November 20, 2025 • 32 mins
From American Gravy, SNAP benefits paid to nearly 200,000 deceased recipients, viral fraud cases, and massive rollover balances... Chefs Andrew and Lauren dig into the breakdown of America’s food-assistance system. They also take on a vegan restaurant’s backlash after adding meat, Cinnabon’s scented wrapping paper, Sweetgreen’s robot makeline, cheese theft, spam history, and practical kitchen tips.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to another episode of American Gravy, the only
show where we mix food, family, and freedom in the
same pot and somehow don't burn it. Well mostly right, Andrew,
I burn it a little bit, a little bit. I
am Lauren Gruhl.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And I'm Chef Andrew Gruel.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And whether it's a shared meal or a shared moment,
every story adds flavor to the table.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You didn't say welcome home because I don't.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Like the welcome home. It seems a little cheesy.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
So weird. Welcome home.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Come on, they're not here with us, Yeah, they are.
If anything, we're in their home.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Close your eyes and imagine laying on our couch. Oh,
tell us your food problems. Well, speaking of food problems,
today we're going to be covering snap benefit frauds, spam cheese,
and a little bit of vegan drama and more. Of course,
And by the way, I should call out make sure
that you follow.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Us on social media. I'm on X at Chef.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Gruel and I'm at Lauren Gruel.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm on Instagram at Andrew Groul.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And I'm at Lauren Underscore Gruel.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
And make sure you uscribe to our substack. American gravy.
On substack, we're giving recipes, cooking videos, just general cooking it.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You have to subscribe right now. Andrew is just busting
out all sorts of Thanksgiving recipes.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Oh I'm going crazy now the time. It's like I'm
doing a little tap dance on there every day. One
two three two hut two jiga ming mungbou.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I love when you do that.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah you do.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
All right, Let's cut to our first story. What the fork?
All right? So this is a vegan restaurant owner is
slammed after adding but boom meat to her menu.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I'm sorry I find humor in this one, actually, So I.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Mean that's pretty intense because I understand why people are mad.
So this vegan restaurant was like, hey, we've got to
add chicken and fish to our menu because we just
can't make it otherwise. And there is a cult, like understandably.
So I'm not saying this in a bad way. It's
not a pejorative. People who are devoted vegans right for
ethical reasons and then for health reasons, and many times
for both by the vegan mantra. So they go to
(02:00):
these restaurants not even just for the food, but for
the fact that they're trying to support an owner who
has similar viewpoints exactly. So I think that the reason
why they had it there was an uproar is because
they feel betrayed.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Well, I yes, I could see why they're upset, right,
because I feel like if you go to a just
a like say our restaurant, and then we had like
a vegan option on the menu, it's not like that's
not as bad as like going straight from like vegan,
you know, cruelty free people. That's what they say to
then adding you know, chicken and fish on the menu.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
However, I will say I think with some of our
customers if we did have a vegan option, they would
get angry, but they wouldn't be in an uproar. They'd
be like, why are you pandering too the vegle Well.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
It's funny. So Ashley Cone, the owner and operator of
the vegan and gluten free restaurant Good Beat and Had
in Township, announced a quote plot twist on social media
last month.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh that's how she announced it was a plot.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yes, and so she said, you know, we're keeping our
menu the same, but we're adding local, organic, pastorised chicken
or wild caught jail islands.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Jail island.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I don't know what jail island is. We have to
look into.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's kind of Funny's where they keep the salmon in jail.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, so it's just for a protein.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So they're gonna get sued by the aclu on that one.
I think it would have been funnier if she said
it's a fleshy sizzle a flesh. No too soon, That
is funny. So we actually owned like we owned a
restaurant that we opened in Irvine years ago, and it
was in this kind of like business focused food hall area.
We had a chicken restaurant, but then next to it
as well, we had a plant based restaurant. And the
(03:29):
idea wasn't to introduce alternative proteins. We weren't doing like
soy and Tampei and or sorry Tofu Tempe. We weren't
doing the beyond burgers or any of that. There's more
of just like a celebration of vegetables. I actually love vegetables,
and I think that we're relegated so often, just like
carrots and zucchini and broccoli, vegetable medley, right like the
(03:49):
bird's eye frozen medley people don't realize the bounty of vegetables,
especially in California that we have. We work with a
wonderful vegetable provider, Melissa's World Variety Produce, and they're always
introducing these fun, unique veggies, like you know, the Romanesque cauliflowers.
There's like twenty different types of cauliflowers. So we said,
why don't we open a restaurant where we highlight a
lot of these great vegetables and we'll do bowls with
(04:11):
like fun sauces quinois. The veggies we did, like that
fire roasted burger, We did the veggie poutine, fries.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
We did the black bean burger. Yeah, it was phenomenal.
So we geared it towards We said our restaurant was.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
What was where meat eaters and plant lovers unite? No,
we said, we're vegans and meat eaters unite.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I don't know, something like a vegan restaurant for meat eaters.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You see, this wasn't very memorable for many, but I'll
say this on the economics of it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We had like a devoted base of customers.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Every day they would come in and the majority of
them were vegan, and we did have a lot of
meat eaters too that came in and we're like, I
just want I want this because it tastes so good.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Like our black bean veggie burger.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Was to die for.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It was phenomenal, and our bowls were so good. We
had avocado fries, you remember, we had a lot of
fun stuff there in our sauces.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
No, we called them avocado bombs. Oh.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I injected them with sauce before I breaded them, and
then we deep fried them and we serve them with this.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Like we need to, you know what, we should bring
some of this to Calico.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
But the point is, the point is is that even
though we had like the same fifteen customers coming back
day in and day out, there was such a small
subset of vegans or plant based diners to choose from
in the general area that we financially couldn't make it, Like,
we couldn't get our sales high enough by penetrating that audience.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So she even says that, you know, vegan restaurants aren't
like such a destination anymore, right, exactly. And a lot
of people I know a lot personally, a lot of
people who were vegan who are now like carnivore.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Well, yeah, they go from one extrame.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, so well in any.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Case, So that was kind of a funny WTF story.
And sorry about losing butterlyaf Maybe we'll bring it back
some day. I love another WTF what the folk story?
So Cinnabon is now selling wrapping paper that it literally
smells like cinnamon.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Rolls, which I don't think you can eat it. But
I was telling Andrew, I'm like, okay, but what about
like your you have like pets and like the dog
think it's like a tree and they're just like eating
your paper.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Or furthermore, what if you have kids who like pets?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, probably our kids would, but like ants would ants
come in play? You have an obsession with me because
we've been getting ants because of the rain and it's drive.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
The other day, I was eating a piece of bread
and like a crumb dropped on the counter.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Lords like the ants are.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Coming No, okay, And we have a like playroom ish thing.
I go in there last night speaking of ants, and
I shake out a blanket that was like on the floor.
All these crumbs fly out because our son was eating
a sandwich. Somehow he meant to get half the sandwich
bread onto this blanket, and then there was a cluster
(06:47):
of ants and I'm like, I give up. I give
up in our house.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
And I think it's important because we're in the group
setting right now, so I feel safe saying this. The
sun that you're referring to, eating the sandwich in the
blanket on.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
The floor would be forty five was your husband, and
it was me. I needed a loane time.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It was the only area in which I could eat
the sandwich, because every time I try and eat a sandwich,
the minute I sit down with a sandwich, it's oh,
can you come do this?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Can you do this?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
No?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Or the kids are like can you make me one?
I just want to eat my sandwich.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
There's nothing worse than sitting down. You've sliced a sandwich
corner to corner, and you're ready to take that first bite,
and then someone's like, hey, can you grab me the
orange juice? Or or there's a knock on the door. Yeah,
and it's somebody that wants to talk politics. No.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Just speaking of being a parent, like, do you ever
feel like you sit down when you're at home?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
No? I argue about it, I complain about.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
It all like, I don't sit down. I'm like, even
when I drop the kids off at school and say
I'm having like a day at home. This is totally
going off topic, but I will realize, oh my gosh,
it's time to pick up the kids from school, and
I have not sat down for one second.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Because you were laying down because you were sleeping.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I wish that was the case. No, I'm usually cleaning
up my forty five year old child's mess mam mach.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So that brings me to another off off topic point.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Lauren can't take naps, breaking my nap.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm saying this to the listeners. Can you nap?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I mean, let's hear their answers, But I can't see here.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
One person's already just called ending, Yes, I love napping.
