Ariel Guivisdalsky, Part 2: Local vs Imported Foods

Inside The Pressure Cooker

Chef Ariel Guivisdalsky is passionate about exploring the usage of local products within hospitality business in Malta, and he interviewed five people in different elements to write his thesis on this topic. Through his interviews, he found that the five star hotel and Michelin Star restaurant didn't focus on local products, but the middle range restaurant and the high end restaurant were more focused on using local products. This surprised Chef Ariel and reaffirmed his passion for the importance of buying and using local products.

In this episode, you will learn the following:

1. The addiction that all cooks and chefs share and how it drives them to thrive in what can feel like complete chaos.

2. Exploring how the usage of local products within hospitality businesses in Malta can help increase food tourism.

3. Revealing what surprised Chef Ariel Guivisdalsky when he interviewed five people in different elements of the food industry.

Resources:

Chef Ariel Guivi on Instagram

Mediterranean Culinary Academy on Instagram

Emily A. Francis on Instagram

The book by Emily A. Francis can be found on Amazon and booksellers everywhere.

The Taste of Joy: Mediterranean Wisdom for a Life Worth Savoring

Other episodes you'll enjoy:

Suki Otsuki: Finding Peace & Nourishing Your Soul

The Lady Line Cook: Learning Leadership

Jeff Platt: Diplomas & Egos

Connect with me:

Instagram: @insidethepressurecooker

YouTube: @insidethepressurecooker7872

Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.com

Patreon: Inside The Pressure Cooker

Feedback: Email Me!

Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.

[00:00:01]

Hey, and welcome back to Part Two with Chef Ardio. Over the last 20 years working in restaurants, I met a lot of really interesting people. Bourdain called us pirates and misfits, and he couldn't be more right. We really were. I say were.

[00:00:19]

We are a hodgepodge of cultures and backgrounds, and we get to play with food all day and we get to make a living doing that, and it's pretty damn awesome. This is what inside the Pressure Cooker is all about. It's about making some new friends and sharing some stories with some old friends. And listen, we all know that life inside a kitchen is not for everyone. We've seen plenty of people come and go that thought they could hack it and they couldn't.

[00:00:49]

It really does take a special someone not only to survive, but to really thrive in an environment of just what feels like complete fucking chaos. But it's pretty damn controlled. And then just the constant pressure and the stupid hours you put in, not to mention it can be a very thankless job. Before you know it, it's all in your blood and it's the only thing you know and you need more. It's an addiction.

[00:01:14]

This is the bond that all wine, cooks and chefs share. It's becoming the heartbeat of the kitchen, as cliche as that fucking sounds. But it's in our blood, which means it's fucking pulsing through our veins, and it's what we live for. This is Chad Kelly, and I've been slinging pants for over 25 years. And in that time, I've been fortunate enough to be a part of many successful kitchen teams, many of which I had the privilege of leading.

[00:01:45]

And during those final few years of my career, I found that my passion was not only just in cooking, but it was the people. And it was mentoring the next generation of chefs. A quick interruption before we jump on to the rest of this, two things. First, there's a link in the show Notes that well, it's not really a link, it's my email. Please, I want to hear some feedback from you all.

[00:02:13]

What do you love? What do you not love? This is how I learn. And the second part I've set up a patreon account for this podcast. The link is also in the show notes below.

[00:02:25]

Please, if you're able to, we would love any contribution you're able to support us with. We all have costs that we need to try to COVID with this show, and any sport would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

[00:02:39]

You're based in the States, right? Yeah, I'm in Dallas area. North Texas. I don't know how there, but the situation here of the industry in Malta and in Europe itself in general, it's a disaster, you know what I mean? This was just a brief snippet from our conversation when we started talking a.

[00:03:04]

Little bit about the impacts of COVID on Malta and where it's out today, but it can easily apply to the. Conversation that's about to happen. Hopefully you love the first part, but this one breaks down something that Chef Ariel is very passionate about, and hopefully. All chefs are passionate about. And it's really about our food supply.

[00:03:29]

And the concept of buying local seems pretty simple, right? But once again, it never really is. We all know that it's not as. Simple as it should be. So before we get too far into this as well so we're getting into your dissertation, your thesis here.

[00:03:47]

And why did you I mean, obviously you're very passionate about it, but what was this thesis for? Basically, since I was working and didn't in the sky, and it was mainly hold for six months, the season, during the summertime. And then I said, okay, let's study. Okay. I've been a head chef.

[00:04:10]

I am a head chef, but I don't have those beginning basic skills, or at least the theory behind that. Let's go and study. Let's do. And I check. And here they allow me to do a bachelor's degree.

[00:04:29]

So basically, it's a kind of university title, university degree, which is over three years. And then I said yes. Why not? So I was studying winter, fall, and I was working mainly during the summertime. So time was perfect.

