Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
This is later with Lee Matthews theLee Matthews Podcast More what you hear Weekday
Afternoon's on the Drive. Andrew Freemanis the author of Chef's Drugs and Rock
and Roll. How food Lovers,free spirits, misfits and Wanderers created a
new American profession. He also isthe producer and host of the independent podcast
Andrew Talks to Chefs. His newestbook is called The Dish, The Lives
(00:27):
and Labor behind One Plate of Food. Andrew Friedman, you say after this
book, you'll never look at arestaurant meal the same way again. How
so, Well, what we doin the book, thank you for having
me, by the way, iswe take one dish at a restaurant in
Chicago, and we look at allthe people whose lives and work come together
(00:51):
on that single plate of food.So you get to meet at the restaurant
everybody from the dishwasher to the linecooks, to the sioux chefs, to
the chef owners, to the server. And then I also went out in
the field. I interviewed all thefarmers who's wares show up on the plate,
everyone from meat purveyors to produce farmersto even a winery because there's a
(01:15):
red wine production on the dish,and the book is told during a restaurant's
service, from which we break awayinto those profiles, so you also get
a very intimate look at the innerworkings of a restaurant, how something goes
from your order being spoken to aserver to your food arriving at your table.
We track the entire logistical process,so people are going to learn,
(01:41):
I think, unless I miss something, literally everything there is to know about
how food gets from a farm toyour plate. This is particularly timely because
people during the pandemic would go totheir favorite restaurant and sometimes the items they
wanted were no longer available, andthis look at the supply chain is probably
going to explain and why it verymuch does. There are moments in the
(02:04):
book where the supply chain issue andalso what became known as the Great Resignation.
You know, a lot of peopleleft the restaurant industry and other industries
during COVID when they had all thistime and to sit back and reflect,
But there are moments in the bookwhere that situation kind of rears its head,
and you also get a sense ofthe things that can go wrong that
(02:29):
maybe people never think about. Youknow, there's a there's a meat purveyor
at one point who talks about howmuch he has to spend as a small
independent versus what large companies spend becausethey get a break for the volume of
it on shipping boxes. I mean, that's something nobody probably thinks about.
But a related issue is if youcan't get shipping boxes, you can't ship
(02:53):
your meat. My book actually gotpublished a few months later to take this
to a metal line level that itwas originally scheduled to because there was a
paper shortage. The dish, thelives and labor behind one plate of food.
Andrew Friedman you know him from hisbook Chef's Drugs and Rock and Roll
and his podcast as well, andwhen worlds collide, which often happens in
(03:19):
the world of food. Oh absolutely, you know, we do get to
see how these seemingly disconnected fields cometogether. I mean, for me,
one of the great links in thebook, and it's actually my favorite thing
in the book personally, because it'sthe thing I learned the most about is
(03:42):
I spent a day with a truckdriver who delivers food ingredients from one of
the area farms outside Chicago. Theyare about fifty minutes outside Chicago and Marengo,
Illinois, And I met him attwo thirty in the morning and spent
a day with him as he deliveredproduce to maybe about fifteen restaurants in the
(04:03):
Chicago area. Again, this isa job most people probably don't think about.
He's the one who collides those worldsand it's a fascinating job. I
will never again be upset as aNew Yorker if I see a delivery truck
double parked, because you know,one of the things I learned was there's
(04:25):
nowhere in major cities really for someoneto put a truck while they're bringing produce
or whatever else into a place ofbusiness, and it's an incredibly difficult,
spontaneous, quick on your feet kindof job. The other thing I find
interesting is just you know, allthe restaurant that I profile is in the
(04:45):
city, and all of these farmersobviously, you know, they're all between
forty five minutes and three hours fromwhere the restaurant sits, but they're all
in very rural areas, and youknow, the personality types, very often,
the politics, just the lives thatthe farmers lead versus the lives that
the people that they service lead arethose are very much two different worlds,
(05:13):
and it was very stunning to me. Not that I wasn't aware of this,
but I made all my farm visitsover the course of one week from
my hub, which was in Chicagothat week, and to see to just
constantly be reminded of the very differentlives led between restauranteurs and chefs and cooks
(05:34):
and the people they do business withis quite stark. But I hastened to
add they all get along great.They all get's a very intimate working relationship
between farms and restaurants. The nameof the book is the Dish, the
lives and labor behind one plate offood. Andrew Friedman is the chef and
the author as well. What wasthe number one thing you learned from putting
(05:56):
this all together, addition to whatI've just said about the truck driver,
which was just I'm embarrassed to say, a job I never thought much about.