See we've got one and another person.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I can't nap.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
The only time I can nap is when I'm sick.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
He knows. Andrew knows. He goes, oh gosh, you're sick,
you're napping.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I can take a nap. I can sit down on him.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
He's the annoying person that could close his eyes and
he's asleep. Yes, And I'm like, I will I'm like,
I want to kill him, like.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Seven minute nap. I'll be mid eating a sandwich and
I'll take a nap. I'll be like, okay, it looks
like the kids are.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And I know when he's napping, he'll like go hide
in the office and we have a count.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
This has never come out before. I thought I was hiding.
Now I know that I always do that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
He'll go and I like see his feet on one
end of the couch and he'll like pretend to be
on his laptop and I glance over and his hat
is just covering his eyes and.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Because I'm reading an article on my laptom, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I get really annoyed that he can
fall asleep, so quch.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
She does, and then of course she'll come in and
be like, oh, time to vacuum. I just happen to
want a vacuum right there at three thousand decibels right.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Next to you.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Okay, that is not true. I let you nap. But
then when the kids are like, it's just you know what,
we're not getting into this right now.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I think this is a.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Great segue to talk about snap benefits, because I might
need to be on them after I get.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Thrown out of the house.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So there's been this like this Snap Foo recently with
the Snap benefits. Now, I think it's interesting. Let me
just re kind of like refresh everybody on my perspective
on this. I think people who need help need to
get to help. What I the problem that I have
with the Snap benefits is its corporate welfare because the
only food that's available for people to use the Snap
(09:45):
benefits are in food deserts, right, So most of the
people that are using them are either in rural food
deserts or in inner city food deserts. And what a
food desert is is where there's no grocery stores. The
only thing you can do is go to like a
seven to eleven or convenience store. Nine percent of the
food there is potato, chips, sodas, et cetera. And the
people who make money on those Snap benefits and ultimately
(10:06):
also making you sick are soda, the big food manufacturers,
like the Big five, right, like the Freedo lays, the people,
the chips, et cetera. So people get mad, they're like, oh,
the Snap benefits are only people are only buying junk. Well,
that's the only option of food that they have to buy.
I think we should take the money from Snap benefits
and that we should be giving people real food and
doing it that way. So that's just like my overall
(10:26):
thesis on that. Now, in this Snap debate, a lot
of stories have come out about all of the Snap
fraud that's going on out there. I have a problem
with that because the people who truly need the Snap
benefits are then getting tainted by the people who are
using it for fraudulent purposes.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, look at this, So one hundred and eighty six
thousand deceased men and women and children were receiving a check.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Wait, children disease. That's sad, that's sad.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It's so sad. But almost two hundred thousand people were
receiving quote unquote Snap benefits that aren't even in here.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah. But so where the checks, I.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Mean are their relatives seeing them?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, probably a state or like whoever has the control
over Then if they cash the check, isn't that fraud?
Speaker 1 (11:10):
If there's so much fraud, how can they get everyone?
You know what I mean? If there's so much going on.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
It's leakage, right, Like, there's always going to be a
certain amount that like slips.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Through and that was just in you know, red states,
Republican led states. They haven't even tapped into any of
the Democrat I.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Wouldn't say that even necessarily. That's always a political issue.
I think it's like there's always going to be fraud
across both parties. I mean this voting, this voting issue
here in California where the dog voted that was a
Republican true even though it underscores like certain irregularities with voting,
and we got to stop fix that. Like that wasn't
a particular party, right or it was. It just wasn't
the party that was screaming about it. The snap benefit
(11:50):
piece that I heard was in New Jersey because every
state has like certain there's a national program, but then
they give it to the states to administer the snap benefits.
Because this, I agree with, the federal government should be
in the business of doing that. We need to decrease
the size of the federal government. But in New Jersey
you can roll over your benefits from month to month
up to nine months. There was a video that went
viral on TikTok where the lady called and was on
(12:11):
speakerphone and she was kind of showing off to her friend,
and it said you know your available benefits are, and
it was twenty four nine hundred and fifty two dollars
or something. So basically she had gotten so much. And
I'm like, this is this real or is this fake?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Right?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Because I don't take anything at face value anymore. So
I looked it up and what you can get up
to three or four thousand dollars a month based on
the amount of people in your family.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
This is in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So if you think about it, if you roll that
over for six months, there you go, there's your twenty
four thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I mean, obviously if they truly needed it, they wouldn't
have this large balance. Yeah, you know what I mean, Like,
clearly you don't need it if you're able to save
all this money.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
What was interesting was that there were some people in
the comments that said, well, no, you need to be
because somebody suggested no more rollover, right, like you shouldn't
be able to roll over. And then somebody in the
comment said, well, no, I get like two hundred dollars
a month or one hundred and fifty dollars a month,
and sometimes when I go grocery shopping and I get
a ride because I don't have a car, I need
to buy a ton of groceries that wants frozen foods,
(13:14):
can food, so I need like a three hundred dollars balance.
So in that scenario, that actually does make sense. So
it's almost like there should be a limit on the
rollover amount. If you could put that mechanism or that
that control in place, I think that that would help
prevent some of it. But the bottom line to all
of this is that now the USDA chief says that
everyone has to reapply for snap benefits after all of
(13:37):
this fraud came out now that the government is reopening.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Which I think that they should. I mean, to be honest,
if there's that much fraud, and there's that much you know,
people taking advantage of the system or what have you. Like,
I think, if you truly need it, you should obviously
obviously like you should be able to receive it. But
I feel like when people take advantage and they know
that they don't necessarily need to be on it, and
they continue, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I agree, what's the process going to be like to
reapply if it slows?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I mean, what do they do. Do they cut everyone
off and tell them to reapply? I don't know how
that's thought, and they.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Didn't actually present an issue. I think that like just
generally speaking, yeah, reapply and go through the process to
make sure that you're eligible, so long as it doesn't
hurt the people who like genuinely need them right away.
But that's where the state should step in and say, Okay,
let's say the federal government prevented money from cut from
distilling down to a local level, then either the local
or the county or the state government should step in
(14:30):
and they can subsidize that in the interim. I think
that that would be like the solution instead of pointing
a finger like state government's saying it's the federal government's fault,
the state, the federal government saying it's the state government's fault,
and then they they kind of like divert the responsibility around.
So but then you got the person who needs it.
It's like I don't care whose fault it is. I
need to get my food.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
So yeah, well we'll see how that as us.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Well, we're going to be following this story a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Okay, this is a funny story, kind of shoot so
you know how QVC and HSN were like all the
rage back in the day, like back in the day.
So I mean it still is, but I feel like
not like a like I would never watch it. I
think you have to be at least sixty year older.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You can't watch it because you don't take naps.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Well, we also don't have cable TV, so that's probably
why I don't watch it.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I have a feeling if you'd.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Watch it, probably Okay. So there's a new you know,
a new movement in the shopping world. Okay, so this
is going to be the next trillion dollar industry. Can
you guess what it is?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
I mean I don't know, Like QVC on steroids that
you've got to know.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So it's going to be live selling, so you know,
like where they can shop. So somebody's trying on the
clothes in the store like a live like a stream
like TikTok live okay or Instagram Live.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So I walk into a store, I'm on Instagram Live
and I'm like, hey, I'm over here at j C.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Pennies.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
No, it's like their products, like it's like they have
like an online store, but this person's trying on the clothes.
They're answering questions live like does it you know? How
tall are you? What's your weight? So they can gauge
like is that going to look good on me? Because
online shopping you're kind of guessing, right, like I don't
know if it's going to fit me when I get
it and then you have to return.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So what are you calling in? Like how are you asking?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
No, it's live, like when you go do you not
know what alive is? Okay? When you go on like
Instagram Live and then there's people watching and they're commenting,
they're asking you on the spot questions and you're able to.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Answer most of the time, people don't answer that.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, that's the whole point. They are answering. Okay, Oh
my gosh, Andrew, Well explain this five Okay. So the
CEO of Whatnot it's it's the prime live shop Whatnot?