[00:04:57]

So obviously then it took a bit longer than normal. It took me four years because in between what's covered inside and part of the degree was I spent four months in Institute Paul, because I spent four months intensive in Institute Pulpus.

[00:05:22]

But then we flew when COVID was here, COVID started and then back, and then what we do, and then again, so it takes a bit longer. The last thing that I needed, I needed to do the test is a dissertation of 15,000 words, because it's a degree. It's a bachelor's degree with honors.

[00:05:50]

So that's part of it. And unfortunately, I failed the first one, to be honest. And I needed to do another one.

[00:05:59]

It was meant to fail.

[00:06:04]

I started as part time job, full time study, and I end up full time study plus full time work, plus another part time work, plus everything. And it was really complicated. But yeah, was part of it was done. Graduate and everything is perfect. How did you choose this topic in the topics exploring the usage of local products within hospitality business in Malta?

[00:06:35]

So, as I said first, I failed my first test, which was based on ethical consumption. I truly consider myself an ethical consumer, which means that it's related to the local produce. But I do think twice before I buy any food related produce. For example, buying avocado, it's actually supporting not only the fact that avocado kills the soil, but it uses a lot of water, but it's also supporting the labor laws in countries where the avocado is grown. And some countries, we know that there are kids working in there, and it's a bit shady, let's call it.

[00:07:28]

So I don't buy that unless, for example, here we receive avocado from Spain, from the Canadian islands. Fair enough. Okay, no problem. So failing the ethical consumption, Texas doesn't matter. Why?

[00:07:46]

To be honest, I didn't really do many things.

[00:07:52]

I still wanted to stay on something similar with that. Sure, this makes sense. Then I said, okay, let's see. One of the main goals of the academy where I teach is that we use only local products in terms of fruit, vegetables and proteins. Obviously spices, there is a limit, how can you use?

[00:08:14]

But we try to use only local product in terms of that. So I said, if this is something I'm dealing with every day, let's focus on that. And then I decided to do that and try to understand why, if we as an academy can do that, are the restaurant doing it? Because I don't see it on the menus. Here in Malta, unfortunately, we live in an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, and 85% of the restaurants, they have seabass farmed and salmon in the menu.

[00:08:52]

And I can't understand why we have salmon in the menu. Sibas, I understand it's locally grown, farmed fed, it off, but it's local. At least it's from here. At least from here. But why salmon?

[00:09:09]

And the answer is because that's what people like. I said, but that's not what people like.

[00:09:17]

That's what you are offering. So that's what they choose. Why? If you offer something else?

[00:09:26]

Exactly. It is a complicated topic, and for me it was important because that's what I do. You know what I mean?

[00:09:37]

I don't buy my house, for example, unless my kids really, really want maybe once every, but usually I don't. So, yeah, I mean, when it comes to local versus the imported, how much of it is just business decision for. More of the tourist market? Because Malta is kind of heavy on the tourist market, right, where they're almost you go there and they're offering stuff that it's just tourist trap crap. Exactly.

[00:10:13]

But that's the thing. There is an increase, extremely increase in all Europe on the food tourism, people who want to buy local stuff. Then you arrive to Malta, and if a foodie arrives to Malta, it will be hard to find where to eat local food. And I'm not talking about traditional Maltese food, because that's there is traditional Maltese food. I'm talking about that you go to any restaurant, whatever middle range here you have high end, which are good, not hardly using local product, the middle range are bad.

[00:11:01]

And then you have the low GestIC kiosk in the street, whatever, which those are quite good because they sell traditional Maltese street food, which is fine, but in the middle, which is the normal people used to usually go, most of them are tourist oriented. What they believe the tourists want, or what they found that the tourists want. That's what it is. They all have steaks. Argentinian, Rebuke.

[00:11:42]

Now. I'm argentinian. I don't buy Argentina meat. I don't buy Argentina meat because it pissed me off that they bring it from there, you know what I mean? I try to buy it.

[00:11:55]

For example, there is a breed in Italy called Scottona, which is a type of cow. So I buy that. It's slated in Sicily, which is 40 minutes in the ferry. It's loaded. And in Sicily, it's not locally grown, but it's there.

[00:12:15]

Or else I buy a lot more. Local than Argentina, of course, that's the thing. Or else I even buy malt is locally grown beef. I think they slaughter here, maybe two cows per week, something, maybe three. But I die from a butcher that they have, you know what I mean?

[00:12:38]

And I try to buy things that all the rest of the people they don't buy because I know, because I have the knowledge or the experience or whatever. But at least I know my head is quiet that I did myself as much as I can to keep them on the same situation. And yes, most of the restaurants here, unfortunately, they sell what the general crap tourists want. So part of the restaurant review that I do, we do restaurants review for free. Me and an American lady that she has a lot of she also wrote a book coming out soon.

