Discover the secrets to transforming comfort foods into nutritious delights with Chef Robin, the visionary behind BITE (Balanced Innovative Tasty Education). Chef Robin joins us to share her mission of bridging the gap between individuals, doctors, and dietitians by offering a deeper understanding of how food impacts our bodies. You'll learn her innovative approach to cooking that makes healthy eating accessible and enjoyable, without sacrificing taste.
Chef Robin’s story is a testament to the power of small, incremental changes. Motivated by the loss of her sister, she emphasizes taking one bite at a time to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Tune in to hear her inspiring journey and get practical tips on how you can start making meaningful changes in your diet. Connect with Chef Robin on social media at Bite STL for more support and inspiration.
Discover the secrets to transforming comfort foods into nutritious delights with Chef Robin, the visionary behind BITE (Balanced Innovative Tasty Education). Chef Robin joins us to share her mission of bridging the gap between individuals, doctors, and dietitians by offering a deeper understanding of how food impacts our bodies. You'll learn her innovative approach to cooking that makes healthy eating accessible and enjoyable, without sacrificing taste.
Chef Robin’s story is a testament to the power of small, incremental changes. Motivated by the loss of her sister, she emphasizes taking one bite at a time to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Tune in to hear her inspiring journey and get practical tips on how you can start making meaningful changes in your diet. Connect with Chef Robin on social media at Bite STL for more support and inspiration.
Hello beautiful people and welcome to Rated TK Podcast. Today I have a special guest by the name of Chef Robin. How you doing, chef Robin? I'm doing good. How are you, darling? I am doing so great. I'm extremely excited about interviewing you today and exposing people to the work that you do and what you're passionate about. So thank you so much for coming today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Likewise. How are you feeling?
Speaker 2:Nervous as shit, but I am ready to go, you're ready to go? Yes, All right cool.
Speaker 1:So I like the swag. I see what you got on. That's really nice so thank you. Yeah, tell me a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2:This is BITE. Bite is the organization that I've created. It stands for a balanced innovative, tasty education.
Speaker 1:Wow, so is that kind of at the center of like what you do as it relates to food and your plight as a chef? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think it's really important to understand food and the properties of food and what food does to your body, but also connecting the dots between the conversation between yourself, the doctor and the dietician. A lot of times, we're given a lot of information but we don't know what to do with it, which makes it hard for us to make changes. And so when you take time out to create dishes that replicate the things that we're accustomed to, without sacrificing the taste but making it good for your body it makes a difference. It connects the dots and thus we become better as a community and just individuals.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love that and for me, I think that food is definitely it's a big part of it is taste. But I'm a feel type of person, so I enjoy eating electric foods and things that like nourish my body and, you know, give me a sense of like I'm treating myself and I'm doing something good for myself. But one thing I will say about how you do it you do such a good job of making these things taste good. So tell me a little bit about your process as you integrate all of these healthy ingredients and all the things that you do that support your platform as a healthy chef. What do you keep in the back of your mind as it relates to like flavors and making dishes that people will actually enjoy but, you know, have all these health properties?
Speaker 2:Well, honestly, one of the first things I had to think about is how to connect with others. And, for example, you're not going to tell a 65 year old woman that she can't have collard greens when she's had collard greens her whole life. No, yeah, that's not going to happen. Happen, which is generally, which is why people don't make the changes. Um, as a culture, we just eat through our emotions, like, if you're happy, you go home and you cook, baby, you cook.
Speaker 2:But when you're mad, you, you make comfort food yes you when you're sad, you're going to do something that's going to make your soul feel good, you know, and so we have to think about that. When a person goes to the doctor and they get this diagnosis, it's. I got to go home and cook everything in my house because this is the last supper.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because I can't do it anymore Because there's that disconnection. Yeah, because I can't do it anymore because there's that disconnection and the thought of not understanding. They're too afraid to even say that they don't understand or they don't know what that ingredient is. What am I supposed to do with this list? Yes, that's when I really started to dig into what it took to make these things happen. If the flavor is there and you change out the ingredients and you let them taste it, that's what Bite is about. That's that balanced, innovative, tasty education. I want to educate you and help you to understand ingredients like farro or lentils. No, it's not just that one bean that's on the shelf, but let's do something with it, let's play with it, and when they taste the food, then the connection is there. Now you're inquisitive about it, but the goal is to recreate, remove everything that's bad and incorporate everything that's good. But the challenge is to make it taste just as good, if not better, than what you had before. That's where the encouragement starts.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know what, Robin? I absolutely love that. As a person that is pretty intentional about trying to eat healthy and would like to adapt a lifestyle like that, I think that that's been one of my biggest challenges Just finding like tasty substitutes. That's been one of my biggest challenges just finding like tasty substitutes and a lot of ingredients.