What the primary live shopping company America just raised two
hundred and twenty five million at an eleven point five
billion valuation. So it sees this ballooning from one hundred
(16:47):
billion dollar market to a trillion dollar market in the
next few years. So do you understand what I'm saying?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So these sellers rotate items in front of the camera,
answering questions, so it's like shot.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's like the experience is more like shopping at a
brick and mortar store without the hassle. Right, it's still online,
still online. You're looking on you're obviously watching your phone
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
So could I be like, oh, hold up the pants again, yes, exactly,
Like oh wait, I just noticed that there's the pants
are buttless.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I don't like those.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Buttless pan chaps. Yeah. So live video is sort of
the best way to bring in person commerce online. So
it's almost like if anyone can set up a brick
and mortar shop anywhere without building building the building, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Oh, and then that those people's Instagram or whatever live
channels will be streamed on this new QVC type network.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's not QVC.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's like TikTok No, but it's going to be on TV.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
No.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, see I don't get it already.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
If I don't get it, then this is the maybe
because you're not where you're gonna where Will I.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Watch this on TikTok So? This is TikTok No, babe,
Oh my gosh, it's TikTok. Read there's an article if
you want to read it.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Okay, So this makes no sense to me, and I
guess the other thing is is that if this is
going to be, how are they valuing this at eleven
point five billion dollars if I don't even understand it
in a simple description.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, Well, I will just say for me, when I'm
watching somebody do their makeup, right, it's not alive. They
are just posting a reel or a video, I'm like, ooh,
that's a pretty color, Like I want to buy.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
It, But what's the company? How are they valuing the company?
What's the asset upon which they get the three eleven
point five billion?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I don't know. We'll have to dive deeper into this story.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Oh, this just gotten tense. I like it for food.
I'm just thinking about ways in which I can do
this for food. People will be like, oh my gosh, no.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You know, we should do it. We should do Oh
my gosh, this is good. We can do a live
cooking video and you could once you come out with
your product.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So when is this?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
How will I get the eleven point five billion dollar valuation?
That's all I care about.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
I have no idea. We're going to need to figure
this out.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
People will be like, oh my gosh, cut that acorn
squash harder. I just want to see if I want
to buy it, and I'll be like, okay, get the
cleaver sat it.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, and then you'd be like, look at this knife
I have niy.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Cut your fingers off, and then be like, I'm a doctor,
and then we can sell doctor.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
You and I are on two two totally different like paths.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
So food facts that will blow your biscuit? Okay, hit,
let's get into some food facts that are gonna blow
your biscuit.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I don't understand you got so angry at that story.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Because I hate when I hear things like, oh, they
got an investment and now it's an a least point
five billion dollar valuation.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You know what, one day babe story?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
All right, So could be jealousy.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
I think it is.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I can't even value my shoes more than three dollars.
I'm gonna go take a nap, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So what's a food fact that'll blow your biscuit?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Did you know that cheese is the most stolen food
in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I wonder how that is. Are they stealing it from
the producer? Are they stealing it like at Whole Foods?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Probably off the shelf.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Do you know what's so funny? I was over it.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I was at Whole Foods the other day and I
was with the kids and Jack ripped one right, and
we were walking by the cheese aisle and this lady
was like, oh my gosh, this cheese is so right,
But it was really just Jack ripping one.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Are you serious?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Well no, I kind of made that story up, but
it's funny, did you know?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
So?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, cheese has stolen a lot.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Cheese is also one of the most illegally like transported
items because of like the pastization process.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
There's a huge underground. I really was trade talked about this,
not here cheese.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
We should, you know, next episode, we should talk about
the black market cheese trade.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Or just any black market foods, like the Devil's Picnic.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
It was actually a book about that, but I still
think it's a memorable name.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
All Right. Do you know that spam was invented in Minnesota,
not Hawaii.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I did not know that because.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I feel like I even thought that.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, and so you said nineteen seventy five it was
nineteen thirty, So.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So I said nineteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Second, I had.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Heard nineteen seventy five. I was like, that's weird. So
it was for World War two because then they could
pack it. Well, that wasn't ultimately why they developed it.
Why did they develop it?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So it was developed to utilize pork shoulder, a less
desirable cut, and was introduced as an inexpensive meat product.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Spam is so why the Hawaiian piece? I don't know,
because in World War Two there were so many soldiers
that were stationed in Hawaii, and therefore they were shipping
it out to the soldiers and it probably permeated the
local grocery.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
That that makes sense, all connecting.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Okay, we used to do a spam pineapple and shrimp
taco off the food truck years ago. That was like
people would drive miles for that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
People love spam.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, do you I.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Don't mind it? Like I'd pan fry it and have
it with like an egg.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Would you like go out of your way to bite
it at the store right now?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
No? But I might today. I think we should do
spam recipes later. We're shooting for the holidays. I'm on
a fast you're we're shooting today, we're doing food videos today,
and Lauren just happens to be on the water fast.
What are we gonna do like like a water tasting, Like,
my gosh, this this uh Voltaire water is so much
better than the avon.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
There's only said.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Paw should I it would a fast be beneficial if
I stop at like eighteen hours?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, it's an intermittent fasting.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I don't think that your body's like, oh I said
nineteen hours, it's eighteen Like, let's turn it all around.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It's supposed to be tweent, three pounds whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
It's all relative.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
So Sweet Greens is opening its first drive through location
with an automated make line.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So that's robots, which they already have.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
So I went to a Sweet Green the other day
and they have somebody working there, but nobody's actually making
your food for you.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So how are they doing it?
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So they have all of these almost like dispensers of
you know, say like the vegetables, the chicken whatever, you know,
the grains, and so say I pick out a bowl
and I want kinwa and chicken or whatever it is,
and then the bowlt gets set up on this line
and it goes down and they fill it for it.
Is it an arm like what fills It's just like
a dispenser. So yeah, it's like on a like a
(22:38):
belt almost, and it goes across and it fills in
like what you put on your order. So it's kind
of cool. I didn't really like it because I was
in store and I wanted to like have a person
make this for me, you know what I mean. Yeah, So,
I mean I guess like the drive through is not
that big of a deal, but I'm assuming they're going
to have a cashier. It's not just going to be
like all automated, is it.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
No, that's whole thing, Like you still need the human element.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Food hasn't caught up with the AI as other manufacturing has,
although i'd.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Like to see it do.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
So I just think that that's this is one industry
where like the artist is always going to be required,
the culinary artist. In certain types of food, fast food
or this kind of dump and stir or fast casual food,
you can prepare the food ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Maybe a human does that, and then.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
As you say, the dispensing can be done in an
automated manner. But I just don't see how this happens
on a grander scale.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well, maybe we should go visit it and then we'll
tell all the listeners about it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, we should. We should visit it.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, let's visit it. Let's talk about cooking tips. I
want to sharpen your skills today. Do you have anything
for me or you want me to jump right there?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
You jump in and I'll go after all right.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
So somebody asked me the other day, like, I love
cooking with butter, but butter burn so easily.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
The reason butter burns is because there's milk solids in there.
If you're using gee, which is clarified butter, where you
cook out the milk solids in the water, then it's
going to have a much higher smoke point or burn point.
So there's two different tricks and tips that you can use.