You know, the commonalities in lifestory between a lot of people in
the restaurant industry and the people whoservice the rest for an industry are very
(06:18):
similar. I mean, we've knownfor a long time through the writings of
people like Anthony Bourdain and and I'mnot comparing myself to Tony, but you
know, some of the work I'vedone in my colleagues that a lot of
people who just don't really fit anywhereelse in the world kind of end up
in kitchens. It's just it's justthe way it works. And that proves
(06:40):
to be in a lot of cases, very true of people who are working
on farms, people who are producingother things for restaurants. Again, this
delivery driver, who had a veryinteresting professional career, never really pondered even
going into an office job. Justisn't metabolically suited for it. And that
(07:02):
is something they very much have incommon with chefs and cooks. You know,
these are people who very much withlife that most of us, you
know, most even me as awriter. I mean, I spend my
day at a desk, you know, I spend my day not that differently
the logistics of it, you know, from someone who works at an insurance
(07:25):
firm, But these people very muchlive a life that's you know, out
of the public eye, that kindof goes to its own rhythm, that
has its own hours. You know, farmers are up very early and their
day ends relatively early as well.You know, cooks very often start their
day in the afternoon and end atmidnight. They were kind of all living
(07:46):
in their own world. And thatagain, it's not that I didn't know
it, but to see it writlarge in real life, and over the
course of the two weeks I spenttraveling around and interviewing people was quite stunning.
And he puts it all down inhis book, Andrew Friedman's Creation The
Dish, the lifes and labor behindone plate of food. I like to
(08:09):
cook, I like to eat,and I love this behind the scenes kind
of thing might even confirm Andrew whenpeople say, oh, Lee, you
need to open a restaurant, WhyI have not. Yes, Well,
it's very hard work. And also, you know, it's the finances,
as we all learned at the beginningof the pandemic. Well, when all
(08:31):
of a sudden, restaurants were shuddering, you know, in record time,
and everyone started to learn about themargins. You know, a lot of
restaurants function function on a profit marginsomewhere between three and five percent. You
know, a lot a lot ofthese places when when the lockdown happened,
they didn't even have enough money inthe bank. To make one payroll or
(08:52):
one rent payment. You know,that was a big educational moment for the
rest of us. And you knowthat's in addition to how hard the work
is. You know, I havea friend who likes to say that,
as with live theater, to therestaurant business is a show, must go
on kind of business. You know, one person doesn't show up, or
(09:16):
the dishwashing department goes down during aservice or falls behind, or delivery doesn't
make it when it was supposed to, or like you said earlier, supply
issues and the ripple effect. Imean, if just one item doesn't show
up at your restaurant, you mayhave to alter your menu. You may
have to not just change what you'recooking, but you you know, your
(09:37):
staff has to adjust to that,and you may have to reprint your menu
on the same day. And thisis a constant fact of life in that
industry. It is not the sameas throwing a dinner party by any means.
