approach food sustainability. As an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America and founder of The MMK Method, she bridges culinary expertise with environmental consciousness.
Listen as Justine and Janet unpack the secrets of reducing household food waste, creative strategies for involving kids in mindful eating, insights about food storage and preservation, the profound environmental impact of conscious consumption, and practical, joy-filled approaches to transforming kitchen habits that benefit both families and the planet.
Meet Janet:
Janet Irizarry, M.Ed, is the founder of the My Mindful Kitchen (MMK) Method, a program dedicated to fostering mindful eating, sustainability, and well-being. With a Master’s in Education from Arizona State University and extensive experience in teaching, instructional design, and hospitality, she develops impactful courses at The Culinary Institute of America and advocates for food sustainability as Editor of Hudson Valley EATS. Passionate about reducing food waste, Janet collaborates with initiatives like Food Waste Prevention Week and inspires positive change through education, community engagement, and her innovative MMK Method.
Connect with NextGen Purpose:
Episode Highlights:
03:26 Raising the Next Generation of Mindful Foodies
05:44 The MMK Method
10:52 Practical Tips for Reducing Food Waste
15:57 The Role of Mindfulness and Family Involvement
26:23 The Impact of the MMK Method
31:55 Creating at Home Change
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justine Reichman: (00:02):
Good morning, and welcome to Essential
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Janet Irizarry. She is theFounder and CEO of The MMK
Method. The MMK Method focuseslargely on creating food
supporting food waste so thatthere isn't any at a consumer
(00:23):
level. It's very meaningful to alot of us here, and we're
excited to hear from you aboutThe MMK Method. What inspires
you, and what what kinds ofchange you hope to inspire? So
with that, Janet, if you couldjust please tell us what
inspired you to start The MMKMethod?
Janet Irizarry: (00:43):
First of all, thank you, Justine, for having
me, because I love to talk aboutThe MMK Method. I developed it,
but it's been a process becauseI've always been environmentally
conscious. And from the age ofsecond grade, I always knew that
I want to leave the planeteither as it was then or better
(01:04):
than it was. And it's taken meyears to put this all together,
but my focus on is really doingwhat I think I can do, and
putting my passions together.And that is helping families
reduce household food waste, andeducating our kids because they
are the future. Andunfortunately, just the way of
(01:28):
the world of busy schedules andthe world of abundance they've
grown up in, they might not havethe respect for food. I don't
even want to say that, becausethat sounds kind of harsh,
because that's what my MyMindful Kitchen is. It's about
looking at things where youdon't have to be perfect or
obligated. We're looking atthings in a positive aspect, so
(01:49):
no fault of the kids. They'rejust living the lives we're
living, food and family sittingaround the table and just
talking about food and where itcomes from. It's kind of a
little bit felt fallen by thewayside. And so if kids learn
about food at an early age, theywill just automatically do
(02:12):
better, and dare I say this,than we have.
Justine Reichman: (02:16):
Right. I think it's true because kids are
curious, right? Kids want toknow. They're always asking,
why? But why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? You can say anything.
We have to go now. But why? Eatthis apple versus that apple.
But why? So exactly. If we goback to that, and we remember
(02:40):
that these kids are curious,more curious than many adults
these days, right? It's who theyare at a young age. By answering
some of those questions andgiving them the guidance,
there's a potential opportunityto give them the tools, the
information, the education, andmake it more part and integral
(03:01):
to their life. So that as theycontinue, it's going to be part
of their core value system. Soreally, when I think about what
you're doing, it's reallyincorporating those values at a
young age. They are part of thechildren and as they grow up,
it's just natural. It's notsomething you have to think
(03:23):
about. It's not something youhave that you're forced to do.
It's something that's becomeingrained.
Janet Irizarry: (03:30):
You're spot on. And a few comments to that is,
first of all, I am an instructorat the Culinary Institute of
America in Hyde Park, and Iteach hospitality. That's one of
the first classes the studentsget when they come into is like
(03:50):
the introduction to the CIA.Most of the students coming in
just think hospitality is arestaurant business or hotels,
but it's also the concept ofhospitality. I'm seeing the
students as they're first comingin from high school, and it's
(04:11):
amazing to me that they haven'tlearned more about
sustainability. And it's notreally amazing to me because I
understand it, because as I hadjust said about they've grown up
in a world of abundance, andthey've never been educated on
things where their food comesfrom, and all the resources it
takes to get to their table. Andif they had just learned a
(04:31):
little bit more about that, itwould be a whole different
story. And I always talk aboutmy grandson. I've told the story
so many times. He's 6. Must havebeen last year so he's probably
5 at the time. I was at hishouse, and his mom had ordered
Peapod, which is a deliveryservice of food. He walked out
(04:54):
on the front step and he saw himcoming. He goes, thank you,
universe. It just a perfectexample how kids don't even
understand where their foodcomes from, or the money it
takes, the hard work theirparents have put in so they have
the money to provide for them.So part of the method is
(05:16):
teaching and educating, andbringing those conversations
into the home so that it'sawareness, it's simple awareness
that can just change habits soeasily.
Justine Reichman: (05:28):
What role does educating the parents come
into within this method? Becausethere are a lot of parents
that's not passing judgment,just may not be aware. Or may
not have the knowledge to share,but want to be able to share it
(05:50):
and talk about it so that theycan create positive change. Is
that integral to your method?
Janet Irizarry: (05:57):
The method is, actually, I've put it into a
course. The course is formodules, and it starts by
building awareness. And then thenext three modules are all about
the things you can do instrategies. It's really simple.
If you want to know more abouthow the course works, I'm happy
to talk about it. But it doesinclude getting the kids
(06:20):
involved, and what I calldiscussion starters. First of
all, if you want to reduce yourwaste, and there's many reasons
to reduce your waste besidesjust environmentally correct,
where I think many people fallshort. They don't understand the
(06:41):
significance of food waste. Andfor anyone who's listening,
basically, it is one of themajor contributors to climate
change because it putsgreenhouse gasses into the air
when it's at the landfill. Andhousehold food waste is the
number one contributor to allthe food in our landfill that's
(07:03):
why it's so important to beaware, and reduce your food
waste. On the other side is theeconomic reasons. As an ex
restaurant owner, I can tellyou, throwing out food is like
throwing out money. In thecourse, to point out that it's
(07:26):
fun too. Because I like to say,that high you get when you get
to the bottom of your laundry asyou're folding it and you find
that all the socks match, thatyou don't have any leftovers.
Justine Reichman: (07:40):
Very exciting times.
Janet Irizarry: (07:42):
That's the same feeling you get when you go into
your refrigerator and find thatbroccoli that you might push it
aside three weeks ago, and it'sas good as it was when the day
you bought it. So there's joyand happiness in that, versus
pulling out that broccoli andlooking and saying, oh, what did
I do? Throw it out. Not only isit disgusting, it can't be used.
(08:05):
If you think about it, you'rethrowing out your money too.