Number One, I finished with butter. I don't always cook
with butter. If you are cooking with butter and you
want it to have a higher smoke point, what you
can do is you can take room temperature butter and
(24:07):
you can actually drizzle in like a little bit of
extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil. If you're trying
to go seed oil free, and that will increase the
smoke point.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Of the butter. So that's a little tip or a
trick right there.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
So you can have the butter that you cook with
that you mix in like one part avocado or olive
oil into the butter, and then you can have the
butter that you finish with to give it that mounted
rich mouthfield at the end, which is known as Monte Albert,
although I should say one of my eighty six is
a couple of weeks ago or these silly French terms,
so I should just say mountain with butter. Another trick
(24:37):
is that people keep asking me like do I start
this vegetable in cold water or boiling hot water? And
the thing that we learned in culinary school is if
it grows underground, started in a cold pan. So any tubular,
any vegetable that grows underground, potatoes, beats, turnups, routebaga, celer react,
any of these, but primarily potatoes. For those of you
(24:57):
doing a basic cooking, you start those in cold wa
water and then you put the heat on and you
slowly bring it up to a boil. If it's grown
above ground, that's where you blanche it in boiling hot water.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So that's that's the trick right there.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
All right. I have a little cooking tip, give me one,
all right, So preheat the sheet tray. Yep, yeah, right.
So a lot of people just throw on what they're
cooking on the sheet tray and put it in the oven.
So if you do that, if you preheat your sheet tray,
it will start the cooking process immediately when you add
your food, resulting in faster cooking and better browning.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I love it, absolutely love it. We got to get
people in the kitchen more. This is the problem with
nutrition and diet in Americas. People aren't cooking their own foods,
and it's all of that process food that's getting into
your diet, all the chemicals, and that's what's making people sick.
I always say that twenty percent of the federal budget
goes towards healthcare, you know, which ultimately goes back to food,
because so much of what we're dealing with from a
healthcare perspective is chronic disease. It's actually fifty percent now
(25:53):
in the last budget, fifty percent somehow related to healthcare.
Now that could be like Medicaid, Medicare, et cetera. But
I thought that was an interesting number that I just
wanted to update there. So I want to eighty six
a few things today. The first one, though, is I
am so over these kind of like kitchy menu items
that are all sex related.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Right, It's good because I don't I haven't seen him
any way.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I saw a menu the other day, and like they
pop up on social media, it'll be like like then, okay,
oh god, like the food truck that's you know, fu,
It'll be like I'm the phu king, right, you see
what I'm saying, or like, you know this one menu
that was a bar menu, it was like, you know,
the nut in your mouth sandwich and it was a
peanut butter burger or something along those lines.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's actually cross, I know.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But it's it's like it's gotten so old. It's just
it's very slapstick. I don't love it. I don't think
it's cool. Maybe I'm the old man now, like that's
you know.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
A lot of things I don't agree with anymore, and
I'm like, oh my gosh, is this what getting older is?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Like? That's why I saw the meme the other day.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
It was like it took me to be forty five
years old to realize that Clark Ridgswold actually is not crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
He's all of us.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, like the Christmas vacation when he's standing there with
the chainsaw and he's screaming like, I'm like, oh my god,
that actually, Like when I was a kid, I'd be
like that guy's nuts.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Now I'm like totally.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Empathized with totally totally yes. Okay, so my eighty six
it yep, not food related again. But verification codes. Oh
my god. Why every time I go to log into anything,
I need a verification code And then like half the
time I can't get into my email and it's just annoying.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I forget all my verification.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Codes or I forget my passwords that we should talk
to somebody and it's and I trust.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Your password is poopoo twenty three. Why do you forget that?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
It used to be something stupid like that, but not anymore.
I've learned my lesson. And then also la boo boos?
Do you know what a la booboo is?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
The kids went, So I went to New York City
with the boys last week before I was shooting Gupheld,
and they were we were driving into the city and
Jack starts screaming.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
He's like, ll boo boo, there are these creepy monster dolls.
But I'm not worried about it for kids, Like, I
don't care if your kid likes boo, that's fine. It's
the adults that are like die hard La booboo freaks
that will stand in line to get like the latest
edition La booboo seeah, and they'll and then they'll clip
them to their purses and stuff. It's so weird.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I thought when you said la boo boo, I thought
it was like some sort of a midnight scene, like
a We're gonna do the La Boo Boo.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Tonight, no, and it has like, you know, celebrity, what
a la boo boo boo? Is that a dance?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I don't know the boo boo anyway.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
It's just really ridiculous and they're so expensive and then
people are like buying them and then selling them on
eBay or whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Can you give me like a twenty second overview on
what a la booboo is because I'm still hung up
on the boo boo.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
La boo boo. It's a creepy doll.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Okay, that's it. That's why I want to know. So
it's a doll.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
It's a doll, but it's like a monster doll. It's
a collectible plush toy. Do you know how wait hold
on with a mischievous, devilish but cute monster appearance.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Okay, that's weird.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, actually sounds like me on our first date. So
the going into the holidays, there's always like a big
push for some toy or doll. Do you remember for
us it was like remember tickle Me Elmo? Nobody could
get their hands on a tickle Elm.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They were so popular. I remember my sister got one
for Christmas and I was so mad.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I always thought the tickle Me Elmo was weird. I
was like, there's this thing that's like tickle me like.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
But why was that the thing? Why were people like
I remember my sister got it. I mean she has
four years younger than.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Me, but well how old was she when she got it? Twenty?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, we were little. I was little. I was probably
she was probably like four and I was maybe eight.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Like what happened to the like for me, it was
when like the Nintendo Entertainment System, the original NES that
was a big deal no, Sega sega. When that sold out,
I was upset, Like I really had no issue with
selling out.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Well, you're a boy. I don't think you would want
an Elmo talk.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I think that's the pills. Very dope boy.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I don't know what you sound like right now, but.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Just I get stuck on these voices and this is
all she's gonna hear.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
For the rest of the day. So annoying. Okay, I'm
not even going to bring up what it was, but
you and our nephew were saying something for days. It
was when we were traveling and you guys overheard it
on the intercom and then wouldn't stop talking for like
a week straight on our family vacation.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Do you remember please remove before directed to exit. Please
remove your seatbelt before direction.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I literally want no no. It was bad all day.
Everywhere we went.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
I was like, show you know what speaking of nephews
and family. The holidays are coming up. Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, you want to give me a Thanksgiving tip?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I threw you on the spot on that one Thanksgiving tip.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, buy your turkey now.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yes, definitely buy your turkey now. You can pre order
from the stult.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And try and get a heritage bird try and get
a more local bird. So people don't realize this is
but the birds that they sell for Thanksgiving are actually
genetically modified to have be They're called like double broad
breasted birds. That's actually the double broad Yeah, it's that's
actually the like the technical name for the bird. I
thought that was the name of like a strip club
and those birds because people don't like dark meat, so
(31:00):
at some point, like the Turkey Manufacturing.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Association, so they like created a bird with double the breasts.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yeah, I mean that's kind of that's kind of like
women in the nineties and the early two thousands is
no different thing.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I wonder if big boobs are going to come back.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Oh boy, this just went on.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I'm sorry. Well, you know, trends, they come and go. Yeah,
and the thin trend is back, the like heroin chic
trend is back.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Oh that was the Kate Moss trend from the early.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And then it went heroin chic to big boobs. So
I wonder if the big big bopples are going.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
To come back.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I think it's going to be big boobs on men,
but not like men who are pretending to be women.
I just think, like general genuine men with like really
big boobs.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Okay okay.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
So on that note, the chick the birds, like, if
you want the dark meat, now's the time to get
a good heritage bird.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I don't like the white.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Meat nobody likes.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
And we're going to go into cooking technique on the
birds in the next episode. But now's the time look
for heritage Like call up your local storm, like, do
you have any heritage birds, because in many cases those
birds are not actually in high demand because people want
the double barrel breasted booby birds. So you're gonna be
able to pick up the heritage birds early and it's frozen,
which is totally fine. Because they're frozen properly, you'll be
able to get them for a discount. Now, who we
(32:12):
covered a lot today. We covered, I mean we went
We started off with snap benefit fraud, spam, tended get drama,
and we ended with the big, double barrel bested, big
boob birds. And on that note, make sure you follow
us on social media. I'm at Chef Gruel on X.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
And I'm at Lauren Gruel.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I'm on Instagram, I'm at Andrew Gruhl.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And I'm at Lauren Underscore Girl and make sure to
subscribe to our podcast, share it with your friends, give
us your what the F stories.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
What the four?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Just so you don't think Laura I literally was like,
oh gosh with that one.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Well, thanks for hanging out with us here on American Gravy.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
All right, guys, we will see you soon.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
We're going to be back next week with more stories
to feed the soul and probably make you hungry.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
So till then,
Welcome back to another episode of American Gravy, the only
show where we mix food, family, and freedom in the
same pot and somehow don't burn it. Well mostly right, Andrew,
I burn it a little bit, a little bit. I
am Lauren Gruhl.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And I'm Chef Andrew Gruel.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And whether it's a shared meal or a shared moment,
every story adds flavor to the table.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You didn't say welcome home because I don't.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Like the welcome home. It seems a little cheesy.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
So weird. Welcome home.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Come on, they're not here with us, Yeah, they are.