The dish, the lives and laborbehind one plate of food. Andrew
Friedman, thank you for joining usand we'll enjoy your book. Thank you
(09:58):
so much for having me. Thanksfor listening to Later with Lee Matthews,
The Lee Matthews Podcast, and rememberto listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons
from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation
This is later with Lee Matthews theLee Matthews Podcast More what you hear Weekday
Afternoon's on the Drive. Andrew Freemanis the author of Chef's Drugs and Rock
and Roll. How food Lovers,free spirits, misfits and Wanderers created a
new American profession. He also isthe producer and host of the independent podcast
Andrew Talks to Chefs. His newestbook is called The Dish, The Lives
(00:27):
and Labor behind One Plate of Food. Andrew Friedman, you say after this
book, you'll never look at arestaurant meal the same way again. How
so, Well, what we doin the book, thank you for having
me, by the way, iswe take one dish at a restaurant in
Chicago, and we look at allthe people whose lives and work come together
(00:51):
on that single plate of food.So you get to meet at the restaurant
everybody from the dishwasher to the linecooks, to the sioux chefs, to
the chef owners, to the server. And then I also went out in
the field. I interviewed all thefarmers who's wares show up on the plate,
everyone from meat purveyors to produce farmersto even a winery because there's a
(01:15):
red wine production on the dish,and the book is told during a restaurant's
service, from which we break awayinto those profiles, so you also get
a very intimate look at the innerworkings of a restaurant, how something goes
from your order being spoken to aserver to your food arriving at your table.
We track the entire logistical process,so people are going to learn,
(01:41):
I think, unless I miss something, literally everything there is to know about
how food gets from a farm toyour plate. This is particularly timely because
people during the pandemic would go totheir favorite restaurant and sometimes the items they
wanted were no longer available, andthis look at the supply chain is probably
going to explain and why it verymuch does. There are moments in the
(02:04):
book where the supply chain issue andalso what became known as the Great Resignation.
You know, a lot of peopleleft the restaurant industry and other industries
during COVID when they had all thistime and to sit back and reflect,
But there are moments in the bookwhere that situation kind of rears its head,
and you also get a sense ofthe things that can go wrong that
(02:29):
maybe people never think about. Youknow, there's a there's a meat purveyor
at one point who talks about howmuch he has to spend as a small
independent versus what large companies spend becausethey get a break for the volume of
it on shipping boxes. I mean, that's something nobody probably thinks about.
But a related issue is if youcan't get shipping boxes, you can't ship
(02:53):
your meat. My book actually gotpublished a few months later to take this
to a metal line level that itwas originally scheduled to because there was a
paper shortage. The dish, thelives and labor behind one plate of food.
Andrew Friedman you know him from hisbook Chef's Drugs and Rock and Roll
and his podcast as well, andwhen worlds collide, which often happens in
(03:19):
the world of food. Oh absolutely, you know, we do get to
see how these seemingly disconnected fields cometogether. I mean, for me,
one of the great links in thebook, and it's actually my favorite thing
in the book personally, because it'sthe thing I learned the most about is
(03:42):
I spent a day with a truckdriver who delivers food ingredients from one of
the area farms outside Chicago. Theyare about fifty minutes outside Chicago and Marengo,
Illinois, And I met him attwo thirty in the morning and spent
a day with him as he deliveredproduce to maybe about fifteen restaurants in the
(04:03):
Chicago area. Again, this isa job most people probably don't think about.
He's the one who collides those worldsand it's a fascinating job. I
will never again be upset as aNew Yorker if I see a delivery truck
double parked, because you know,one of the things I learned was there's
(04:25):
nowhere in major cities really for someoneto put a truck while they're bringing produce
or whatever else into a place ofbusiness, and it's an incredibly difficult,
spontaneous, quick on your feet kindof job. The other thing I find
interesting is just you know, allthe restaurant that I profile is in the
(04:45):
city, and all of these farmersobviously, you know, they're all between
forty five minutes and three hours fromwhere the restaurant sits, but they're all
in very rural areas, and youknow, the personality types, very often,
the politics, just the lives thatthe farmers lead versus the lives that
the people that they service lead arethose are very much two different worlds,
(05:13):
and it was very stunning to me. Not that I wasn't aware of this,
but I made all my farm visitsover the course of one week from
my hub, which was in Chicagothat week, and to see to just
constantly be reminded of the very differentlives led between restauranteurs and chefs and cooks
(05:34):
and the people they do business withis quite stark. But I hastened to
add they all get along great.They all get's a very intimate working relationship
between farms and restaurants. The nameof the book is the Dish, the
lives and labor behind one plate offood. Andrew Friedman is the chef and
the author as well. What wasthe number one thing you learned from putting
(05:56):
this all together, addition to whatI've just said about the truck driver,
which was just I'm embarrassed to say, a job I never thought much about.