I'll tell you a funny story.When I did a food waste
challenge in my local area acouple years ago, I had 80
families together, and that wasjust highlighting something. It
was part of another initiative Iwas doing. We went through it
(08:26):
six weeks altogether, and what Ifound was afterwards is it was
just simple awareness thatchanged habits and people were
like having those aha moments.But besides that, it's the small
changes that can be made thatmake the difference. But in my
head, I kept on saying, I needto put this out to more people.
(08:49):
It makes so much sense. It's soeasy. So I was developing this
course and I was calling it, Ihad two names for it. Didn't
know which one I was going touse, the food waste project, the
family food waste project, orthe family food waste challenge.
And then something just wasn'tfeeling right. I'm like,
families another project, achallenge? No. And as someone
(09:12):
who's very mindful inspirituality and bringing that
into my home, I was like, wow,that's all it takes.
Mindfulness. So the whole methodis really centered around
mindfulness and being positive,and working on something
together as a family that'sgood, that brings in those
conversations and teaches thoselessons.
Justine Reichman: (09:35):
That makes perfect sense to me. What comes
to mind is that I know that itcan be overwhelming when you
feel like you need to doeverything. Oh, my God, I need
to do this. And I need to dothat. So what's the best way to
break that down so that you canfeel like you're having an
impact and you're being mindfulof food waste in your home,
(09:56):
maybe even thinking about therole of upcycling or something
so that you feel like you'rebeing successful and not falling
short because you make onemistake.
Janet Irizarry: (10:06):
Well, we point out at the very beginning of the
method, this is not aboutfeeling obligated or perfect.
It's about having fun with it,and going at your own pace in
the way that feels good to you.And I love the fact that you
brought up upcycling. Becausethe people who are going through
the course right now, most ofthem have no idea what that word
(10:26):
actually is, and so we bringthat to mind. We talk about it
in a way that is easy tounderstand, and has you thinking
more about your food. And why amI bind beats? I cut off the bowl
and throw the stem and leavesaway. I could be doing something
(10:49):
with those, and that's bringingthose words in and having them
understand them. I know you aretotally in that space where
you're always reading articles,and that's commonplace for you.
But most people, the wordupcycling is totally foreign to
them. So just by educating isbringing awareness and changing
Justine Reichman: (11:14):
And I think the other thing that I think of,
habits.
you have the food waste becausewe use parts of vegetables and
all sorts of things. So beingable to be creative to make
those recipes and have fun withthat, look online on what can
you make with this, a fun way todo that, and incorporate the
(11:34):
whole family if you're cooking.The other thing that I often
think about is if you have abowl of fruit and you put all
the fruit next to each other,some of it gets ripe faster
because it's next to anotherkind of fruit. You put some in
the fridge, and there's beenconversations about different
ways to store your fruits,vegetables and your bread to
(11:58):
make sure that they can have alonger life. What role does that
play in for you? Are peoplefamiliar with this?
Janet Irizarry: (12:06):
No. I have someone going through the course
right now with, I swear to you,10 minutes ago, someone wrote to
me and she said, I had no ideaabout the ethylene effect. How
come I didn't know? Because wetalk about that. So we talk
about things like first in,first out. We talk about the
ethylene effect. We talk aboutyour refrigerator and how to
(12:27):
store things properly formaximum food life. And it's
really fun. We do it in a reallyfun, easy way. Because once
again, hey, listen, I threw outsomething today. I felt horrible
about it. I'm not perfect. I didit. You do the best you can, but
that's a big part of it, andjust learning that. So we have
(12:49):
actually an activity that wetalk about the ethylene effect.
And then we suggest that whenyou come home from the grocery
store, you have two differentstickers, and you have your
children put stickers on thefruits and vegetables that
produce a lot of ethylene, andthen another sticker, like two
(13:09):
different colors, so it getsingrained in their brain, as
well as the mom realizing thisfor the first time. Because once
you start doing it, it justcomes naturally. And after a
little while, you won't have toput stickers on your fruits and
vegetables. You'll just say, oh,look, this doesn't go with that.
That doesn't go with this.
Justine Reichman: (13:29):
But it's so fun. So for those listening that
are not familiar with theethylene effect, could you maybe
just go into that a little bitfor those folks so that they're
on the same page with us.
Janet Irizarry: (13:41):
As you said, some are ethylene sensitive, and
some are ethylene producing. Sobasically, if you put the
sensitive with the ones that areproducing together, the ones
that are as ethylene sensitiveare going to go bad.
Justine Reichman: (13:57):
If you are going to recommend or give
people a couple tools that theycould use to make this process a
little bit easier for themselvesand fun to start being mindful
(14:23):
of this, what are the three topthings that you might recommend?
Janet Irizarry: (14:28):
About storage and keeping food fresh? First of
all, knowing what you have beingorganized in all your storage
areas. Because if you don't knowwhat you have, there's a chance
you're going to over buy it. Andso therefore, that leads to
waste. Or the other thing is therefrigerator. Using the
(14:49):
refrigerator is a tool to keepthe foods fresher longer.
Because believe it or not, therefrigerator has different
sections on the refrigerator,and they're built to keep your
food. Like the crisper drawer,there's sort of foods you should
put in the crisper. There'sother foods that don't belong in
(15:10):
it. Some needs humidity, somedon't need the humidity. The
doors of your refrigerator,those should be left for
condiments where that don'treally need to be kept at a
certain temperature all thetime. They're a little bit more
susceptible or unsusceptible, Iguess that would be the word, to
(15:30):
going bad. The other thing isexpiration dates. We talk about
that, which is a big, big topicin the food waste space. I
actually had someone who wasgoing through the course who I
personally know, and she goes,this course is great. I'm going
to go into my pantry andcabinet. I'm going to throw away
all the food that's outdated. Iwas like, no, don't do that yet.
(15:54):
We're going to talk about that.Expiration dates are really
subjective, and so using yoursenses to know if something's
good or bad is really important.Learning about not just
(16:15):
accepting that expiration datesare subjective. I tell a story
that a few weeks ago, I found alog of mozzarella cheese that
had expired a month before. Itwas fresh mozzarella, and I
opened it up, smelled it, lookedat it, touched it, tasted it. It
(16:38):
was fine. But most people,they've seen the expiration date
and goes, done.
Justine Reichman: (16:46):
How do you explain that to a kid? If you
want your kid to be able to beempowered, to go in the
refrigerator and feel safe, youwant to give your kid something
fresh, how can you teach them tomake those the right choices?
Janet Irizarry: (17:03):
Well, by going through this course and knowing
how to store food properly,you're not going to have that
problem. You're going to not behaving old food in your
refrigerator. You're going to bemaking sure you use it up. The
other thing is using what youhave and loving your leftovers.
(17:23):
I don't know how you feel aboutleftovers.
Justine Reichman: (17:25):
I think about the holidays, I love leftovers.
On the holidays, I love invitingpeople over and making a beef
meal and then having thoseleftovers. Don't like the
leftovers when I'm just cookingfor myself. That's not as
interesting because I don't putas much into it because I don't
have anybody sitting theretelling me, wow, this is so
(17:46):
funny. I just have the same highfor that.
Janet Irizarry: (17:53):
I hear what you're saying. When you cook for
a lot of people, you cook with alot of love. But when you cook
for yourself, you don't cook forlove. You gotta change that
Justine.