If anything, we're in their home.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Close your eyes and imagine laying on our couch. Oh,
tell us your food problems. Well, speaking of food problems,
today we're going to be covering snap benefit frauds, spam cheese,
and a little bit of vegan drama and more. Of course,
And by the way, I should call out make sure
that you follow.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Us on social media. I'm on X at Chef.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Gruel and I'm at Lauren Gruel.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm on Instagram at Andrew Groul.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And I'm at Lauren Underscore Gruel.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
And make sure you uscribe to our substack. American gravy.
On substack, we're giving recipes, cooking videos, just general cooking it.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You have to subscribe right now. Andrew is just busting
out all sorts of Thanksgiving recipes.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Oh I'm going crazy now the time. It's like I'm
doing a little tap dance on there every day. One
two three two hut two jiga ming mungbou.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I love when you do that.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah you do.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
All right, Let's cut to our first story. What the fork?
All right? So this is a vegan restaurant owner is
slammed after adding but boom meat to her menu.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I'm sorry I find humor in this one, actually, So I.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Mean that's pretty intense because I understand why people are mad.
So this vegan restaurant was like, hey, we've got to
add chicken and fish to our menu because we just
can't make it otherwise. And there is a cult, like understandably.
So I'm not saying this in a bad way. It's
not a pejorative. People who are devoted vegans right for
ethical reasons and then for health reasons, and many times
for both by the vegan mantra. So they go to
(02:00):
these restaurants not even just for the food, but for
the fact that they're trying to support an owner who
has similar viewpoints exactly. So I think that the reason
why they had it there was an uproar is because
they feel betrayed.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Well, I yes, I could see why they're upset, right,
because I feel like if you go to a just
a like say our restaurant, and then we had like
a vegan option on the menu, it's not like that's
not as bad as like going straight from like vegan,
you know, cruelty free people. That's what they say to
then adding you know, chicken and fish on the menu.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
However, I will say I think with some of our
customers if we did have a vegan option, they would
get angry, but they wouldn't be in an uproar. They'd
be like, why are you pandering too the vegle Well.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
It's funny. So Ashley Cone, the owner and operator of
the vegan and gluten free restaurant Good Beat and Had
in Township, announced a quote plot twist on social media
last month.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh that's how she announced it was a plot.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yes, and so she said, you know, we're keeping our
menu the same, but we're adding local, organic, pastorised chicken
or wild caught jail islands.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Jail island.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I don't know what jail island is. We have to
look into.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's kind of Funny's where they keep the salmon in jail.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, so it's just for a protein.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So they're gonna get sued by the aclu on that one.
I think it would have been funnier if she said
it's a fleshy sizzle a flesh. No too soon, That
is funny. So we actually owned like we owned a
restaurant that we opened in Irvine years ago, and it
was in this kind of like business focused food hall area.
We had a chicken restaurant, but then next to it
as well, we had a plant based restaurant. And the
(03:29):
idea wasn't to introduce alternative proteins. We weren't doing like
soy and Tampei and or sorry Tofu Tempe. We weren't
doing the beyond burgers or any of that. There's more
of just like a celebration of vegetables. I actually love vegetables,
and I think that we're relegated so often, just like
carrots and zucchini and broccoli, vegetable medley, right like the
(03:49):
bird's eye frozen medley people don't realize the bounty of vegetables,
especially in California that we have. We work with a
wonderful vegetable provider, Melissa's World Variety Produce, and they're always
introducing these fun, unique veggies, like you know, the Romanesque cauliflowers.
There's like twenty different types of cauliflowers. So we said,
why don't we open a restaurant where we highlight a
lot of these great vegetables and we'll do bowls with
(04:11):
like fun sauces quinois. The veggies we did, like that
fire roasted burger, We did the veggie poutine, fries.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
We did the black bean burger. Yeah, it was phenomenal.
So we geared it towards We said our restaurant was.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
What was where meat eaters and plant lovers unite? No,
we said, we're vegans and meat eaters unite.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I don't know, something like a vegan restaurant for meat eaters.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You see, this wasn't very memorable for many, but I'll
say this on the economics of it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We had like a devoted base of customers.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Every day they would come in and the majority of
them were vegan, and we did have a lot of
meat eaters too that came in and we're like, I
just want I want this because it tastes so good.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Like our black bean veggie burger.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Was to die for.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It was phenomenal, and our bowls were so good. We
had avocado fries, you remember, we had a lot of
fun stuff there in our sauces.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
No, we called them avocado bombs. Oh.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I injected them with sauce before I breaded them, and
then we deep fried them and we serve them with this.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Like we need to, you know what, we should bring
some of this to Calico.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
But the point is, the point is is that even
though we had like the same fifteen customers coming back
day in and day out, there was such a small
subset of vegans or plant based diners to choose from
in the general area that we financially couldn't make it, Like,
we couldn't get our sales high enough by penetrating that audience.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So she even says that, you know, vegan restaurants aren't
like such a destination anymore, right, exactly. And a lot
of people I know a lot personally, a lot of
people who were vegan who are now like carnivore.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Well, yeah, they go from one extrame.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, so well in any.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Case, So that was kind of a funny WTF story.
And sorry about losing butterlyaf Maybe we'll bring it back
some day. I love another WTF what the folk story?
So Cinnabon is now selling wrapping paper that it literally
smells like cinnamon.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Rolls, which I don't think you can eat it. But
I was telling Andrew, I'm like, okay, but what about
like your you have like pets and like the dog
think it's like a tree and they're just like eating
your paper.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Or furthermore, what if you have kids who like pets?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, probably our kids would, but like ants would ants
come in play? You have an obsession with me because
we've been getting ants because of the rain and it's drive.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
The other day, I was eating a piece of bread
and like a crumb dropped on the counter.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Lords like the ants are.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Coming No, okay, And we have a like playroom ish thing.
I go in there last night speaking of ants, and
I shake out a blanket that was like on the floor.
All these crumbs fly out because our son was eating
a sandwich. Somehow he meant to get half the sandwich
bread onto this blanket, and then there was a cluster
(06:47):
of ants and I'm like, I give up. I give
up in our house.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
And I think it's important because we're in the group
setting right now, so I feel safe saying this. The
sun that you're referring to, eating the sandwich in the
blanket on.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
The floor would be forty five was your husband, and
it was me. I needed a loane time.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It was the only area in which I could eat
the sandwich, because every time I try and eat a sandwich,
the minute I sit down with a sandwich, it's oh,
can you come do this?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Can you do this?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
No?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Or the kids are like can you make me one?
I just want to eat my sandwich.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
There's nothing worse than sitting down. You've sliced a sandwich
corner to corner, and you're ready to take that first bite,
and then someone's like, hey, can you grab me the
orange juice? Or or there's a knock on the door. Yeah,
and it's somebody that wants to talk politics. No.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Just speaking of being a parent, like, do you ever
feel like you sit down when you're at home?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
No? I argue about it, I complain about.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
It all like, I don't sit down. I'm like, even
when I drop the kids off at school and say
I'm having like a day at home. This is totally
going off topic, but I will realize, oh my gosh,
it's time to pick up the kids from school, and
I have not sat down for one second.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Because you were laying down because you were sleeping.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I wish that was the case. No, I'm usually cleaning
up my forty five year old child's mess mam mach.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So that brings me to another off off topic point.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Lauren can't take naps, breaking my nap.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm saying this to the listeners. Can you nap?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I mean, let's hear their answers, But I can't see here.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
One person's already just called ending, Yes, I love napping.