Speaker 1:As a chef, I've been privy to, you know, like using or tasting from other chefs, so I do have a better understanding than a common you know individual. However, before I got into this industry, I did not know, and it was extremely difficult for me to eat healthy Like I thought, like eating asparagus and broccoli and all of those things, like I was really doing my big one but I wasn't nourishing my body in the way that I should. But before we go really deep into that because I do want to circle back to that a little bit later I'd like to know where you got your start in the culinary industry. So before Biden, before all of these things, like, tell me a little bit about you as an individual and how you got into the culinary industry well funny.
Speaker 2:I started cooking when I was eight and in my household the person who cooks does not have to wash dishes and I don't like washing dishes so I learned how to cook. Okay, the first cooking video I ever watched was with Julia Childs, but that was back before there was.
Speaker 1:Do the voice Hello.
Speaker 2:Today we are going to be making pudding pops, or back when Bill Cosby used to do the Jell-O pudding pop commercial. Hey.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell you, though, because I'm really close to you in age, in that generation, I think that Julia Childs did a really great job of like shaping my mind from a culinary standpoint and gave me a completely different viewpoint on food and appreciation for cooking as well. So I'm very happy that you mentioned Julia Childs, because she definitely had a pretty big impact on my life and my career as a chef as well. So, yeah, I understand.
Speaker 2:You know, back then there was no DVR, right. So the first time I ever met garlic and parsley, salt and pepper, my brother and I were watching an episode that came on PBS and we just caught it in the middle. So we were going to make these roll-ups or whatever it was she was making. So the only ingredients that we caught were the flour and the salt and the pepper. And then we got up in the cabinet and grabbed some ingredients and we just started rolling out this dough and turned it into some baseball bats and we rolled up bologna and cheese in it and we stuck it in the oven and he was like, if you just dip it in ketchup, it'll be good, it'll loosen it up.
Speaker 2:But that's where I fell in love with food. I remember I had my pad of paper and I was taking everybody's orders and regardless if it was nasty or not, you know they ate it, you know.
Speaker 2:I remember when I learned how to fry chicken or that I didn't know that fish only swims once and I tried to thaw fish in water and it was this big glob. It was some whiting fillets frozen whiting fillets but I still tried to fry it anyway and it didn't work out. How old were you when we were doing all this? Maybe about 10, 11, 12.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we weren't doing that in my house, you weren't playing around with no groceries. Well, yeah, I wasn't trying to play with the groceries, I didn't want to wash the dishes, you know.
Speaker 2:But just just learning the balance. But what I learned as I got older is that that's where my love is. You know, I did accounting, I did all of these other things, but that wasn't my love. And my love is food. And when I can't sleep, I cook. When I, when I'm stressed, I cook. I cannot bake to save my life, but I can make some things, but that's what I'm passionate about. And it's not a job, it's just your life.
Speaker 1:You know, food is therapy for me In so many different ways. I feel like when I get in the kitchen, like everything I just zone out, like it's just me and the food you know, and it's such a beautiful experience, you know, and for a person that's truly passionate about food. You have a lot of people who cook and they're like, oh, I'm a cook, oh, I'm a chef, but now it's a level of passion that's required for you to really put that stamp on your name and, like, I've seen you in the kitchen, I've seen you go into that same zone, and so that makes me really excited about you know, seeing what you have, you know coming in the future and things like that, and knowing that people you know will soon be able to experience some of your creations. So, with that being said, tell us a little bit about what the future looks like for you as a chef, your company or whatever you'd like for us to know about.