Justine Reichman: (18:04):
I am. But I'll make a steak and broccoli
for myself, and I'll eat it.Maybe there'll be a little piece
of steak, and I'll eat that thenext day. But when I cook for
people, I cook with abundance,and I cook to have a variety of
things. So therefore, when I goto the refrigerator, it's not
just eating the same thing overand over. There's all these
(18:25):
different things to choose frombecause it's my love language,
if you will, that I cook. And Icook with abundance because I
want to make sure everybody'sgot something to eat, or it's a
little bit of everything. And Iknow myself. I cook for myself.
I make a steak and a broccoli,and that's fine. The steak the
(18:46):
next day is amazing. I like goodcold steak.
Janet Irizarry: (18:48):
Yeah. So the other day, my husband said he
was in the mood for chili so hemade this wonderful chili, and
Justine Reichman: (18:53):
What a deal.
we had it for dinner the nextnight. The night after we had it
on nachos. I waited because Ican't eat leftovers three days
in a row. I do have to skip aday, and my husband was actually
disappointed that we didn't haveit the next day. But the day
(19:14):
after, I made it into like awrap. So I put the chili, I made
some rice, we put it in, and wedid like a burrito kind of thing
with it. So getting creative andchanging up the flavor so it's
not the same. When I made theburritos, I added some other
seasonings in it to make it alittle bit more Mexican. I put
(19:37):
avocado on it and whatever. Andto me, that's the same thing.
You just get a joy out of itbecause you've changed it,
you've saved money. You feellike, whoa. It's like that sock
example. When you go toMarshalls and you find this
designer top that is marked downfrom 150 to $20 and it's in your
(19:59):
size, and when people say, oh, Ilove what you're wearing. You
say, I got this for $20.
Janet Irizarry: (20:12):
That's the feeling you get when you do
that. And I do have peoplecalling me saying, you're not
going to believe what I just didwith my stale bread.
Justine Reichman: (20:21):
Question for you. So for those folks that
maybe aren't in your area or notnear CIA to take this class.
Janet Irizarry: (20:28):
It's online.
Justine Reichman: (20:29):
Online. Oh, my gosh. So everybody's got
access to this. It's not justmeant for people building
restaurants, it's meant forpeople that want to change, make
a change in their home withtheir families.
Janet Irizarry: (20:43):
That's what it is. It's for the consumer, and
I'll tell you a little bit aboutit. I made it as easy as I
could, and as short as I could.And so, how it gets delivered?
The course gets delivered via anemail drip sequence. If you sign
(21:04):
up for the course, three times aweek, it gets delivered right to
your inbox. And there's no needto sign into a course because
you just click the link and itgoes to the lesson. The lesson
has a short, two to six minutevideo talking of the topic. I
have this wonderful mom whoexplains the topic in a way
(21:26):
that's fun and easy tocomprehend. And she has a little
bit of humor. It might be dryhumor, but she has humor
nevertheless just alone watchingthe videos. In every lesson,
there's 30 lessons total. It's atakes 10 weeks because you're
doing three a week. And so shemakes it easy. If you just watch
(21:46):
the videos, you're going tochange. But if you want, there's
additional resources to get thekids involved. There is a short
video on how food gets from thefarm to the table. There's a
video on food miles, theresources used. So there's games
to play, there's activities todo, there's discussion starters.
(22:06):
It really can fit easily intosomeone's schedule. They're
waiting for them, their child topick them up at the bus, and
they can just click on it, watchthe video, and then decide where
to go from there.
Justine Reichman: (22:21):
It sounds like it's really accessible.
Because I know that if youlisten to podcasts, or you have
a choice between a 20 minute andan hour and a half one, it's
hard to schedule time for thehour and a half one, but somehow
we find 20 minutes is easier. Soyour two to six minute videos
are very doable. You could be ona treadmill. You could be
walking the dog. And I thinkthat sort of inspires change.
(22:48):
I'm curious, with all thesevideos and with the education
and the community that you'vebuilt, can you share some of the
greatest changes that have beenreported to you by the people
that have taken the course?
Janet Irizarry: (23:00):
Well, first of all, I have to let you know that
the course as it stands rightnow is just being launched. The
people are taking it are betatesters and telling me how good
it is, and making sure it's allokay for everyone. But the
reactions are amazing. I justtold you, someone just wrote to
me and said, oh, I never knewabout the ethylene effect. When
(23:23):
I did it with the families a fewyears ago, they were just seeing
that, you know what? If we'retalking about that kids mommy
moments where, mommy, I wantthis, can I have this blah blah,
blah got reduced because kidsnow understand why mommy's
saying NO to certain things. Yougo to the grocery store and,
(23:44):
mommy, we need these. We alreadyhave apples. We have green
apples at home. We gotta finishthose first. But I want the red
ones. Well, remember that we'dbe just throwing them out unless
you can figure out what to dowith the green apples, then
we'll buy the red apples nexttime. We gotta finish those up.,
The kid goes, I get it. It's notsuch a fight.
Justine Reichman: (24:06):
As you're saying this, what I'm thinking
about is the fruits andvegetables. They grow, they're
living kind of thing. And so ifyou think about it, you want to
eat things while they're living,while they're fresh, before they
die. So is that part of theconversation?
Janet Irizarry: (24:24):
It is. It's about buying local a lot. That's
what mainly it is. How it'sfresher. It hasn't gone as far
so it's going to taste better,it's going to be cheaper. It
hasn't used as much resources,the gasoline. So that's part of
one of the videos we talk about.Two of the videos actually
address both of them. Butthey're, once again, five minute
(24:44):
short videos that are kidfriendlies, and they just have
to understand and know that. Andthat just makes a world of
difference.
Justine Reichman: (24:53):
That was kind of why I was talking about the
living versus the death. I don'tknow if this is accurate or not.
Janet Irizarry: (24:59):
It's an interesting one. I haven't heard
But I'm imagining that whenyou're explaining to children,
and you explain to them, we wantto eat this before it dies.
That's a concept they can grasp.And if you think about it like
that, you don't want somethingto die. You want to eat it while
it's still fresh and good.Because if it dies, well, then
(25:21):
it's wasted. But that's adifferent narrative.
that one, but it definitely isworth the conversation.
Justine Reichman: (25:31):
Yeah, I don't know. I was just throwing it out
to you.
Janet Irizarry: (25:37):
Yeah. I guess in my world with My Mindful
Kitchen, we try and touch onthings very gingerly and
positive. Bringing in somethingdying might be a little
negative, though I found thatthere's always ways to tweak
(25:57):
words to make them fit. But onceagain, as you point out, it's
much more important for them tograsp the concept.
Justine Reichman: (26:06):
That's where I was going with that, grasp
that concept. You could say,look, this is fresh. We just
picked it ourselves. But theminute you pick it, it's not
going to grow anymore. It mightbe premature, it might be
perfect, whatever it is, but youwant to only pick the things
that you're going to eat beforethey go bad.