See we've got one and another person.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I can't nap.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
The only time I can nap is when I'm sick.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
He knows. Andrew knows. He goes, oh gosh, you're sick,
you're napping.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I can take a nap. I can sit down on him.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
He's the annoying person that could close his eyes and
he's asleep. Yes, And I'm like, I will I'm like,
I want to kill him, like.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Seven minute nap. I'll be mid eating a sandwich and
I'll take a nap. I'll be like, okay, it looks
like the kids are.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And I know when he's napping, he'll like go hide
in the office and we have a count.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
This has never come out before. I thought I was hiding.
Now I know that I always do that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
He'll go and I like see his feet on one
end of the couch and he'll like pretend to be
on his laptop and I glance over and his hat
is just covering his eyes and.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Because I'm reading an article on my laptom, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I get really annoyed that he can
fall asleep, so quch.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
She does, and then of course she'll come in and
be like, oh, time to vacuum. I just happen to
want a vacuum right there at three thousand decibels right.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Next to you.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Okay, that is not true. I let you nap. But
then when the kids are like, it's just you know what,
we're not getting into this right now.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I think this is a.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Great segue to talk about snap benefits, because I might
need to be on them after I get.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Thrown out of the house.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So there's been this like this Snap Foo recently with
the Snap benefits. Now, I think it's interesting. Let me
just re kind of like refresh everybody on my perspective
on this. I think people who need help need to
get to help. What I the problem that I have
with the Snap benefits is its corporate welfare because the
only food that's available for people to use the Snap
(09:45):
benefits are in food deserts, right, So most of the
people that are using them are either in rural food
deserts or in inner city food deserts. And what a
food desert is is where there's no grocery stores. The
only thing you can do is go to like a
seven to eleven or convenience store. Nine percent of the
food there is potato, chips, sodas, et cetera. And the
people who make money on those Snap benefits and ultimately
(10:06):
also making you sick are soda, the big food manufacturers,
like the Big five, right, like the Freedo lays, the people,
the chips, et cetera. So people get mad, they're like, oh,
the Snap benefits are only people are only buying junk. Well,
that's the only option of food that they have to buy.
I think we should take the money from Snap benefits
and that we should be giving people real food and
doing it that way. So that's just like my overall
(10:26):
thesis on that. Now, in this Snap debate, a lot
of stories have come out about all of the Snap
fraud that's going on out there. I have a problem
with that because the people who truly need the Snap
benefits are then getting tainted by the people who are
using it for fraudulent purposes.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, look at this, So one hundred and eighty six
thousand deceased men and women and children were receiving a check.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Wait, children disease. That's sad, that's sad.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It's so sad. But almost two hundred thousand people were
receiving quote unquote Snap benefits that aren't even in here.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah. But so where the checks, I.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Mean are their relatives seeing them?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, probably a state or like whoever has the control
over Then if they cash the check, isn't that fraud?
Speaker 1 (11:10):
If there's so much fraud, how can they get everyone?
You know what I mean? If there's so much going on.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
It's leakage, right, Like, there's always going to be a
certain amount that like slips.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Through and that was just in you know, red states,
Republican led states. They haven't even tapped into any of
the Democrat I.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Wouldn't say that even necessarily. That's always a political issue.
I think it's like there's always going to be fraud
across both parties. I mean this voting, this voting issue
here in California where the dog voted that was a
Republican true even though it underscores like certain irregularities with voting,
and we got to stop fix that. Like that wasn't
a particular party, right or it was. It just wasn't
the party that was screaming about it. The snap benefit
(11:50):
piece that I heard was in New Jersey because every
state has like certain there's a national program, but then
they give it to the states to administer the snap benefits.
Because this, I agree with, the federal government should be
in the business of doing that. We need to decrease
the size of the federal government. But in New Jersey
you can roll over your benefits from month to month
up to nine months. There was a video that went
viral on TikTok where the lady called and was on
(12:11):
speakerphone and she was kind of showing off to her friend,
and it said you know your available benefits are, and
it was twenty four nine hundred and fifty two dollars
or something. So basically she had gotten so much. And
I'm like, this is this real or is this fake?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Right?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Because I don't take anything at face value anymore. So
I looked it up and what you can get up
to three or four thousand dollars a month based on
the amount of people in your family.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
This is in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So if you think about it, if you roll that
over for six months, there you go, there's your twenty
four thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I mean, obviously if they truly needed it, they wouldn't
have this large balance. Yeah, you know what I mean, Like,
clearly you don't need it if you're able to save
all this money.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
What was interesting was that there were some people in
the comments that said, well, no, you need to be
because somebody suggested no more rollover, right, like you shouldn't
be able to roll over. And then somebody in the
comment said, well, no, I get like two hundred dollars
a month or one hundred and fifty dollars a month,
and sometimes when I go grocery shopping and I get
a ride because I don't have a car, I need
to buy a ton of groceries that wants frozen foods,
(13:14):
can food, so I need like a three hundred dollars balance.
So in that scenario, that actually does make sense. So
it's almost like there should be a limit on the
rollover amount. If you could put that mechanism or that
that control in place, I think that that would help
prevent some of it. But the bottom line to all
of this is that now the USDA chief says that
everyone has to reapply for snap benefits after all of
(13:37):
this fraud came out now that the government is reopening.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Which I think that they should. I mean, to be honest,
if there's that much fraud, and there's that much you know,
people taking advantage of the system or what have you. Like,
I think, if you truly need it, you should obviously
obviously like you should be able to receive it. But
I feel like when people take advantage and they know
that they don't necessarily need to be on it, and
they continue, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I agree, what's the process going to be like to
reapply if it slows?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I mean, what do they do. Do they cut everyone
off and tell them to reapply? I don't know how
that's thought, and they.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Didn't actually present an issue. I think that like just
generally speaking, yeah, reapply and go through the process to
make sure that you're eligible, so long as it doesn't
hurt the people who like genuinely need them right away.
But that's where the state should step in and say, Okay,
let's say the federal government prevented money from cut from
distilling down to a local level, then either the local
or the county or the state government should step in
(14:30):
and they can subsidize that in the interim. I think
that that would be like the solution instead of pointing
a finger like state government's saying it's the federal government's fault,
the state, the federal government saying it's the state government's fault,
and then they they kind of like divert the responsibility around.
So but then you got the person who needs it.
It's like I don't care whose fault it is. I
need to get my food.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
So yeah, well we'll see how that as us.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Well, we're going to be following this story a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Okay, this is a funny story, kind of shoot so
you know how QVC and HSN were like all the
rage back in the day, like back in the day.
So I mean it still is, but I feel like
not like a like I would never watch it. I
think you have to be at least sixty year older.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You can't watch it because you don't take naps.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Well, we also don't have cable TV, so that's probably
why I don't watch it.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I have a feeling if you'd.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Watch it, probably Okay. So there's a new you know,
a new movement in the shopping world. Okay, so this
is going to be the next trillion dollar industry. Can
you guess what it is?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
I mean I don't know, Like QVC on steroids that
you've got to know.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So it's going to be live selling, so you know,
like where they can shop. So somebody's trying on the
clothes in the store like a live like a stream
like TikTok live okay or Instagram Live.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So I walk into a store, I'm on Instagram Live
and I'm like, hey, I'm over here at j C.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Pennies.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
No, it's like their products, like it's like they have
like an online store, but this person's trying on the clothes.
They're answering questions live like does it you know? How
tall are you? What's your weight? So they can gauge
like is that going to look good on me? Because
online shopping you're kind of guessing, right, like I don't
know if it's going to fit me when I get
it and then you have to return.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So what are you calling in? Like how are you asking?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
No, it's live, like when you go do you not
know what alive is? Okay? When you go on like
Instagram Live and then there's people watching and they're commenting,
they're asking you on the spot questions and you're able to.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Answer most of the time, people don't answer that.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, that's the whole point. They are answering. Okay, Oh
my gosh, Andrew, Well explain this five Okay. So the
CEO of Whatnot it's it's the prime live shop Whatnot?