Speaker 2:You know what you got going on well, one of the things that I really want to point out is that food is a science and there isn't anything that I do that I don't take the time to just really discover and and think about food pairings and flavors, like you really have to understand the connection of what makes things great, like what sets you apart from the next person. Just the other day we were in the kitchen playing around and made a dressing yesterday and I went to the farm on Saturday, grabbed some fresh herbs and threw these things together and it was beautiful. But if you don't understand how things work together, food is a marriage, flavors are a marriage. It's a relationship.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you got to care.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And if you don't, then it's just not going to be there and that's just it. You know, I want you to have a five star experience, a Michelin star experience, but to still be able to eat and understand where we can get these things from. One of the things that aggravates me the most is when you go to the grocery store and, just because of where you live at, the availability of great food isn't there or you don't know how to source those things. Yes, and when you step back and you start to reach out into the community and you really find, like these farms, and you get these vegetables that haven't been over-processed or have too many chemicals on them and you can still get that good nutrition. Taking things back to the 1930s and 40s right, they didn't have diabetes. I personally this is a personal mission for me I used to weigh 334 pounds. I was type 2 diabetic.
Speaker 2:Say it again, that's 334 pounds.
Speaker 1:I can't believe it because, like, looking at you now and seeing like how much work you've, you know, done with your diet and you know how you transform your body and things like that Whenever you say that, I'm like, wow, you know like food really helped you like transform. You know your whole outlook on life, you know giving you longevity. You look amazing, you feel good, you have a story to speak to about the power of food and how it helped you transform your lifestyle, and I think that that's great, and I also wanted to piggyback on just limited accessibility to certain items and things like that. So tell me a little bit more about what you guys have been doing as it relates to building relationships with local farmers and how you're utilizing those products and what you're currently doing now.
Speaker 2:So over the last year, just through the work that I've done with other organizations, I learned more about what St Louis actually has to offer. Living in other places and being a military brat, I'm so used to everything else but I never really had ground roots and the only thing I knew about St Louis was just what I learned coming and going. So I've really discovered the history and how much farmland is actually out here in St Louis and really getting involved into the community and what there is for us.
Speaker 1:So wait a minute. So on Sunday you recently went to a farm. I saw you post some content. Can you talk a little bit more about that and what type of discoveries you had when you were there?
Speaker 2:So I went out to a local farm here in St Louis, a black owned farm.
Speaker 1:What's the farmer's name?
Speaker 2:The farmer's name is Lee, is Leah OK? What did you say? Growing people, growing food? Yes, first of all, what a beautiful experience. I found myself in an environment that allowed me to breathe and when I say that, I mean I was just so relaxed, like I felt like I was at home and the way that she was teaching me about the different herbs and the things that she had to offer. And to have my four-year-old there, which is extremely important to me because how we raise our children and what we put in our children's body is going to make a difference in their overall outcome later on in life. Yes, and just to stand there with her and experience and taste things like a lemon thyme and find out about different medicinal herbs and she put so much love into it, you know, and it was all about community and all about giving back it made me want to like that would be where I would want to spend my money as just as an individual consumer.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:You know, and knowing that this is, this is what's here, and this is another option that I have that I didn't know I had. And as a young mom, you know, a single mom it's important to be able to, to put good things into my daughter's body.
Speaker 1:You know what I think, just as a community overall. A lot of times we struggle with food literacy. I don't know if that's an actual term, but I think just providing people with the knowledge of food and how it affects you, know their bodies and their minds, and connecting them back to you know the roots of like, where it comes from and how these properties could benefit you, and giving people a sense of pride by teaching them how to grow or giving them a better understanding of how gardens work, I think could be very impactful. Like you, telling me, this story about how you connected you know with the farmer and how she gave you all of this insight as to what these different plants could do is a very inspiring story one of the things that I'm so looking forward to is the partnership between bite and her farm.
Speaker 2:We will be as she's teaching people how to grow. At the end of this co-art or this class, we're going to take the things that are harvested and we're going to create beautiful meals out of those things. So now there is the connection between where the food came from, how it grew, the importance of the food, and then taking that same food and making a beautiful dish, even if it was just an herbaceous salad, a salad with just herbs and lettuce and flowers, floral ingredients, and but what did it cost you? Did you realize? Do people realize that it takes less than a hundred dollars to make a garden that would turn around and give you almost fifteen hundred dollars worth of produce?
Speaker 2:yes and it's right there in your yard and you don't have to do anything extra.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm gonna tell you, I had a a really wonderful farm experience. Um, so I like okra, but I had never had it in its raw form and it's not slimy, it's like none of those things. And so, leah, um, she was like, hey, you know, try the seeds. Um, she's like I know it sounds. Hey, you know, try the seeds. Um, she was like I know it sounds crazy, but you know, like, try it.