Janet Irizarry: (26:33):
And the other thing is when they learn the
resources, they see that thefood's being planted and then
who's tending to it, then how ithas to travel and all those
things. I just thought, thankyou universe. It landed on my
front step. I never thoughtabout it that, oh, my goodness,
all these people have worked. Idon't know if you've ever seen
(26:56):
them. I know if it's out there,it's called the Life As A
Strawberry. It was this littlevideo, and I think you still can
find it. I forgot who did it,but it was a like a strawberry.
I was saying that at the farm,it's planted. The strawberries
grow. The farmers tend to it.They water it, they pick them,
they bring them aside to thebarn. They sort them, they haul
(27:19):
them by truck to the factorywhere they get put in the
clamshell, and then they broughtto the supermarket, and they get
to the supermarket and put onthe shelves. And when strawberry
falls in love with the line,that's just a little part of the
story. And also the family comesthrough, and the little girl
(27:40):
goes, mommy, I wantstrawberries. Can we get
strawberries? And the mothergoes first, no, we have enough
stuff in the house. We don'tneed it. And then, of course,
the little girl says, please,mommy. The mommy buys the
strawberries. Cut to three weekslater at the person's home,
season back, that container withmoldy strawberries and they're
(28:04):
thrown out. And it's just aperfect example of showing
everything that happens, andwhat a waste it is when we throw
out food. Once again, there'sjust so many levels of this
because it's not only all theresources, it's also the people
who need food. It's just sowrong of us to be throwing
(28:25):
things out when there's peoplewho don't have enough to eat,
and those conversations willcome into line as kids gain an
awareness on food.
Justine Reichman: (28:37):
So as you're building out this, you're
launching this beta program,this beta class, and you're
speaking with the families, ofthe moms so that they can
inspire conversations with thekids. And it's new right now.
But if you're thinking down theroad, what are you hoping to
achieve by kicking this off andinspiring that change? What's
(28:59):
the biggest change? What changecan you hope for, or do you
strive for?
Janet Irizarry: (29:02):
It has to come naturally to people. I want to
create a world of MindfulFoodies. I don't see this as a
little project. I see this assomething big. It's easy to do.
And I think what makes it sounique is, once again, as I
said, there's food wastechallenges out there. Everyone's
(29:23):
trying to do communityinitiatives, but they're so
hard. They're not somethingpeople want to invest with their
time or realize that it's notgoing to make them feel as good
as going being mindful becausepeople who follow mindful
practices, they do it because itmakes them align with their
values. And I think you broughtit up at the very beginning of
(29:46):
this conversation. I cannotthink of one value. I believe
we're all born with good values.We want to be kind. We want
gratitude, appreciation. There'snot one value that we can't
learn through respecting ourfood. I think it can be fun.
Let's not make this thing wehave to do. If the power is in
(30:11):
our own kitchens, we don't haveto wait for policies to be
passed. We don't have to waitfor infrastructures to be
passed. Oh, I hear they're goingto be doing recycling, or blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, we can'twait. The problem is now. It's
so evident with the weatherevents we've had, the
(30:33):
hurricanes, the fires, climatechange is real. And instead of
feeling helpless and saying,what can I do? I feel so bad.
You can't change the past, butyou can start today by creating
a brighter future. It's easy,fun and it's positive. What I
wish is people just see the funand joy of treating food with
(30:57):
respect, and becoming MindfulFoodies.
Justine Reichman: (31:00):
As they have these conversations, and as you
start to create a movement, ifyou could quantify it, what
would positive change look likeon people's wellness and the
planet down the road? What kindof change do you hope this
(31:23):
inspires?
Janet Irizarry: (31:24):
Well, there is economic change. More money for
households and families, andjust in general. Globally,
methane emissions being reducedsignificantly. So when kids go
out into the world and they'redoing jobs, they will create the
(31:46):
policies or treat fooddifferently, and not just throw
it out. They understand what'shappening. So I might have
gotten off track a little bit.But the bottom line is we're
going to make a healthierplanet. We are going to be more
in line with our values, goodvalues. I want food and family
(32:14):
to be back to enjoying it, andnot have the kitchen such a
scary place because everyone'sbeing so rushed. Because if you
ask me, one of the majorbenefits of being a mindful
foodie is having things in itsplace, and being able to spend
less time in the kitchen becauseyou're not running out to the
(32:36):
store for this and that. So it'soverall well being. And also to
your point is by making healthyfood choices. It's not just for
a physical body, but we canteach our kids about it. It's a
way of talking about healthyeating. One of the games that
these kids can play when they goto the grocery store is to
(32:56):
compare labels, try and read theingredients and find out which
box of cereal is healthier thanthe other. I say, once a mindful
foodie, always a mindful foodie.I just want to make a world of
Mindful Foodies.
Justine Reichman: (33:12):
Okay, we're going to build a movement of
Mindful Foodies. We have a lotof founders. We have a lot of
people on that listen and watchthe video that are inspired to
just create change in the home,so everybody's interested, and
our goal is really to inspire,engage and empower. If we could
(33:37):
just bullet out list out threethings that somebody could do to
create change in their houseamong their families, what would
they be?
Janet Irizarry: (33:47):
To have conversation with the family of
where food comes from.
Justine Reichman: (33:52):
That's one. What's two?
Janet Irizarry: (33:55):
Two is appreciate what you have, and
look at food beyond nourishment.Look at the effect by not
wasting and preventing foodwaste, you have on the rest of
the world.
Justine Reichman: (34:11):
And what's three?
Janet Irizarry: (34:13):
Three is to work together as a family to do
something good. There's just somuch negativity in the world
when you can work on such a bigchore as mitigating climate
change or fighting inflation.When you work together, there's
a power in that. And so it'sconversation, conversation,
(34:38):
conversation, and have fun withit. Just have fun.
Justine Reichman: (34:43):
I really appreciate you sharing that. One
thing I'll just add from myperspective that I also really
appreciate is the idea that. Itbrings family back around the
table, and it fostersconversation, connection,
collaboration, education. And itcan become something that we
talk about over dinner meals atthe table have become a bit of a
(35:05):
lost art. Everybody's so busy,everyone's eating a different
time. So when I think about it,I think about, okay, well, can
we carve out the time to havethe meal with our family? Can we
carve out the time to even cookwith our kids and make that part
of the activity? And then evenshopping. As you were sitting
(35:26):
here talking, I got inspired. Iwas like, well, I wonder if
there's an app where we take apicture of our refrigerator, we
see what's in there, and then wecross reference it with our list
so we don't double buy. I don'tknow if that exists, but that's
what you inspired me to thinkabout.
Janet Irizarry: (35:42):
We have the tools for you, because we're
going to give you a list so youcan have inventory before you
go. So just quickly, theawareness module. Then the
second one is about plan, aboutorganizing your house or your
kitchen area. Second is aboutstoring food properly. The third
module is all about planning andshopping. And the fourth module
(36:07):
is about mindful cooking, ormaking your kitchen more
mindful. We don't teach cooking,that's not what it is. We teach
the mindset. And so all of whatyou said is right on the money,
and we give you the tools to doit. You have Margot who is the
mom in the videos to cheer youon, and make it sound like fun.
(36:31):
Any reason that you might not bedoing it right now, it's not
about feeling guilty. It's aboutsaying you're totally normal,
but let's get through thistogether. And it's not as bad as
you seem.