[00:13:21]

She is a foodie and I'm the chef, so it's called The Foodie and the Chef on Tour. And we actually try to find small places that they do something specific with local products, but they don't have a lot of potential for marketing. So we go with obviously they give us the food and we'll write a review. And we posted a magazine, which is tourist oriented magazine. Okay?

[00:13:51]

So that way, because we both have foreigners and I found a lot of places that I never heard about them. Living in Malta for almost six years, I never hear about them because they're more on the local market. Exactly. Or it's not very popular or things like that. And we try to showcase that.

[00:14:14]

That's cool. That's a lot more what I'd look for. Although so much of like when I would travel, when I see stuff in magazines I thought I knew. But it's all paid placement. Some of them, yes.

[00:14:30]

The thing is, again, the balcony that we work is it is tourist oriented, but it's not the magazine of the airport, you know what I mean? You won't find it on the airline.

[00:14:45]

You will find it on the airport and it's for free, but it's not in the airline, you know what I mean? There is a difference. I love all those, like, best seafood or best steaks and wherever. It's just an ad and it's not actually produced by anybody other than the company.

[00:15:10]

And the good thing is that with us, you actually read it's. A whole review about the place about how we found it, what we think, what we had, what they have, what they offer.

[00:15:25]

Sometimes we don't even agree. I mean, the lady we went to a place, they do their own fried calamari. Obviously, here there is plenty of calamari, and usually me, personally, I like very thin coat of flour. And this lady, she likes more butter, kind of more British butter, kind of. And at the place here, the place that we went, they do like that.

[00:15:54]

And she was in love. And I said, well, you see, I don't like it. I mean, as a chef, I can tell you it's very good, it's well done, but I prefer the thin one. And we try to showcase that. They have a special recipe that comes from ages and ages with the same butter, the same calamari, the same thing.

[00:16:16]

And the calamari that he buys is from the next door lady that she sells in the fish market. So all those things we try to. Do no, that's great. Yeah. So we're kind of getting away from your thesis a little bit here.

[00:16:34]

No, this is good. I think it's all relevant as well. So your thesis you went through, you interviewed five people in different elements, right? Yeah, ideally, what we did is I interview from Michelin Star restaurant, five star hotel, until a small takeaway shop, everyone, at least I tried to understand, cover the spectrum. Yeah, it's cover all the spectrum.

[00:17:06]

I could have done it more with more people, but unfortunately, some, they tell you, no, we only give you one, or blah, blah, blah. Because my idea was like, we took a five star hotel. Okay, so I spoke to the executive chef, but what about the purchase manager? Or what about the Somalia? You know what I mean?

[00:17:28]

There are many savings, but they decided that just one person. And I covered all the spectrum of all the options. So I didn't want it to do two places on the same range. Kind of makes sense. It's pointless.

[00:17:45]

So, yes, we did that in each one and yes. So was there anything about it that surprised you, like, after you collected everything? Well, for example, I have to say that it really surprised me. The Michelin Star restaurant, the five star hotel, I assume that they would mainly focus on importance because they buy big bikes and things like that. Yeah, that one didn't surprise me.

[00:18:21]

But again but the Michelin Star resident, I was expecting that one of the criteria to have a Michelin Star is like, you focused on mostly on local produce. And unfortunately, I know, and he told me my proteins cannot be local because the quality is not there.

[00:18:45]

He's telling you the quality is not there. And then the vegetables at the end, the season is so short, or sometimes I just can't which in my head was, okay, if it's short, use two weeks. Cauliflower another two weeks. I don't know another thing, another two weeks, another thing. Just change it.

[00:19:05]

That's stylish. Fair enough. You know what I mean? Okay. You need to focus on your proteins, and for any reason you don't use local.

[00:19:15]

Okay, but all the rest.

[00:19:20]

Yeah, no, I get that. The middle range restaurant seem to be. More focused on because I choose one specific one middle range that they claim to be traditional Maltese food. And I said, okay, your traditional Maltese food, what are your ingredients? And happily they are using specifically.

[00:19:46]

And he told me I pay more, but I use local. I pay more for sunried tomatoes. That is done by my uncle, my cousin, whoever, you know what I mean?

[00:20:03]

The capers I buy here remotely, there is a lot of wild capers, so you can go actually in the countryside and pick them up. And he said, I prefer to use this one, even if I pay more than buy a bulk of ten kilo from somewhere. And that's it. And that was very good. And that was what I wanted to listen, you know what I mean?

[00:20:32]

And I also have on the high end end restaurant, there's a high end restaurant, the one that I interviewed, that they were just open. They just nearly open. And they claim in fact, I see that they don't use anything from abroad. And in fact, lately I came to know that there is a guy growing sugar cane in Montana, and there is a lady growing stevia, and they were all sold to this restaurant. Really?