What the primary live shopping company America just raised two
hundred and twenty five million at an eleven point five
billion valuation. So it sees this ballooning from one hundred
(16:47):
billion dollar market to a trillion dollar market in the
next few years. So do you understand what I'm saying?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So these sellers rotate items in front of the camera,
answering questions, so it's like shot.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's like the experience is more like shopping at a
brick and mortar store without the hassle. Right, it's still online,
still online. You're looking on you're obviously watching your phone
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
So could I be like, oh, hold up the pants again, yes, exactly,
Like oh wait, I just noticed that there's the pants
are buttless.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I don't like those.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Buttless pan chaps. Yeah. So live video is sort of
the best way to bring in person commerce online. So
it's almost like if anyone can set up a brick
and mortar shop anywhere without building building the building, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Oh, and then that those people's Instagram or whatever live
channels will be streamed on this new QVC type network.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's not QVC.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's like TikTok No, but it's going to be on TV.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
No.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, see I don't get it already.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
If I don't get it, then this is the maybe
because you're not where you're gonna where Will I.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Watch this on TikTok So? This is TikTok No, babe,
Oh my gosh, it's TikTok. Read there's an article if
you want to read it.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Okay, So this makes no sense to me, and I
guess the other thing is is that if this is
going to be, how are they valuing this at eleven
point five billion dollars if I don't even understand it
in a simple description.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, Well, I will just say for me, when I'm
watching somebody do their makeup, right, it's not alive. They
are just posting a reel or a video, I'm like, ooh,
that's a pretty color, Like I want to buy.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
It, But what's the company? How are they valuing the company?
What's the asset upon which they get the three eleven
point five billion?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I don't know. We'll have to dive deeper into this story.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Oh, this just gotten tense. I like it for food.
I'm just thinking about ways in which I can do
this for food. People will be like, oh my gosh, no.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You know, we should do it. We should do Oh
my gosh, this is good. We can do a live
cooking video and you could once you come out with
your product.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So when is this?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
How will I get the eleven point five billion dollar valuation?
That's all I care about.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
I have no idea. We're going to need to figure
this out.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
People will be like, oh my gosh, cut that acorn
squash harder. I just want to see if I want
to buy it, and I'll be like, okay, get the
cleaver sat it.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, and then you'd be like, look at this knife
I have niy.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Cut your fingers off, and then be like, I'm a doctor,
and then we can sell doctor.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
You and I are on two two totally different like paths.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
So food facts that will blow your biscuit? Okay, hit,
let's get into some food facts that are gonna blow
your biscuit.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I don't understand you got so angry at that story.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Because I hate when I hear things like, oh, they
got an investment and now it's an a least point
five billion dollar valuation.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You know what, one day babe story?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
All right, So could be jealousy.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
I think it is.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I can't even value my shoes more than three dollars.
I'm gonna go take a nap, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So what's a food fact that'll blow your biscuit?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Did you know that cheese is the most stolen food
in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I wonder how that is. Are they stealing it from
the producer? Are they stealing it like at Whole Foods?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Probably off the shelf.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Do you know what's so funny? I was over it.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I was at Whole Foods the other day and I
was with the kids and Jack ripped one right, and
we were walking by the cheese aisle and this lady
was like, oh my gosh, this cheese is so right,
But it was really just Jack ripping one.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Are you serious?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Well no, I kind of made that story up, but
it's funny, did you know?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
So?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, cheese has stolen a lot.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Cheese is also one of the most illegally like transported
items because of like the pastization process.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
There's a huge underground. I really was trade talked about this,
not here cheese.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
We should, you know, next episode, we should talk about
the black market cheese trade.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Or just any black market foods, like the Devil's Picnic.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
It was actually a book about that, but I still
think it's a memorable name.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
All Right. Do you know that spam was invented in Minnesota,
not Hawaii.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I did not know that because.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I feel like I even thought that.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, and so you said nineteen seventy five it was
nineteen thirty, So.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So I said nineteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Second, I had.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Heard nineteen seventy five. I was like, that's weird. So
it was for World War two because then they could
pack it. Well, that wasn't ultimately why they developed it.
Why did they develop it?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So it was developed to utilize pork shoulder, a less
desirable cut, and was introduced as an inexpensive meat product.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Spam is so why the Hawaiian piece? I don't know,
because in World War Two there were so many soldiers
that were stationed in Hawaii, and therefore they were shipping
it out to the soldiers and it probably permeated the
local grocery.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
That that makes sense, all connecting.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Okay, we used to do a spam pineapple and shrimp
taco off the food truck years ago. That was like
people would drive miles for that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
People love spam.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, do you I.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Don't mind it? Like I'd pan fry it and have
it with like an egg.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Would you like go out of your way to bite
it at the store right now?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
No? But I might today. I think we should do
spam recipes later. We're shooting for the holidays. I'm on
a fast you're we're shooting today, we're doing food videos today,
and Lauren just happens to be on the water fast.
What are we gonna do like like a water tasting, Like,
my gosh, this this uh Voltaire water is so much
better than the avon.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
There's only said.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Paw should I it would a fast be beneficial if
I stop at like eighteen hours?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, it's an intermittent fasting.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I don't think that your body's like, oh I said
nineteen hours, it's eighteen Like, let's turn it all around.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It's supposed to be tweent, three pounds whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
It's all relative.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
So Sweet Greens is opening its first drive through location
with an automated make line.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So that's robots, which they already have.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
So I went to a Sweet Green the other day
and they have somebody working there, but nobody's actually making
your food for you.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So how are they doing it?
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So they have all of these almost like dispensers of
you know, say like the vegetables, the chicken whatever, you know,
the grains, and so say I pick out a bowl
and I want kinwa and chicken or whatever it is,
and then the bowlt gets set up on this line
and it goes down and they fill it for it.
Is it an arm like what fills It's just like
a dispenser. So yeah, it's like on a like a
(22:38):
belt almost, and it goes across and it fills in
like what you put on your order. So it's kind
of cool. I didn't really like it because I was
in store and I wanted to like have a person
make this for me, you know what I mean. Yeah, So,
I mean I guess like the drive through is not
that big of a deal, but I'm assuming they're going
to have a cashier. It's not just going to be
like all automated, is it.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
No, that's whole thing, Like you still need the human element.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Food hasn't caught up with the AI as other manufacturing has,
although i'd.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Like to see it do.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
So I just think that that's this is one industry
where like the artist is always going to be required,
the culinary artist. In certain types of food, fast food
or this kind of dump and stir or fast casual food,
you can prepare the food ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Maybe a human does that, and then.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
As you say, the dispensing can be done in an
automated manner. But I just don't see how this happens
on a grander scale.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well, maybe we should go visit it and then we'll
tell all the listeners about it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, we should. We should visit it.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, let's visit it. Let's talk about cooking tips. I
want to sharpen your skills today. Do you have anything
for me or you want me to jump right there?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
You jump in and I'll go after all right.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
So somebody asked me the other day, like, I love
cooking with butter, but butter burn so easily.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
The reason butter burns is because there's milk solids in there.
If you're using gee, which is clarified butter, where you
cook out the milk solids in the water, then it's
going to have a much higher smoke point or burn point.
So there's two different tricks and tips that you can use.
Number One, I finished with butter. I don't always cook
with butter. If you are cooking with butter and you
want it to have a higher smoke point, what you
can do is you can take room temperature butter and
(24:07):
you can actually drizzle in like a little bit of
extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil. If you're trying
to go seed oil free, and that will increase the
smoke point.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Of the butter. So that's a little tip or a
trick right there.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
So you can have the butter that you cook with
that you mix in like one part avocado or olive
oil into the butter, and then you can have the
butter that you finish with to give it that mounted
rich mouthfield at the end, which is known as Monte Albert,
although I should say one of my eighty six is
a couple of weeks ago or these silly French terms,
so I should just say mountain with butter. Another trick
(24:37):
is that people keep asking me like do I start
this vegetable in cold water or boiling hot water? And
the thing that we learned in culinary school is if
it grows underground, started in a cold pan. So any tubular,
any vegetable that grows underground, potatoes, beats, turnups, routebaga, celer react,
any of these, but primarily potatoes. For those of you
(24:57):
doing a basic cooking, you start those in cold wa
water and then you put the heat on and you
slowly bring it up to a boil. If it's grown
above ground, that's where you blanche it in boiling hot water.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So that's that's the trick right there.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
All right. I have a little cooking tip, give me one,
all right, So preheat the sheet tray. Yep, yeah, right.