Justine Reichman: (36:43):
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me
today. I want to thank ourguests for tuning in, whether
they're listening on to thepodcast or watching the
videocast. Don't forget, youcould do both. Our videocast is
on YouTube. Our podcast isanywhere you listen to podcasts
(37:03):
at Essential Ingredients. Andagain, if you're want to get
some clips for upcoming episodesor see what's coming down the
pipeline, don't forget to tunein and follow us at link on
Instagram@essential.ingredients. Look
forward to seeing you here againnext week. Thanks again, Janet.
Janet Irizarry: (37:19):
Thank you for having me. It was great.
Good morning, and welcome to Essential
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Janet Irizarry. She is theFounder and CEO of The MMK
Method. The MMK Method focuseslargely on creating food
supporting food waste so thatthere isn't any at a consumer
(00:23):
level. It's very meaningful to alot of us here, and we're
excited to hear from you aboutThe MMK Method. What inspires
you, and what what kinds ofchange you hope to inspire? So
with that, Janet, if you couldjust please tell us what
inspired you to start The MMKMethod?
Janet Irizarry: (00:43):
First of all, thank you, Justine, for having
me, because I love to talk aboutThe MMK Method. I developed it,
but it's been a process becauseI've always been environmentally
conscious. And from the age ofsecond grade, I always knew that
I want to leave the planeteither as it was then or better
(01:04):
than it was. And it's taken meyears to put this all together,
but my focus on is really doingwhat I think I can do, and
putting my passions together.And that is helping families
reduce household food waste, andeducating our kids because they
are the future. Andunfortunately, just the way of
(01:28):
the world of busy schedules andthe world of abundance they've
grown up in, they might not havethe respect for food. I don't
even want to say that, becausethat sounds kind of harsh,
because that's what my MyMindful Kitchen is. It's about
looking at things where youdon't have to be perfect or
obligated. We're looking atthings in a positive aspect, so
(01:49):
no fault of the kids. They'rejust living the lives we're
living, food and family sittingaround the table and just
talking about food and where itcomes from. It's kind of a
little bit felt fallen by thewayside. And so if kids learn
about food at an early age, theywill just automatically do
(02:12):
better, and dare I say this,than we have.
Justine Reichman: (02:16):
Right. I think it's true because kids are
curious, right? Kids want toknow. They're always asking,
why? But why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? You can say anything.
We have to go now. But why? Eatthis apple versus that apple.
But why? So exactly. If we goback to that, and we remember
(02:40):
that these kids are curious,more curious than many adults
these days, right? It's who theyare at a young age. By answering
some of those questions andgiving them the guidance,
there's a potential opportunityto give them the tools, the
information, the education, andmake it more part and integral
(03:01):
to their life. So that as theycontinue, it's going to be part
of their core value system. Soreally, when I think about what
you're doing, it's reallyincorporating those values at a
young age. They are part of thechildren and as they grow up,
it's just natural. It's notsomething you have to think
(03:23):
about. It's not something youhave that you're forced to do.
It's something that's becomeingrained.
Janet Irizarry: (03:30):
You're spot on. And a few comments to that is,
first of all, I am an instructorat the Culinary Institute of
America in Hyde Park, and Iteach hospitality. That's one of
the first classes the studentsget when they come into is like
(03:50):
the introduction to the CIA.Most of the students coming in
just think hospitality is arestaurant business or hotels,
but it's also the concept ofhospitality. I'm seeing the
students as they're first comingin from high school, and it's
(04:11):
amazing to me that they haven'tlearned more about
sustainability. And it's notreally amazing to me because I
understand it, because as I hadjust said about they've grown up
in a world of abundance, andthey've never been educated on
things where their food comesfrom, and all the resources it
takes to get to their table. Andif they had just learned a
(04:31):
little bit more about that, itwould be a whole different
story. And I always talk aboutmy grandson. I've told the story
so many times. He's 6. Must havebeen last year so he's probably
5 at the time. I was at hishouse, and his mom had ordered
Peapod, which is a deliveryservice of food. He walked out
(04:54):
on the front step and he saw himcoming. He goes, thank you,
universe. It just a perfectexample how kids don't even
understand where their foodcomes from, or the money it
takes, the hard work theirparents have put in so they have
the money to provide for them.So part of the method is
(05:16):
teaching and educating, andbringing those conversations
into the home so that it'sawareness, it's simple awareness
that can just change habits soeasily.
Justine Reichman: (05:28):
What role does educating the parents come
into within this method? Becausethere are a lot of parents
that's not passing judgment,just may not be aware. Or may
not have the knowledge to share,but want to be able to share it
(05:50):
and talk about it so that theycan create positive change. Is
that integral to your method?
Janet Irizarry: (05:57):
The method is, actually, I've put it into a
course. The course is formodules, and it starts by
building awareness. And then thenext three modules are all about
the things you can do instrategies. It's really simple.
If you want to know more abouthow the course works, I'm happy
to talk about it. But it doesinclude getting the kids
(06:20):
involved, and what I calldiscussion starters. First of
all, if you want to reduce yourwaste, and there's many reasons
to reduce your waste besidesjust environmentally correct,
where I think many people fallshort. They don't understand the
(06:41):
significance of food waste. Andfor anyone who's listening,
basically, it is one of themajor contributors to climate
change because it putsgreenhouse gasses into the air
when it's at the landfill. Andhousehold food waste is the
number one contributor to allthe food in our landfill that's
(07:03):
why it's so important to beaware, and reduce your food
waste. On the other side is theeconomic reasons. As an ex
restaurant owner, I can tellyou, throwing out food is like
throwing out money. In thecourse, to point out that it's
(07:26):
fun too. Because I like to say,that high you get when you get
to the bottom of your laundry asyou're folding it and you find
that all the socks match, thatyou don't have any leftovers.
Justine Reichman: (07:40):
Very exciting times.
Janet Irizarry: (07:42):
That's the same feeling you get when you go into
your refrigerator and find thatbroccoli that you might push it
aside three weeks ago, and it'sas good as it was when the day
you bought it. So there's joyand happiness in that, versus
pulling out that broccoli andlooking and saying, oh, what did
I do? Throw it out. Not only isit disgusting, it can't be used.
(08:05):
If you think about it, you'rethrowing out your money too.
I'll tell you a funny story.When I did a food waste
challenge in my local area acouple years ago, I had 80
families together, and that wasjust highlighting something. It
was part of another initiative Iwas doing. We went through it
(08:26):
six weeks altogether, and what Ifound was afterwards is it was
just simple awareness thatchanged habits and people were
like having those aha moments.But besides that, it's the small
changes that can be made thatmake the difference. But in my
head, I kept on saying, I needto put this out to more people.
(08:49):
It makes so much sense. It's soeasy. So I was developing this
course and I was calling it, Ihad two names for it. Didn't
know which one I was going touse, the food waste project, the
family food waste project, orthe family food waste challenge.
And then something just wasn'tfeeling right. I'm like,
families another project, achallenge? No. And as someone
(09:12):
who's very mindful inspirituality and bringing that
into my home, I was like, wow,that's all it takes.