[00:21:13]

Yes, yes. So he's doing his own he was doing his own flour from local train, and he now is having his own kind of drying stevia plants for him for sweetener. And someone was growing sugar. Someone is growing local avocados now as well in Malta. Okay.

[00:21:36]

Which is funny. I mean, we're talking about an island that the size of I mean, you are from Texas, so probably it's all Malta. It's one third of a neighborhood, probably super small.

[00:22:01]

It looks like increase at the end. My main focus was always on my main idea, my main goal for both cases is that if you increase the demand at the end, the supply will come, the consumers have the chance to actually change, but if they don't demand it, we will keep seeing here salmon and sibas everywhere.

[00:22:35]

Well, I mean, that's kind of that I mean, we're almost talking like, what came first, the chicken or the egg no. I agree. Yeah, definitely. So there's a combination of you've got to have the demand, right? And then you've got to have the support from the public as well as just ownership that's going to pay for it and then be able to find that middle ground as far as pricing structures, because it feels like pricing is such a weird thing that everybody is trying to compete with the big corporate places or just your chains.

[00:23:22]

And it's like okay? We'll never be able to compete with that as a smaller restaurant. So just stop right. Stop trying to be that place that you don't want to be. Exactly.

[00:23:34]

Stop comparing yourself to that, too. I believe that, unfortunately, many restaurants, they don't understand marketing, so they open and they don't understand what's the target market. They don't know how to focus. They don't do segmentation. They don't understand all these words, all those words that I learned them during my degree.

[00:24:03]

And I know that fair enough. And that's why I believe that having a degree I'm not just saying having a small course of cooking. Now, you want to do you want to manage a restaurant, you have to study or you have to have the money to pay someone who studied to managing for you, because you can't open a burger place. You know what I mean? As it happens here.

[00:24:33]

But the thing is, again, here, every burger place that starts, that opens, they copy what they understand, and you end up having a takeaway burger place with Ruffle Burger man. Now, the problem is that people ordering that saying, oh, I'm having a burger with travel. No, they bought a sauce which has no travel at all, just some essence, and they put it to you and they sell them to you. So the lack of knowledge now, what I'm saying is, as a restaurant here, why are you putting that or you know what? Back to the fish option.

[00:25:19]

You want to have salmon because people like salmon. You want to have seabass because okay, have three have local fish of the day, sea bass or salmon. But at least you're trying. Now, you said I mean, because you. Said yeah, as I say, you're in the Mediterranean.

[00:25:39]

You're in the island in the Mediterranean. Exactly. Seafood should not be in a problem. No, I mean, you've got beautiful seafood where you're at. It is it is a problem.

[00:25:47]

I mean, salmon is is like that's just a shot in the face. It is. It is a problem. It is a huge problem here, because, unfortunately, this is something I talked to my fishmonger, and he's telling me the fish guys, first of all, the lower during COVID or whatever, they stop going, and many change, and they don't go anymore. And those who go, they sail to the area of Sicily or even Greece, and they sell there.

[00:26:21]

They sail, they catch whatever they can, and they don't bring the top quality to Malta. They sell the second or the third quality to Malta on the same price that they sell the top quality in Sicily. So we pay more for less quality.

[00:26:42]

And then you go, you take a ferry or you take a plane for 45 minutes, 550 minutes, you're landing Napoli, and you have the best seafood ever in your life. It all came from Malta, and it's the same sea. It's the same sea. You know what I mean, it's exactly the same sea. I'm not talking about I don't know.

[00:27:05]

Andalusia in Spain and Tel Aviv. Okay? It's all Mediterranean. It's all Mediterranean. Fair enough.

[00:27:13]

But the current things heat, blah, blah. But Sicily, anonymous. There is people that they do swimming, that they swim that you know what I mean? So it's crazy. It's crazy.

[00:27:30]

It is a sort of what first demand or the offer? I believe the if you as a restaurant here, try to offer something. I'm not talking about change the the whole mind, but one step at a time. As Rocky Balboa used to say. One step at a time, one punch at a time, one round at a time.

[00:27:54]

Sure.

[00:27:59]

I 100% agree with that. Because you're not going to get the best quality if nobody is going to buy it or if you're not trying if they see the support, the farmers and your fishmongers. Absolutely. Why wouldn't they want to bring the money home? And also, the government is here.

[00:28:27]

It has a huge I mean, I am a liberal. I don't like government to impose or to enter in that in terms of economy. I'm not trying to regulate prices or the opposite, but promote. Promote. Now, don't promote only in the multistelevision in Maltese, because there is about half a million people living in Malta, probably 150,000, 200,000 are foreigners.

[00:29:10]

Now, if you don't understand that, then keep doing advertising multistelvision that nobody sees. Because anyway, nobody sees. Yeah, just so many things, I'm thinking. But even then, smart government is when you try to protect the business and your agriculture, and that's imposing, whether it's tariffs or something, taxes on products that you can get in Malta. Exactly.