Speaker 1:The seeds were phenomenal. I mean the texture, the flavor, all the things. And we transformed the seeds and then we got a couple of tomatoes and we got a couple of shallots and we use, uh, some of the ingredients that we had, and we made a vinaigrette and made a beautiful salad with just raw okra, seeds, tomatoes, herbs that came directly from the garden, and something so simple was so beautiful, right? So I would definitely say like, having that connection with, with, with farmers, and being educated on like how that works and the benefit of that has really changed my perspective on food a lot. And so, yeah, I appreciate you sharing that story. Well, thank you. So, look, I know that we've been talking about bite and the benefits of healthy eating and all of those things, but before you got to that point as a child. Can you tell us what some of the snacks were that you absolutely loved as a child and you remember as being comfort food?
Speaker 2:Clearly didn't make the baseball team. Oh yes. Okay, it's the snack attack. Oh yes.
Speaker 1:All right. What is this? Pound cake, okay.
Speaker 2:So I hate icing. First of all, what?
Speaker 1:is this? Why is it a pound cake in a pack?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, because that's what was available to us. Don't disrespect this.
Speaker 1:He is so disrespectful. I know right, he needs to grow up. That's why we had to take over Right.
Speaker 2:The first birthday I remember.
Speaker 1:First of all, hey beautiful people.
Speaker 2:They took over the podcast, clearly. Yes, we did All right.
Speaker 1:I'm gone, steve.
Speaker 2:Harvey.
Speaker 1:Broke son Steve Harvey Right.
Speaker 2:So Steve Harvey Broke son, steve Harvey, right. So first birthday party I ever remember my mom worked at Burger King, okay, and I got the crown and she had the cake and the cake had all these flowers on it and you know how most kids, when they're at their birthday party, don't eat their name and don't eat the flower, like I took the knife. Hey, that's a black thing, we know.
Speaker 1:You do not cut the name at the party.
Speaker 2:Well, clearly that's the first time my card got revoked.
Speaker 1:You cut the name.
Speaker 2:I didn't want the name for the icing. I just want the cake.
Speaker 1:I want the name. So if anybody ever comes to a party of mine and my name is on the cake, do not cut it Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, make sure that we don't put no names on your cake, Thank you, but I scraped all the ice off. I just hate it, but I just love pound cake. Okay, now I already know that this is not going to be that experience that I want it to be, because it's soft and spongy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I like the traditional pound cake with the crusty top, like your grandma's pound cake. That's my go-to.
Speaker 1:So why are you?
Speaker 2:even bringing that. Why did you bring these? Because the shoppers this is what they got us All right cheers, Cheers.
Speaker 1:All right, let's see Okay.
Speaker 2:So it's giving Twinkie with no filling, it's giving Angel food cake with a little extra sugar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and honestly, I wasn't giving it a chance before I actually tasted it, but it's not bad, it's actually pretty good. So, as an adult, if you had to rate this snack today, tell me what you rate it out of five.
Speaker 2:A two.
Speaker 1:Whoa why.
Speaker 2:That aftertaste. You taste all of the artificial ingredients in the end and then the back end. It's bitter. This is pound cake. Okay, what is that annoying? Excuse me, but what is that annoying ass taste? That's in the back of my throat right now. That says that that last succulent bite isn't as good as the first right. It's moist.
Speaker 1:So was it better as a child?
Speaker 2:I wouldn't have even eaten this as a child. It would have been my grandma's pancake.
Speaker 1:Robin, listen. This podcast was about you talking to us about your favorite childhood snack. This is not your favorite childhood snack, so we're going to move on to the chest cookies. That's okay. We're going to move on to something else. Before we get into it, is this something that you actually ate. Yes, for real, for real for real Promise, promise, all right, cool, let's do that why?
Speaker 2:am I still eating this?
Speaker 1:Why are you still eating it? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Now, the snack that I did ask them to get was Tasty Cake, butterscotch Crumpets.
Speaker 1:Mmm, I sound like somebody's grandmama.
Speaker 2:Hold on.
Speaker 1:Did they break all the cookies? Yeah, they're broke, okay, so it's funny that you brought these, because I absolutely love these cookies, even as an adult. They are fire.