Mindfulness. So the whole methodis really centered around
mindfulness and being positive,and working on something
together as a family that'sgood, that brings in those
conversations and teaches thoselessons.
Justine Reichman: (09:35):
That makes perfect sense to me. What comes
to mind is that I know that itcan be overwhelming when you
feel like you need to doeverything. Oh, my God, I need
to do this. And I need to dothat. So what's the best way to
break that down so that you canfeel like you're having an
impact and you're being mindfulof food waste in your home,
(09:56):
maybe even thinking about therole of upcycling or something
so that you feel like you'rebeing successful and not falling
short because you make onemistake.
Janet Irizarry: (10:06):
Well, we point out at the very beginning of the
method, this is not aboutfeeling obligated or perfect.
It's about having fun with it,and going at your own pace in
the way that feels good to you.And I love the fact that you
brought up upcycling. Becausethe people who are going through
the course right now, most ofthem have no idea what that word
(10:26):
actually is, and so we bringthat to mind. We talk about it
in a way that is easy tounderstand, and has you thinking
more about your food. And why amI bind beats? I cut off the bowl
and throw the stem and leavesaway. I could be doing something
(10:49):
with those, and that's bringingthose words in and having them
understand them. I know you aretotally in that space where
you're always reading articles,and that's commonplace for you.
But most people, the wordupcycling is totally foreign to
them. So just by educating isbringing awareness and changing
Justine Reichman: (11:14):
And I think the other thing that I think of,
habits.
you have the food waste becausewe use parts of vegetables and
all sorts of things. So beingable to be creative to make
those recipes and have fun withthat, look online on what can
you make with this, a fun way todo that, and incorporate the
(11:34):
whole family if you're cooking.The other thing that I often
think about is if you have abowl of fruit and you put all
the fruit next to each other,some of it gets ripe faster
because it's next to anotherkind of fruit. You put some in
the fridge, and there's beenconversations about different
ways to store your fruits,vegetables and your bread to
(11:58):
make sure that they can have alonger life. What role does that
play in for you? Are peoplefamiliar with this?
Janet Irizarry: (12:06):
No. I have someone going through the course
right now with, I swear to you,10 minutes ago, someone wrote to
me and she said, I had no ideaabout the ethylene effect. How
come I didn't know? Because wetalk about that. So we talk
about things like first in,first out. We talk about the
ethylene effect. We talk aboutyour refrigerator and how to
(12:27):
store things properly formaximum food life. And it's
really fun. We do it in a reallyfun, easy way. Because once
again, hey, listen, I threw outsomething today. I felt horrible
about it. I'm not perfect. I didit. You do the best you can, but
that's a big part of it, andjust learning that. So we have
(12:49):
actually an activity that wetalk about the ethylene effect.
And then we suggest that whenyou come home from the grocery
store, you have two differentstickers, and you have your
children put stickers on thefruits and vegetables that
produce a lot of ethylene, andthen another sticker, like two
(13:09):
different colors, so it getsingrained in their brain, as
well as the mom realizing thisfor the first time. Because once
you start doing it, it justcomes naturally. And after a
little while, you won't have toput stickers on your fruits and
vegetables. You'll just say, oh,look, this doesn't go with that.
That doesn't go with this.
Justine Reichman: (13:29):
But it's so fun. So for those listening that
are not familiar with theethylene effect, could you maybe
just go into that a little bitfor those folks so that they're
on the same page with us.
Janet Irizarry: (13:41):
As you said, some are ethylene sensitive, and
some are ethylene producing. Sobasically, if you put the
sensitive with the ones that areproducing together, the ones
that are as ethylene sensitiveare going to go bad.
Justine Reichman: (13:57):
If you are going to recommend or give
people a couple tools that theycould use to make this process a
little bit easier for themselvesand fun to start being mindful
(14:23):
of this, what are the three topthings that you might recommend?
Janet Irizarry: (14:28):
About storage and keeping food fresh? First of
all, knowing what you have beingorganized in all your storage
areas. Because if you don't knowwhat you have, there's a chance
you're going to over buy it. Andso therefore, that leads to
waste. Or the other thing is therefrigerator. Using the
(14:49):
refrigerator is a tool to keepthe foods fresher longer.
Because believe it or not, therefrigerator has different
sections on the refrigerator,and they're built to keep your
food. Like the crisper drawer,there's sort of foods you should
put in the crisper. There'sother foods that don't belong in
(15:10):
it. Some needs humidity, somedon't need the humidity. The
doors of your refrigerator,those should be left for
condiments where that don'treally need to be kept at a
certain temperature all thetime. They're a little bit more
susceptible or unsusceptible, Iguess that would be the word, to
(15:30):
going bad. The other thing isexpiration dates. We talk about
that, which is a big, big topicin the food waste space. I
actually had someone who wasgoing through the course who I
personally know, and she goes,this course is great. I'm going
to go into my pantry andcabinet. I'm going to throw away
all the food that's outdated. Iwas like, no, don't do that yet.
(15:54):
We're going to talk about that.Expiration dates are really
subjective, and so using yoursenses to know if something's
good or bad is really important.Learning about not just
(16:15):
accepting that expiration datesare subjective. I tell a story
that a few weeks ago, I found alog of mozzarella cheese that
had expired a month before. Itwas fresh mozzarella, and I
opened it up, smelled it, lookedat it, touched it, tasted it. It
(16:38):
was fine. But most people,they've seen the expiration date
and goes, done.
Justine Reichman: (16:46):
How do you explain that to a kid? If you
want your kid to be able to beempowered, to go in the
refrigerator and feel safe, youwant to give your kid something
fresh, how can you teach them tomake those the right choices?
Janet Irizarry: (17:03):
Well, by going through this course and knowing
how to store food properly,you're not going to have that
problem. You're going to not behaving old food in your
refrigerator. You're going to bemaking sure you use it up. The
other thing is using what youhave and loving your leftovers.
(17:23):
I don't know how you feel aboutleftovers.
Justine Reichman: (17:25):
I think about the holidays, I love leftovers.
On the holidays, I love invitingpeople over and making a beef
meal and then having thoseleftovers. Don't like the
leftovers when I'm just cookingfor myself. That's not as
interesting because I don't putas much into it because I don't
have anybody sitting theretelling me, wow, this is so
(17:46):
funny. I just have the same highfor that.
Janet Irizarry: (17:53):
I hear what you're saying. When you cook for
a lot of people, you cook with alot of love. But when you cook
for yourself, you don't cook forlove. You gotta change that
Justine.
Justine Reichman: (18:04):
I am. But I'll make a steak and broccoli
for myself, and I'll eat it.Maybe there'll be a little piece
of steak, and I'll eat that thenext day. But when I cook for
people, I cook with abundance,and I cook to have a variety of
things. So therefore, when I goto the refrigerator, it's not
just eating the same thing overand over. There's all these
(18:25):
different things to choose frombecause it's my love language,
if you will, that I cook. And Icook with abundance because I
want to make sure everybody'sgot something to eat, or it's a
little bit of everything. And Iknow myself. I cook for myself.
I make a steak and a broccoli,and that's fine. The steak the
(18:46):
next day is amazing. I like goodcold steak.