[00:29:45]

But then is imported, and then all of a sudden, it creates a fair market value. Again, personal opinion. I don't like that. I don't like all these things, you know what I mean? But at least try to make you know what the Minister of Tourism, tourism is one of the most important industries in motor.

[00:30:10]

Combine food with tourism.

[00:30:15]

Well, are you familiar with how Pad Thai was created? Pad Thai? No. From Thailand. Yeah, I know.

[00:30:22]

Right. So it was created through tourism when they were in the process of changing their name from, like Siam to Thailand and what is what we call Thailand. And they were looking for a dish that represented their culture and just who they are as a people. Right. They wanted something to help define their identity and their culture.

[00:30:48]

So they had a national competition to create the next national dish. And so Pad Thai was created out of a competition to create a national dish that represented who they were. Well, that's the thing, okay? There is national dishes. There is whatever you want, but promote it.

[00:31:09]

Showcase, showcase the local produce.

[00:31:15]

Listen, there is DOP on Jesus in Malta. There is DOP on Jesus and nobody knows. There is dok, which is dok in wines. It's like DOP, but in Maltese. Okay?

[00:31:35]

The wines here are not bad.

[00:31:39]

They are not burgundy Pinot Noir, but they're not bad. They are good. I choose, most of the time, local multi wine when I go out to eat. But that's me. My wife always complains about that anyway.

[00:31:58]

But again but you know what? But you know what? There is a wine here. There is a wine here fantastic. And they have amazing olive oil.

[00:32:09]

But you need to spend in a restaurant almost 100 euro per bottle, man. We're still talking about Malta, you know what I mean? It's not a premier crew, it's a wine from Malta. So, with all due respect, you need to understand that. Now, I don't know if it's a winery or if they're a restaurant, but someone in the middle is doing something wrong.

[00:32:43]

Because how do they mark so wine in Europe, in those countries? How is that priced? I don't know how I don't know. To be honest. I don't know how to price this.

[00:32:57]

Look, the winery, I can check. I don't really know. I have someone who works in winery and contact with him. He came as a student. He came to win.

[00:33:09]

But the problem here is that there is not enough. There is not a lot. So the cost is high, and I understand that. But still, your price cannot be the same as a premier crew from Chablis, you know what I mean? With all my respect, it's not you can't you know, a Chevy Premium crew cost €120.

[00:33:45]

Your white wine has to cost no more than 50 because you're not there. Even if you are amazing, you're not there. Now, then there is a problem with cost wise, because amount or whatever, I don't know, change your market, you know what I mean? I don't know. Do something else.

[00:34:02]

But I'm not buying that. It's too much. Yeah, that's a lot for a local wine. That is going to be good. But like you said, is it that level?

[00:34:17]

That's a thing. That's the thing.

[00:34:23]

There are a lot of things and bringing this forward, and I think it's a trend going on in all Europe. What's happening.

[00:34:38]

What'S going on everywhere, but. Mainly with the local product. It's like the prices are getting crazy with the war, mainly, okay? And then people try to go, but it's a mix of convenience and prices, you know what I mean? People now, they work too much.

[00:35:05]

And all through the computer, in 30 minutes, you have all your order. The next day you have delivery on your home. And it's sad, but it is what it is.

[00:35:21]

Yeah.

[00:35:24]

The war in Ukraine right now, what's been the biggest impact, price wise? What items? I know grain was a huge export. Grain. Grain is a huge oil.

[00:35:37]

Oil as well. I I remember I remember paying the 2026 25 liters, you know, Jericho of frying oil. Sorry, speaking liters. But that's that's what I know. I think they know how many gallons are.

[00:35:56]

We used to pay €26 for the 25 liters. And the last offer I received, when I still used to deal with all these bulk, it was 75 €75 per 25 liter, from 26 to 75. And that's the price, and it doesn't go down.

[00:36:21]

And we're talking about vegetable oil, which based on soybeans and whatever. Soybean canola. Vegetable oils, yes, oil. Oil, definitely grains and flowers as well. And again, grains are the impact in animals.

[00:36:48]

So animal feed, I volunteered in a horse rescue place, and the animal feed went up dramatically. Even the hay, even buying hay, it's hot. Yeah, because once you short something else, you're going to put pressure on the other spot. It's a whole cycle of complication.

[00:37:19]

Well, let's hope this gets wrapped up sooner. Yes. Later. I hope so. The thing is, we stopped hearing in the news, you know what I mean?

[00:37:27]

They still fighting. It was okay all over the news a couple of days. That's it.

[00:37:37]

So let's talk shelf life. And in marketing, you brought up marketing.