Speaker 2:The consistency has been there from day one.
Speaker 1:Yes, so good.
Speaker 2:Checkmate.
Speaker 1:Let's try, nice little crunch, the butteriness of it.
Speaker 2:I got. My eyes Are still closed, it's just.
Speaker 1:It has an amazing Finish to it. It's simple. Really good, it's the simplicity of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not overly complicated it. They never had to Change the recipe.
Speaker 1:And it's such a Nostalgic Feeling that you get when you eat this, Like you know what. This reminds me of the cookies that my grandma used to have in like a blue tin.
Speaker 2:Yes, the Danish cookies in a circle, in a little package. This reminds me of that.
Speaker 1:So it gives me such good memories. This is yeah.
Speaker 2:If you think about it now, right. If we thought about like a zebra cake or the zinger, as we were talking about earlier, right, remember how great it was back then. But somebody, somewhere, changed some ingredient. It's not the same anymore. And just messed it up, Jacked it all up. I get so excited when I see it and then when I buy into it, I'm like yeah, no, that's not it, but this it.
Speaker 1:And then when I bite into it I'm like, yeah, no, that's not it, but this is. And I'm going to tell you I am a huge bread pudding I mean not bread pudding, but banana pudding fan. And people make it with these. Now Cheesecake with that. It's a crust oh my God, it's so good.
Speaker 2:Yes, this is a butter cookie. Is so uncomplicated. Dante and I were talking earlier and I was like, oh man, I forgot about the ones at the dollar store that are shaped like a flower. You used to put them on your finger. It's a butter cookie, it's cheap. Oh, those are good, yeah, and it's shaped like a flower, yeah, and if you taste it, if you got one right now and you take, the exact same thing it's so nostalgic, it's so wonderful, it's simple.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But if you go and get an Oreo now, they're triple stuffed or double stuffed, or. And why Let the cookie be a cookie? Yeah, this is it, and this, I will say, has got to be one of the top childhood snacks. That is actually still the same today yeah as it was 20, 20 years ago.
Speaker 1:I would have to agree with you on that.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, you did good look what happened when the sisters take over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that consistency um, this has been so amazing having the opportunity to interview you, to talk to you a little bit more about your passion and give people a better understanding of who you are as a chef. But before we conclude this interview today, is there anything that you want people to know about you as an individual or as a chef that you'd like to share today? Or as a chef?
Speaker 2:that you'd like to share today. There's so much of me that wants to say so many things, and to try to put all of that in a few seconds is really hard, but one of the things I want people to understand is BITE is here to connect those dots, to help you feel secure about those changes. Bite again means everything to me. Like I said before, I was a type 2 diabetic. I weighed 334 pounds In 2019, I lost my sister at 40 years old to a triple massive heart attack.
Speaker 2:I've seen too many of my friends and family members pass away from things when we can make those changes. Ten years ago, there's a ten-year difference between you and I, and when I was your age, I had 11 bottles of pills on my dresser. You always got to take something to counter something to counter something, and I didn't feel good about who I was and I didn't understand how to make those changes, and so I did the research. I did the work, I studied and I didn't understand how to make those changes, and so I did the research, I did the work, I studied and I feel so much better.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I just want to be a part of making a difference and helping in any way I can, and one of the things that bite is about is it's just changing your life one bite at a time. That's it.
Speaker 1:So, also for a person that's listening and they'd like to make a lifestyle change, what is one bit of advice that you can give them as they go through this phase of transition?
Speaker 2:Don't think that you have to do it all right now and that, again, it's just one bite, one bite at a time and if you take time to really think about the things that you like. I don't want to take anything away from you. Yes, but how do we just transform it to make it good for you?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So just the understanding and not being afraid to just try, and if for anybody who has a question, please reach out info at my bite life dot com.
Speaker 1:OK, what's your social media handles?
Speaker 2:So I'm getting into the world of the social media handles. Ok, it is bite STL on Instagram and you can also find us at BySTL on Facebook.
Speaker 1:That's so amazing. Well, robin, it's been such a pleasure talking to you today. I get a chance to experience you all the time in the kitchen, but being on this side of the table and being able to interview you has been such an amazing experience to me. Thank you so much for your time today and participating, and so, yeah, we're out. Thank you.