Janet Irizarry: (18:48):
Yeah. So the other day, my husband said he
was in the mood for chili so hemade this wonderful chili, and
Justine Reichman: (18:53):
What a deal.
we had it for dinner the nextnight. The night after we had it
on nachos. I waited because Ican't eat leftovers three days
in a row. I do have to skip aday, and my husband was actually
disappointed that we didn't haveit the next day. But the day
(19:14):
after, I made it into like awrap. So I put the chili, I made
some rice, we put it in, and wedid like a burrito kind of thing
with it. So getting creative andchanging up the flavor so it's
not the same. When I made theburritos, I added some other
seasonings in it to make it alittle bit more Mexican. I put
(19:37):
avocado on it and whatever. Andto me, that's the same thing.
You just get a joy out of itbecause you've changed it,
you've saved money. You feellike, whoa. It's like that sock
example. When you go toMarshalls and you find this
designer top that is marked downfrom 150 to $20 and it's in your
(19:59):
size, and when people say, oh, Ilove what you're wearing. You
say, I got this for $20.
Janet Irizarry: (20:12):
That's the feeling you get when you do
that. And I do have peoplecalling me saying, you're not
going to believe what I just didwith my stale bread.
Justine Reichman: (20:21):
Question for you. So for those folks that
maybe aren't in your area or notnear CIA to take this class.
Janet Irizarry: (20:28):
It's online.
Justine Reichman: (20:29):
Online. Oh, my gosh. So everybody's got
access to this. It's not justmeant for people building
restaurants, it's meant forpeople that want to change, make
a change in their home withtheir families.
Janet Irizarry: (20:43):
That's what it is. It's for the consumer, and
I'll tell you a little bit aboutit. I made it as easy as I
could, and as short as I could.And so, how it gets delivered?
The course gets delivered via anemail drip sequence. If you sign
(21:04):
up for the course, three times aweek, it gets delivered right to
your inbox. And there's no needto sign into a course because
you just click the link and itgoes to the lesson. The lesson
has a short, two to six minutevideo talking of the topic. I
have this wonderful mom whoexplains the topic in a way
(21:26):
that's fun and easy tocomprehend. And she has a little
bit of humor. It might be dryhumor, but she has humor
nevertheless just alone watchingthe videos. In every lesson,
there's 30 lessons total. It's atakes 10 weeks because you're
doing three a week. And so shemakes it easy. If you just watch
(21:46):
the videos, you're going tochange. But if you want, there's
additional resources to get thekids involved. There is a short
video on how food gets from thefarm to the table. There's a
video on food miles, theresources used. So there's games
to play, there's activities todo, there's discussion starters.
(22:06):
It really can fit easily intosomeone's schedule. They're
waiting for them, their child topick them up at the bus, and
they can just click on it, watchthe video, and then decide where
to go from there.
Justine Reichman: (22:21):
It sounds like it's really accessible.
Because I know that if youlisten to podcasts, or you have
a choice between a 20 minute andan hour and a half one, it's
hard to schedule time for thehour and a half one, but somehow
we find 20 minutes is easier. Soyour two to six minute videos
are very doable. You could be ona treadmill. You could be
walking the dog. And I thinkthat sort of inspires change.
(22:48):
I'm curious, with all thesevideos and with the education
and the community that you'vebuilt, can you share some of the
greatest changes that have beenreported to you by the people
that have taken the course?
Janet Irizarry: (23:00):
Well, first of all, I have to let you know that
the course as it stands rightnow is just being launched. The
people are taking it are betatesters and telling me how good
it is, and making sure it's allokay for everyone. But the
reactions are amazing. I justtold you, someone just wrote to
me and said, oh, I never knewabout the ethylene effect. When
(23:23):
I did it with the families a fewyears ago, they were just seeing
that, you know what? If we'retalking about that kids mommy
moments where, mommy, I wantthis, can I have this blah blah,
blah got reduced because kidsnow understand why mommy's
saying NO to certain things. Yougo to the grocery store and,
(23:44):
mommy, we need these. We alreadyhave apples. We have green
apples at home. We gotta finishthose first. But I want the red
ones. Well, remember that we'dbe just throwing them out unless
you can figure out what to dowith the green apples, then
we'll buy the red apples nexttime. We gotta finish those up.,
The kid goes, I get it. It's notsuch a fight.
Justine Reichman: (24:06):
As you're saying this, what I'm thinking
about is the fruits andvegetables. They grow, they're
living kind of thing. And so ifyou think about it, you want to
eat things while they're living,while they're fresh, before they
die. So is that part of theconversation?
Janet Irizarry: (24:24):
It is. It's about buying local a lot. That's
what mainly it is. How it'sfresher. It hasn't gone as far
so it's going to taste better,it's going to be cheaper. It
hasn't used as much resources,the gasoline. So that's part of
one of the videos we talk about.Two of the videos actually
address both of them. Butthey're, once again, five minute
(24:44):
short videos that are kidfriendlies, and they just have
to understand and know that. Andthat just makes a world of
difference.
Justine Reichman: (24:53):
That was kind of why I was talking about the
living versus the death. I don'tknow if this is accurate or not.
Janet Irizarry: (24:59):
It's an interesting one. I haven't heard
But I'm imagining that whenyou're explaining to children,
and you explain to them, we wantto eat this before it dies.
That's a concept they can grasp.And if you think about it like
that, you don't want somethingto die. You want to eat it while
it's still fresh and good.Because if it dies, well, then
(25:21):
it's wasted. But that's adifferent narrative.
that one, but it definitely isworth the conversation.
Justine Reichman: (25:31):
Yeah, I don't know. I was just throwing it out
to you.
Janet Irizarry: (25:37):
Yeah. I guess in my world with My Mindful
Kitchen, we try and touch onthings very gingerly and
positive. Bringing in somethingdying might be a little
negative, though I found thatthere's always ways to tweak
(25:57):
words to make them fit. But onceagain, as you point out, it's
much more important for them tograsp the concept.
Justine Reichman: (26:06):
That's where I was going with that, grasp
that concept. You could say,look, this is fresh. We just
picked it ourselves. But theminute you pick it, it's not
going to grow anymore. It mightbe premature, it might be
perfect, whatever it is, but youwant to only pick the things
that you're going to eat beforethey go bad.
Janet Irizarry: (26:33):
And the other thing is when they learn the
resources, they see that thefood's being planted and then
who's tending to it, then how ithas to travel and all those
things. I just thought, thankyou universe. It landed on my
front step. I never thoughtabout it that, oh, my goodness,
all these people have worked. Idon't know if you've ever seen
(26:56):
them. I know if it's out there,it's called the Life As A
Strawberry. It was this littlevideo, and I think you still can
find it. I forgot who did it,but it was a like a strawberry.