[00:37:47]

I read this in your thesis, and it kind of annoyed me, not because it was in there, but because I see the same thing here. That shouldn't be an issue, but when people are saying the local produce would just come in a bag, and it wasn't, like, properly marketed, and I'm like, well, okay, one, I'm already paying more for something. Because the concept of local is also the concept of sustainability, which you talk about. Right. But sustainability means it has a positive impact on that farmer, his family, the environment, and the economy.

[00:38:33]

And all the feedback that I receive is that every local product is just put it in a bag and look like disgusting thing. Mainly proteins. That's the thing they send you proteins. Not even wrapped up the packages. It's just a bag, or whatever.

[00:38:55]

That could be an easy fix. It's like, hey, you want me to wrap this up in something? Fine. But stuff, shouldn't it just be put into these fancy packages just for you to later take out? I agree.

[00:39:10]

But again, look, when you bring imported things, that's how they come. They come in fence.

[00:39:20]

It's designed to be on a store. It's designed and grown to look pretty on a store shelf. Yes, and I agree. The thing is and that's something that was telling me, the guy from the hotel, and he was telling me, it can't be that I ordered chicken, and I said, okay, you know what? Bring me local chicken, and I receive a plastic box, kind of with, like, ten or 15 chickens, one on top of each other with a bag, and just like that.

[00:39:56]

Okay, don't fancy wrap it. Don't fancy wrap it, but at least wrap it properly. Don't bring me a disgusting box where the blood of the liquids are falling. You know what I mean? Because that's.

[00:40:13]

What happened. And the thing and what I see here what I see here is that I don't want to say the health and an environment has an impact. Or people in Moza, they live somehow, you know, the age of the where we all were eating with our hands after touching the mud. But in many, many situations it is in many situations it is like that. And you say that okay, I'd like local, but at least don't package it with a plastic box or those white material.

[00:41:00]

I forgot how to say that in English. Those white trays. Plastic white, yes. Terror phone with clean thing. Okay, don't can you vacuum it?

[00:41:14]

For example, take a vacuum bag, put the chicken, vacuum them, even if the bones break the bag. You know what? At least it will not start licking, smelling in the box.

[00:41:34]

That concept, it's not understandable. I mean, is it like a generational gap? I think it's generational gap. In my opinion, it's generational gap. Because even here when I go to a farmer's market, I don't expect anything.

[00:41:51]

I go with my bag on my plastic bag, big one. Just put everything inside. I don't go home. Fair enough. Sure.

[00:42:01]

When you buy from a farmer at home, they bring you fancy things, box, carbon box with paper bags inside.

[00:42:17]

Okay. You know what I mean? If you're a farmer, you bring me a box so you don't make dirty fairness. Okay, but why adding more papers and more and more bars and more inside and everything? I don't know.

[00:42:31]

Maybe it's because of me. Maybe people like it more, people like it less. And it's all about marketing and how I'm fancy and how it's done. I'm saying that it cannot be such a difference between what you come from abroad, it's so fancy packaged and some dated and everything. And then here you buy again back to the chickens.

[00:42:54]

There's not even date on the packages, just in the bag. No. And that's it. And that's sad because when I buy my chickens or my beef from the local butcher, there is date and there is everything. So why the retail?

[00:43:12]

Not you know what I mean? Why not? Why? Because I pay more and then you know what I mean?

[00:43:24]

I don't know. Yeah, that's the tricky part because out here we have to have USDA is involved with everything. So it's part of that government oversight and it's become very restrictive. So like a local chicken farmer, after everything's said and done in one processing, it's more to process a chicken than what they can almost sell it for. Right?

[00:44:00]

That's the tough part because the processing can create more of a dirtier environment as well here than a natural where they would be doing working outdoors.

[00:44:13]

So there's a lot of elements to it that create more costs, even though they're going to have a better quality product, healthier product, because it's not going to have all the elements to it and everything's sold. They're almost harvesting just what's sold, or they're going to sell it, freeze it, and then take it to market.

[00:44:42]

But they can't compete with pricing. Just like we talk about out here. We've got the costco is like those big markets, and they sell whole roasted chickens for like, $6. And it's like, well, that's what it costs just to have it processed.

[00:45:03]

Nobody can compete with that. So when someone says that, hey, it's $20 for a whole chicken, right, then it's like, well, why is it twice as much as this one that's already cooked and ready to go? The public doesn't understand that. No, that's lack of knowledge. Education.

[00:45:27]

There's part that says education, right? But do they want to know? Do they care enough? Well, I don't think they want to know because unfortunately, most of the people think with a pocket and not with a head.

[00:45:44]

And that's something here.

[00:45:48]

And that's why I believe that you can solve that with education for the future. So at the end, if you focus on the education of the kids, if the kids would know do they kids know where the chicken nuggets come from? They have to know. But they have to know. You know what I mean?