So a lot of people just throw on what they're
cooking on the sheet tray and put it in the oven.
So if you do that, if you preheat your sheet tray,
it will start the cooking process immediately when you add
your food, resulting in faster cooking and better browning.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I love it, absolutely love it. We got to get
people in the kitchen more. This is the problem with
nutrition and diet in Americas. People aren't cooking their own foods,
and it's all of that process food that's getting into
your diet, all the chemicals, and that's what's making people sick.
I always say that twenty percent of the federal budget
goes towards healthcare, you know, which ultimately goes back to food,
because so much of what we're dealing with from a
healthcare perspective is chronic disease. It's actually fifty percent now
(25:53):
in the last budget, fifty percent somehow related to healthcare.
Now that could be like Medicaid, Medicare, et cetera. But
I thought that was an interesting number that I just
wanted to update there. So I want to eighty six
a few things today. The first one, though, is I
am so over these kind of like kitchy menu items
that are all sex related.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Right, It's good because I don't I haven't seen him
any way.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I saw a menu the other day, and like they
pop up on social media, it'll be like like then, okay,
oh god, like the food truck that's you know, fu,
It'll be like I'm the phu king, right, you see
what I'm saying, or like, you know this one menu
that was a bar menu, it was like, you know,
the nut in your mouth sandwich and it was a
peanut butter burger or something along those lines.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's actually cross, I know.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But it's it's like it's gotten so old. It's just
it's very slapstick. I don't love it. I don't think
it's cool. Maybe I'm the old man now, like that's
you know.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
A lot of things I don't agree with anymore, and
I'm like, oh my gosh, is this what getting older is?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Like? That's why I saw the meme the other day.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
It was like it took me to be forty five
years old to realize that Clark Ridgswold actually is not crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
He's all of us.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, like the Christmas vacation when he's standing there with
the chainsaw and he's screaming like, I'm like, oh my god,
that actually, Like when I was a kid, I'd be
like that guy's nuts.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Now I'm like totally.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Empathized with totally totally yes. Okay, so my eighty six
it yep, not food related again. But verification codes. Oh
my god. Why every time I go to log into anything,
I need a verification code And then like half the
time I can't get into my email and it's just annoying.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I forget all my verification.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Codes or I forget my passwords that we should talk
to somebody and it's and I trust.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Your password is poopoo twenty three. Why do you forget that?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
It used to be something stupid like that, but not anymore.
I've learned my lesson. And then also la boo boos?
Do you know what a la booboo is?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
The kids went, So I went to New York City
with the boys last week before I was shooting Gupheld,
and they were we were driving into the city and
Jack starts screaming.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
He's like, ll boo boo, there are these creepy monster dolls.
But I'm not worried about it for kids, Like, I
don't care if your kid likes boo, that's fine. It's
the adults that are like die hard La booboo freaks
that will stand in line to get like the latest
edition La booboo seeah, and they'll and then they'll clip
them to their purses and stuff. It's so weird.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I thought when you said la boo boo, I thought
it was like some sort of a midnight scene, like
a We're gonna do the La Boo Boo.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Tonight, no, and it has like, you know, celebrity, what
a la boo boo boo? Is that a dance?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I don't know the boo boo anyway.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
It's just really ridiculous and they're so expensive and then
people are like buying them and then selling them on
eBay or whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Can you give me like a twenty second overview on
what a la booboo is because I'm still hung up
on the boo boo.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
La boo boo. It's a creepy doll.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Okay, that's it. That's why I want to know. So
it's a doll.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
It's a doll, but it's like a monster doll. It's
a collectible plush toy. Do you know how wait hold
on with a mischievous, devilish but cute monster appearance.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Okay, that's weird.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, actually sounds like me on our first date. So
the going into the holidays, there's always like a big
push for some toy or doll. Do you remember for
us it was like remember tickle Me Elmo? Nobody could
get their hands on a tickle Elm.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They were so popular. I remember my sister got one
for Christmas and I was so mad.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I always thought the tickle Me Elmo was weird. I
was like, there's this thing that's like tickle me like.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
But why was that the thing? Why were people like
I remember my sister got it. I mean she has
four years younger than.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Me, but well how old was she when she got it? Twenty?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, we were little. I was little. I was probably
she was probably like four and I was maybe eight.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Like what happened to the like for me, it was
when like the Nintendo Entertainment System, the original NES that
was a big deal no, Sega sega. When that sold out,
I was upset, Like I really had no issue with
selling out.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Well, you're a boy. I don't think you would want
an Elmo talk.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I think that's the pills. Very dope boy.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I don't know what you sound like right now, but.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Just I get stuck on these voices and this is
all she's gonna hear.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
For the rest of the day. So annoying. Okay, I'm
not even going to bring up what it was, but
you and our nephew were saying something for days. It
was when we were traveling and you guys overheard it
on the intercom and then wouldn't stop talking for like
a week straight on our family vacation.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Do you remember please remove before directed to exit. Please
remove your seatbelt before direction.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I literally want no no. It was bad all day.
Everywhere we went.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
I was like, show you know what speaking of nephews
and family. The holidays are coming up. Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, you want to give me a Thanksgiving tip?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I threw you on the spot on that one Thanksgiving tip.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, buy your turkey now.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yes, definitely buy your turkey now. You can pre order
from the stult.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And try and get a heritage bird try and get
a more local bird. So people don't realize this is
but the birds that they sell for Thanksgiving are actually
genetically modified to have be They're called like double broad
breasted birds. That's actually the double broad Yeah, it's that's
actually the like the technical name for the bird. I
thought that was the name of like a strip club
and those birds because people don't like dark meat, so
(31:00):
at some point, like the Turkey Manufacturing.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Association, so they like created a bird with double the breasts.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yeah, I mean that's kind of that's kind of like
women in the nineties and the early two thousands is
no different thing.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I wonder if big boobs are going to come back.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Oh boy, this just went on.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I'm sorry. Well, you know, trends, they come and go. Yeah,
and the thin trend is back, the like heroin chic
trend is back.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Oh that was the Kate Moss trend from the early.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And then it went heroin chic to big boobs. So
I wonder if the big big bopples are going.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
To come back.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I think it's going to be big boobs on men,
but not like men who are pretending to be women.
I just think, like general genuine men with like really
big boobs.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Okay okay.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
So on that note, the chick the birds, like, if
you want the dark meat, now's the time to get
a good heritage bird.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I don't like the white.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Meat nobody likes.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
And we're going to go into cooking technique on the
birds in the next episode. But now's the time look
for heritage Like call up your local storm, like, do
you have any heritage birds, because in many cases those
birds are not actually in high demand because people want
the double barrel breasted booby birds. So you're gonna be
able to pick up the heritage birds early and it's frozen,
which is totally fine. Because they're frozen properly, you'll be
able to get them for a discount. Now, who we
(32:12):
covered a lot today. We covered, I mean we went
We started off with snap benefit fraud, spam, tended get drama,
and we ended with the big, double barrel bested, big
boob birds. And on that note, make sure you follow
us on social media. I'm at Chef Gruel on X.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
And I'm at Lauren Gruel.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I'm on Instagram, I'm at Andrew Gruhl.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And I'm at Lauren Underscore Girl and make sure to
subscribe to our podcast, share it with your friends, give
us your what the F stories.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
What the four?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Just so you don't think Laura I literally was like,
oh gosh with that one.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Well, thanks for hanging out with us here on American Gravy.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
All right, guys, we will see you soon.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
We're going to be back next week with more stories
to feed the soul and probably make you hungry.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
So till then,
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
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Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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