I was saying that at the farm,it's planted. The strawberries
grow. The farmers tend to it.They water it, they pick them,
they bring them aside to thebarn. They sort them, they haul
(27:19):
them by truck to the factorywhere they get put in the
clamshell, and then they broughtto the supermarket, and they get
to the supermarket and put onthe shelves. And when strawberry
falls in love with the line,that's just a little part of the
story. And also the family comesthrough, and the little girl
(27:40):
goes, mommy, I wantstrawberries. Can we get
strawberries? And the mothergoes first, no, we have enough
stuff in the house. We don'tneed it. And then, of course,
the little girl says, please,mommy. The mommy buys the
strawberries. Cut to three weekslater at the person's home,
season back, that container withmoldy strawberries and they're
(28:04):
thrown out. And it's just aperfect example of showing
everything that happens, andwhat a waste it is when we throw
out food. Once again, there'sjust so many levels of this
because it's not only all theresources, it's also the people
who need food. It's just sowrong of us to be throwing
(28:25):
things out when there's peoplewho don't have enough to eat,
and those conversations willcome into line as kids gain an
awareness on food.
Justine Reichman: (28:37):
So as you're building out this, you're
launching this beta program,this beta class, and you're
speaking with the families, ofthe moms so that they can
inspire conversations with thekids. And it's new right now.
But if you're thinking down theroad, what are you hoping to
achieve by kicking this off andinspiring that change? What's
(28:59):
the biggest change? What changecan you hope for, or do you
strive for?
Janet Irizarry: (29:02):
It has to come naturally to people. I want to
create a world of MindfulFoodies. I don't see this as a
little project. I see this assomething big. It's easy to do.
And I think what makes it sounique is, once again, as I
said, there's food wastechallenges out there. Everyone's
(29:23):
trying to do communityinitiatives, but they're so
hard. They're not somethingpeople want to invest with their
time or realize that it's notgoing to make them feel as good
as going being mindful becausepeople who follow mindful
practices, they do it because itmakes them align with their
values. And I think you broughtit up at the very beginning of
(29:46):
this conversation. I cannotthink of one value. I believe
we're all born with good values.We want to be kind. We want
gratitude, appreciation. There'snot one value that we can't
learn through respecting ourfood. I think it can be fun.
Let's not make this thing wehave to do. If the power is in
(30:11):
our own kitchens, we don't haveto wait for policies to be
passed. We don't have to waitfor infrastructures to be
passed. Oh, I hear they're goingto be doing recycling, or blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, we can'twait. The problem is now. It's
so evident with the weatherevents we've had, the
(30:33):
hurricanes, the fires, climatechange is real. And instead of
feeling helpless and saying,what can I do? I feel so bad.
You can't change the past, butyou can start today by creating
a brighter future. It's easy,fun and it's positive. What I
wish is people just see the funand joy of treating food with
(30:57):
respect, and becoming MindfulFoodies.
Justine Reichman: (31:00):
As they have these conversations, and as you
start to create a movement, ifyou could quantify it, what
would positive change look likeon people's wellness and the
planet down the road? What kindof change do you hope this
(31:23):
inspires?
Janet Irizarry: (31:24):
Well, there is economic change. More money for
households and families, andjust in general. Globally,
methane emissions being reducedsignificantly. So when kids go
out into the world and they'redoing jobs, they will create the
(31:46):
policies or treat fooddifferently, and not just throw
it out. They understand what'shappening. So I might have
gotten off track a little bit.But the bottom line is we're
going to make a healthierplanet. We are going to be more
in line with our values, goodvalues. I want food and family
(32:14):
to be back to enjoying it, andnot have the kitchen such a
scary place because everyone'sbeing so rushed. Because if you
ask me, one of the majorbenefits of being a mindful
foodie is having things in itsplace, and being able to spend
less time in the kitchen becauseyou're not running out to the
(32:36):
store for this and that. So it'soverall well being. And also to
your point is by making healthyfood choices. It's not just for
a physical body, but we canteach our kids about it. It's a
way of talking about healthyeating. One of the games that
these kids can play when they goto the grocery store is to
(32:56):
compare labels, try and read theingredients and find out which
box of cereal is healthier thanthe other. I say, once a mindful
foodie, always a mindful foodie.I just want to make a world of
Mindful Foodies.
Justine Reichman: (33:12):
Okay, we're going to build a movement of
Mindful Foodies. We have a lotof founders. We have a lot of
people on that listen and watchthe video that are inspired to
just create change in the home,so everybody's interested, and
our goal is really to inspire,engage and empower. If we could
(33:37):
just bullet out list out threethings that somebody could do to
create change in their houseamong their families, what would
they be?
Janet Irizarry: (33:47):
To have conversation with the family of
where food comes from.
Justine Reichman: (33:52):
That's one. What's two?
Janet Irizarry: (33:55):
Two is appreciate what you have, and
look at food beyond nourishment.Look at the effect by not
wasting and preventing foodwaste, you have on the rest of
the world.
Justine Reichman: (34:11):
And what's three?
Janet Irizarry: (34:13):
Three is to work together as a family to do
something good. There's just somuch negativity in the world
when you can work on such a bigchore as mitigating climate
change or fighting inflation.When you work together, there's
a power in that. And so it'sconversation, conversation,
(34:38):
conversation, and have fun withit. Just have fun.
Justine Reichman: (34:43):
I really appreciate you sharing that. One
thing I'll just add from myperspective that I also really
appreciate is the idea that. Itbrings family back around the
table, and it fostersconversation, connection,
collaboration, education. And itcan become something that we
talk about over dinner meals atthe table have become a bit of a
(35:05):
lost art. Everybody's so busy,everyone's eating a different
time. So when I think about it,I think about, okay, well, can
we carve out the time to havethe meal with our family? Can we
carve out the time to even cookwith our kids and make that part
of the activity? And then evenshopping. As you were sitting
(35:26):
here talking, I got inspired. Iwas like, well, I wonder if
there's an app where we take apicture of our refrigerator, we
see what's in there, and then wecross reference it with our list
so we don't double buy. I don'tknow if that exists, but that's
what you inspired me to thinkabout.
Janet Irizarry: (35:42):
We have the tools for you, because we're
going to give you a list so youcan have inventory before you
go. So just quickly, theawareness module. Then the
second one is about plan, aboutorganizing your house or your
kitchen area. Second is aboutstoring food properly. The third
module is all about planning andshopping. And the fourth module
(36:07):
is about mindful cooking, ormaking your kitchen more
mindful. We don't teach cooking,that's not what it is. We teach
the mindset. And so all of whatyou said is right on the money,
and we give you the tools to doit. You have Margot who is the
mom in the videos to cheer youon, and make it sound like fun.
(36:31):
Any reason that you might not bedoing it right now, it's not
about feeling guilty. It's aboutsaying you're totally normal,
but let's get through thistogether. And it's not as bad as
you seem.
Justine Reichman: (36:43):
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me
today. I want to thank ourguests for tuning in, whether
they're listening on to thepodcast or watching the
videocast. Don't forget, youcould do both. Our videocast is
on YouTube. Our podcast isanywhere you listen to podcasts
(37:03):
at Essential Ingredients. Andagain, if you're want to get
some clips for upcoming episodesor see what's coming down the
pipeline, don't forget to tunein and follow us at link on
Instagram@essential.ingredients. Look
forward to seeing you here againnext week. Thanks again, Janet.
Janet Irizarry: (37:19):
Thank you for having me. It was great.
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