[00:46:12]

It's this chicken, you see? Now it's walking and then I'm not talking about that. I'm not going to send my five years old kid to a slaughterhouse. I'm not. But he knows that the ham comes from the pig.

[00:46:33]

And the farm where we volunteer with the horses, we have a pig. And then, okay, so this is a pig. And when he died, they create food. So this is what I try to do. Now, I believe kids in school, they should go to farms.

[00:46:53]

They should go and see one day, I don't know, picking strawberries, you know what I mean? Pick and eat. Pick and eat.

[00:47:04]

They don't even know how the strawberries grow. They don't even know why. You know what I mean? Like my son was telling me, there are supermarkets here now in the middle of we're talking about we are already in December, which is winter.

[00:47:22]

And he asked me for a pitch, and I said, there's no peach. No, but there is in the supermarket. And my question is why? Why do we need to have peach in the supermarket in December in the middle of the Mediterranean? Why?

[00:47:41]

And it's not even good. It won't be good. Disgusting. It's tasteless. That's the thing.

[00:47:48]

It's tasteless. It has been in fridge for who knows? Kept in cameras on zero degrees or whatever. Who knows? Yeah.

[00:47:59]

Took the cargo, freighter over from the south. Exactly. Or who knows from where it's coming from. You have asparagus from Peru. Now you need to add another thing.

[00:48:13]

Malta will never be the first step, the first stop. It probably will be the last stop. So the spargo is from Peru. They arrive to some central area in Central Europe. Now, from there they might arrive to Sicily and from there to Malta and from inside customs to the shop.

[00:48:45]

So imagine how long these Asparagus have been harvested from to be able to buy it here. And I still see restaurants in the. Menu using asparagus and it's still cheaper than anything that could be produced locally. I don't know. No, not necessarily.

[00:49:07]

There is amazing local spargo, seasonal, fantastic, but seasonal. But asparagus is fancy. So some restaurants, they middle range, whatever they want to be as they sell us. And it's incredible. It's crazy.

[00:49:25]

It drives me crazy. It drives me crazy.

[00:49:32]

This kind of goes back to your concept of the ethics, though. Exactly, right? Is it teaching the ethics at the school? Because there's also huge like we've kind of talked about it though, just the disassociation with our food supply. Right.

[00:49:48]

We just assume like, hey, there's a peach there. Where did it come from? And I don't know, I pushed a button.

[00:49:55]

I have to say that that was a change in myself. I mean, I slowly the more I was into the food industry, I slightly I start changing myself, my habits, my food habits or purchase habits, more into the ethical and start thinking, okay, let's buy free range chicken. Okay. Where there is free range chicken, okay, so we know that there is free range chicken coming from Italy.

[00:50:28]

What do we prefer? I prefer the free range chicken or I buy local chicken. And the local chicken, which one? And then I saw a farm, a chicken farm in Morta. And I cannot even get close to those chickens.

[00:50:47]

And it costs you €1.20 per kilo or something like that. At the free range costs you five year old per kilo. Right. But the growing way, it's bad. So then there is something in between.

[00:51:09]

We found then teaching the academy and with the values of the economy, they also brought me try to see different suppliers. And then there is a guy growing capons, which are amazing and really big, nice, fantastic. But the supply is very small, so you need to call him. And then in that case, personally, I prefer to buy the free rest chicken from Italy. So I buy you know what I mean?

[00:51:45]

So that's one thing.

[00:51:49]

I think it's the way go at the end. You need to respect what's next to you. We need to respect the land, the soil, the land. I'm not saying that will taste better, you know what I mean? Considering I'm not even thinking on the flavor.

[00:52:08]

I'm thinking about respect the animal, respect the food, the environment. This is my way of thinking. So when I buy local beef, which is extremely bad comparing to the Argentinian beef and I'm talking about extremely bad, really? No good. But yet again, so I said to myself, okay, if I want a steak, I will buy the Italian steak, which is good, it's decent, it's good.

[00:52:41]

But as an Argentinian and as a chef, I know how to take a beef ribs and turn it into something fantastic. I know how to take a beef chick and turn into something fantastic. So I will buy the local ad, you know what I mean, and do it in a slow barbecue or whatever. So that's the way I was. I started thinking and that's why I came into the ethical and that's why I tried to explain to my kids.

[00:53:17]

Then we'll see what I mean, how. Much they were listing. They are, I have to say that they are, you know what I mean? I still buy bananas and kiwis, I have to say. But the banana bananas itself is a topic that someone can speak hours and hours.

[00:53:43]

How we lost all the different kind of bananas that exist and then we end up having only one which is highly produced, survive every environment. And that's it.

[00:54:02]

That's a whole other topic. Exactly.

[00:54:07]

What's your plan now? You've got your thesis, you've learned everything. Where do you want to go with this? Ideally? So basically, as I told you lately, I got a job opportunity on gaming as well.

