Mini Kitchen Podcast

Hello there, fellow foodie.

Looking for energy efficient ways to prepare delicious meals that also happen to be really good for you? Downsizing? Joining the Tiny House Movement? Do you live in a basement like me, and still like to entertain? Or perhaps you live in a dorm, with only a Foreman skillet, an electric tea kettle, a tight budget and a hot date? Don’t sweat it, I got you.

It took me thirty years to wake up to the wonderful and exciting world of food. Before that, I was your average Ramen girl. My turn to make dinner–where’s the Hamburger Helper? The Velveeta Cheese? The nearest Taco Bell?

Then I discovered the Keto Diet and committed to it. Over the course of two and half years, I studied macros and the science of nutrition. I lost eighty pounds. My triglycerides threw a temper tantrum.

After consulting my doctor, I decided to try a whole food plant based diet to recover my heart health. Luckily, I have an extremely supportive vegan best friend and several WFPB co-workers. I explored VegFests, read books, binged podcasts, and…gained weight. Not all of it back, thanks to a fairly strict workout regimen, but enough to make me cranky.

But what I absorbed instead is so priceless, so limitless, I am ecstatic to share it with all of you. I developed a culinary fascination–and a humbling realization that fad diets are a thing of privilege.

The Western Diet is killing us. And what’s worse is that hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens simply do not have access to whole foods, or the means to explore nutrition in the way I have over the past three years. Hunger is a problem. And access to nutritious food even more so.

Moreover, our hyper-active consumer culture is robbing us blind with a fantasy of what we’re supposed to look like, how big our house is supposed to be, what car we’re supposed to drive, what our salary should be, on and on and on, just to be happy. Or successful. Or at peace. And literally none of any of that has anything to do with success, peace or joy. It’s fiction. It’s bullshit. And we are wasting the precious, limited time we have here on stuff we don’t need, often don’t even want, and can’t take with us.

I don’t have a magic wand. But I do have the means to share how to make delicious meals on small budgets, using whole foods and inexpensive appliances in a kitchenette-esque space. Additionally, I am blessed with a diverse community of friends who also love to cook, several of whom are bona fide chefs. I have invited twelve of them to cook with me in my teeny tiny kitchen over the course of 2019. We will prepare meals within the constraint of my cheap, often old and busted appliances and a modest budget. I will share the recipes and experiences with you in the Mini Kitchen Podcast.

If you have the means, and are inspired to do so, you can donate to the Mini Kitchen Podcast Patreon. All profit will be donated to Baltimore Free Farm, a group of gardeners and activists who join together with the community to grow and salvage fresh fruits and vegetables. They partner with Food Not Bombs and Food Rescue Baltimore to to get food that would otherwise be thrown away out to people throughout the diverse areas of the city of Baltimore. Every month, 90% of anything submitted to this Patreon account–it doesn’t matter if it’s $5 or $100–will be donated to Baltimore Free Farm and a report of how much we’ve raised together will be posted here.

For more info, you can visit their website baltimorefreefarm.org or email them at collective@baltimorefreefarm.org

And remember, be your true north.

MK Pod Ep.1 – 16th Century Cuisine w/ Dr. K. Tony Korol-Evans

MK Pod Ep.2 Minisode – Vegan Red Beans & Rice