You know, the commonalities in lifestory between a lot of people in
the restaurant industry and the people whoservice the rest for an industry are very
(06:18):
similar. I mean, we've knownfor a long time through the writings of
people like Anthony Bourdain and and I'mnot comparing myself to Tony, but you
know, some of the work I'vedone in my colleagues that a lot of
people who just don't really fit anywhereelse in the world kind of end up
in kitchens. It's just it's justthe way it works. And that proves
(06:40):
to be in a lot of cases, very true of people who are working
on farms, people who are producingother things for restaurants. Again, this
delivery driver, who had a veryinteresting professional career, never really pondered even
going into an office job. Justisn't metabolically suited for it. And that
(07:02):
is something they very much have incommon with chefs and cooks. You know,
these are people who very much withlife that most of us, you
know, most even me as awriter. I mean, I spend my
day at a desk, you know, I spend my day not that differently
the logistics of it, you know, from someone who works at an insurance
(07:25):
firm, But these people very muchlive a life that's you know, out
of the public eye, that kindof goes to its own rhythm, that
has its own hours. You know, farmers are up very early and their
day ends relatively early as well.You know, cooks very often start their
day in the afternoon and end atmidnight. They were kind of all living
(07:46):
in their own world. And thatagain, it's not that I didn't know
it, but to see it writlarge in real life, and over the
course of the two weeks I spenttraveling around and interviewing people was quite stunning.
And he puts it all down inhis book, Andrew Friedman's Creation The
Dish, the lifes and labor behindone plate of food. I like to
(08:09):
cook, I like to eat,and I love this behind the scenes kind
of thing might even confirm Andrew whenpeople say, oh, Lee, you
need to open a restaurant, WhyI have not. Yes, Well,
it's very hard work. And also, you know, it's the finances,
as we all learned at the beginningof the pandemic. Well, when all
(08:31):
of a sudden, restaurants were shuddering, you know, in record time,
and everyone started to learn about themargins. You know, a lot of
restaurants function function on a profit marginsomewhere between three and five percent. You
know, a lot a lot ofthese places when when the lockdown happened,
they didn't even have enough money inthe bank. To make one payroll or
(08:52):
one rent payment. You know,that was a big educational moment for the
rest of us. And you knowthat's in addition to how hard the work
is. You know, I havea friend who likes to say that,
as with live theater, to therestaurant business is a show, must go
on kind of business. You know, one person doesn't show up, or
(09:16):
the dishwashing department goes down during aservice or falls behind, or delivery doesn't
make it when it was supposed to, or like you said earlier, supply
issues and the ripple effect. Imean, if just one item doesn't show
up at your restaurant, you mayhave to alter your menu. You may
have to not just change what you'recooking, but you you know, your
(09:37):
staff has to adjust to that,and you may have to reprint your menu
on the same day. And thisis a constant fact of life in that
industry. It is not the sameas throwing a dinner party by any means.
The dish, the lives and laborbehind one plate of food. Andrew
Friedman, thank you for joining usand we'll enjoy your book. Thank you
(09:58):
so much for having me. Thanksfor listening to Later with Lee Matthews,
The Lee Matthews Podcast, and rememberto listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons
from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation
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