[00:54:25]

Basically, some people that they know, my wife, they needed someone just to be the face in here in Mozart, because the company is registered here. So they needed someone. So I entered into that. But my idea is, first of all, I will keep teaching. I kind of took a step back the last month, so I settled the Igaming stuff.

[00:54:51]

But I will keep teaching, definitely.

[00:54:56]

When you do a workshop, we do mainly workshops of one day workshops. It's a three hour workshop, but we speak so many about something else but the recipe and their basic skills. And then this is where I believe I keep talking about the ethical consumption and the local produce and try to explain everyone who anytime came under my classes why it's important. You know what I mean? Why is it important?

[00:55:34]

Why it is important? Exactly why it's important. I know we've been talking about it. But no, because look, especially in places like an island, you can't be 100% dependent on your food, on someone else. Now, if the demand continue to go down, you saw that on my the almost 45% of the land which is not even sold, it's used for communal or for local or for personal usage.

[00:56:14]

So people are not going into a farm. It's not they don't want to be they don't want to be farmers. There is plenty of spaces you can go here and there's plenty of spaces of nothing, of land which is not even cropped.

[00:56:33]

On the classes, I try to explain and the next thing that I will definitely do eventually will be content creative. I do very small wheels when I remember with my phone, but I try to do more on the content creative, on local product. Again, go to the farmers market. That's talking to me about the local. Exactly.

[00:56:58]

Go to the farmers market, go to the butcher, go to the fishmonger, talk to them, do short videos. Okay, what do we have? Give me this. Is this and then go back and then film a recipe.

[00:57:13]

The thing is, it's still ongoing because I believe, unfortunately, long YouTube videos are not anymore on that. It's more on short reels. Then there is a limit how much you can explain and teach on these small reins. But attention spans have gone out the window. Exactly.

[00:57:36]

Nobody's got a detention span. No people. More than three minutes, it's gone. It's like that sad. That's a whole other issue.

[00:57:46]

Yes, but again, but even this, continue talking about this, coming into these type of things anytime I went to the television here, I went to the TV a couple of times. So try to focus on that and to explain that, to bring these topics up.

[00:58:11]

And eventually see, I don't know, maybe one day someone will listen from the government or whatever, and they would invite me to talk about. Hey, you never know. I get it. I worked for a seafood place, seafood restaurant. And even though we're landlocked, I had all my seafood was flown in from the different coast, west Coast, East Coast, so nothing local about it.

[00:58:43]

But we tried to make the smartest decisions we could. And I remember talking to somebody about the concept of sustainability, and this was before marketing companies got a hold of it. And she's like, well, where does it start? How does it go? And it's like, well, it starts with me, right?

[00:59:02]

It's exactly where you're at. It starts with you, and then you talk about it and you live it, right? You don't just talk about it, but you live it. And you be the example. And hopefully you can make enough of an impact at some point to get it to grow.

[00:59:21]

Hopefully. Again, I try to do that, as I told you, from leading by example. That's what I think it has to be. You need to lead by example and lead by example in anything that you do.

[00:59:38]

So I couldn't write a ted or a dissertation about local product if by myself I was not actioned by local product. So that's the first thing I do.

[00:59:53]

And I try to explain. Again, my wife, forget it. She buy whatever she wants, and it's fair enough, no problem. You know what I mean? But when we are together, I do the stuff.

[01:00:09]

And my kids also try.

[01:00:15]

Let me ask you this. If there's one product, one item out of Malta that you want to see benefit the most, out of just more of that local ore kind of mindset.

[01:00:31]

I have to tell you that the local olive oil is really good. It's really extremely good. The local honey, local olive oil, ghost cheeses. But again, they do ghost. But they only do one type, you know what I mean?

[01:00:58]

Locally involved, for sure. The honey really good.

[01:01:04]

And ghost cheeses. I think those are the three that components that invest, you know what I mean? They're really good. Okay, fantastic.

[01:01:22]

Do you have any questions for me? Not much I've been hearing. No, but that's the thing. I think it's fantastic that you give space to anyone to speak. Topics are important.

[01:01:37]

Topics are important. It's good that people speak about that. It's sad and good at the same time. That from two remote countries. We have the same ideas and same concepts and the problems.

[01:01:54]

Exactly. It's a sharing issue. So the more we talk, the more we bring this up, more people will know, and I wish you all the best. I really appreciate it. And thank you for listening to this episode Up Inside the Pressure Cooker.

[01:02:13]

If you enjoyed this episode and feel like you're able to take something away from it, please go to Apple podcasts and rate and review us. If you don't use Apple podcast, please follow us as well as share this episode with a friend. This is a publication by Rare Plus Media, hosted and produced by me from Rare Plus Media and myself, Chad Kelly. Thank you for listening. Keep kicking ass.