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Lauren Gruel (2:53)

Welcome back to another episode of American Gravy. The only show where we mix food, family and freedom in the same potato and somehow don't burn it.

Andrew Gruel (3:03)

Well, you burned it a little bit last week, I'm not gonna lie.

Liberty Mutual Announcer (3:05)

What did I do?

Andrew Gruel (3:05)

You burned me. I got burned. How? We're talking food, family, freedom. Well, you know what though? Nothing says liberty like a full plate and a clean conscience, right? Oh, snap, there we go. I'm Chef Andrew Gruel.

Lauren Gruel (3:17)

I'm Lauren Gruel.

Andrew Gruel (3:18)

Today we're gonna be talking about, gosh, a lot of different stuff. And thank you all for tuning in again. This is an absolute honor to even have you out there listening. Let's dive in quickly right off the bat here. Cause we got a lot to cover today, you know, and the most probably pressing issue, I think that's been in the food news or generally in the news has been the expiration or the SNAP benefit issue. Because Americans are facing cuts to this. SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Sometimes it's known as food stamps. But beginning November 1st, unless funding is restored, which mind you, the reason why funding hasn't been restored is because there is a federal government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans are unable to come to a consensus as to how they're going to restart the government. I didn't even know the government was shut down.

Lauren Gruel (4:10)

I didn't know. I mean, if you, if we didn't know, we wouldn't know, you know what I mean?

Andrew Gruel (4:15)

I know that's probably a bigger conversation, but more specifically, you've got these SNAP benefits that are going to expire on November 1st, cuz people get them on the 1st of the month. So this has created a lot of debate, if you will, as to not just the efficacy of the program, but the details for the first time ever. And I've noticed that when these issues pop up in the news, people instantaneously learn about them. I always make the joke that on like X or social media, right? Like let's say that there was a debate about, you know, a levy in, you know, a coastal city. Suddenly everybody's a levy expert, right? If it's taxes or tax codes, suddenly everybody's a cpa. Well, this week everyone is now an expert on food nutritional assistance. But I always think it's a good thing when these issues come about because people do learn more detail in regards to the program. Naturally it's gonna be very bureaucratic. But I think that there's some high level details that we can cover in this conversation to make it more relevant to those of you listening. The most important one is the sheer quantity.

Lauren Gruel (5:24)

Well, I didn't realize. And like you said, I mean, people really don't do their research until it becomes a headline. Right. So I didn't realize that this cost $100 billion a year.

Andrew Gruel (5:35)

Yeah, 100 billion. 100 billion in food assistance goes out every single year in the form of food stamps and vouchers.

Lauren Gruel (5:42)

Right. But can you touch on where part of that money goes to?

Andrew Gruel (5:47)

Yeah, and this is an area in which I've been kind of leaning into is the fact that SNAP benefits 10% of the hundred billion. Right. So $10 billion are spent on third party delivery apps. I don't think people realize that. I didn't realize that. So you actually can go and buy any meal, not any meal. Right. Like there's certain limitations. But the majority of restaurants and food service outlets, food delivery, they'll offer the opportunity to use your Snap benefits, which is really just a debit card that you put in there onto the app, whether it's DoorDash, Uber Eats. It's primarily DoorDash, Uber Eats and Amazon.

Lauren Gruel (6:24)

And we already have an issue with the third party delivery.

Andrew Gruel (6:28)

Well, yes, so I do. Yeah, I'm biased here. I'm tainted because I don't like the third party delivery apps because of the amount of money that they take, because of the way in which the system with the third party delivery apps are manipulated by the users. You know, there's like an entire thread on Reddit that you can use to learn how you can basically work the restaurants and work the system. Everything from utilizing Photoshop to make it look like the food was undercooked to pretending like the food was never delivered. And what people don't realize is that we know this from the restaurant side is, is that the restaurants pay for that. Yeah, the doordash delivery or the Uber Eats doesn't pay for that. So that's number one. Number two, So I looked this up. Basically what you do, I thought, oh my gosh. So then those excessive delivery fees, is it the tips too? How does that money get allocated? So you can use your food stamps or you can use the EBT to buy a monthly pass on the Delivery Dash apps. And in that monthly pass waives the delivery fe. So you're not, you're technically paying for the delivery fees, but you're not paying it per order. And then after that, any tip that you give, you do have to, you cannot use the EBT benefits. So you would have to use your own debit card. Now I find that interesting because there has been a huge kind of sector of social media of DoorDash and third party delivery drivers who complain about not getting tipped. And now I realize because I used to think to myself why doesn't anybody get tipped? Well, that's why is because if you're buying and you're utilizing the benefits, you can't tip. So they're not tipp because they're not going to. Right. They're using it because they don't have the money. So it doesn't surprise me that they're not tipping. But once again DoorDash or the third party apps are getting $10 billion in federal subsidies.

Lauren Gruel (8:13)

And what is doordash? What are they making like annually? What did you say?

Andrew Gruel (8:17)

DoorDash makes $10 billion annually. Right. So I'm not. So if 10 billion goes towards a third party delivery apps, that's going to be spread across Amazon, Uber Eats DoorDash and what would it Postmates? Oh no, I don't think. Does it Postmates even exist anymore? Maybe us post. So let's just assume that it's like Amazon Fresh and also Amazon generally because you could buy like canned goods, etc. So let's just say it's 25% to DoorDash alone, then that would be $2.5 billion that goes to DoorDash. $10 billion is their annual sales. So 25% of their annual sales comes.

Lauren Gruel (8:51)

From federal subsidies, which I don't think anybody realizes. I didn't realize it until you brought it up to me. Yeah, I didn't even think that was a thing that you're allowed to use these SNAP EBT benefits on food delivery.

Andrew Gruel (9:05)

And we're speculating on these numbers, but it's definitely in the billion dollar range. Like it might go a little more to one and a little bit more to the other one. But if you think about that, that's actually we think about it as, oh well, the people who are struggling should they be on these benefits and they're taking advantage of the system. But now flip all the way up to the top side and you've got corporate welfare. So it's actually, it's hitting the very very top and it's hitting the very very bottom. And who's paying for it? The middle class, the lower middle class. I mean it's coming out of our tax dollars. So I think that that's an interesting spin to this conversation that otherwise nobody would have known about. And I imagine actually. Well, I know and I can speculate with certainty that during the pandemic, which was a time in which they were significantly Increasing the amount of benefits that people were getting that third party delivery blew up. And by way of their sales blowing up, their valuations blow up. And when their valuations blow up, it creates a bubble in the market. So let's just assume that there's a gridlock and kind of a standstill on a go forward basis and we go two, three, four, even five weeks longer where they're not getting these benefits. That's $2.5 billion, let's break that down, divided by 12, that's effectively what, $200 million a month in sales that each one of them are going to lose.

Lauren Gruel (10:20)

Yeah. So what do you, like, what are your thoughts on, you know, these SNAP EBT benefits? Like, what are your thoughts on them being able to use them for like a third party?

Andrew Gruel (10:30)

I think that the scenario in which they should be able to use it for third party delivery is if they're disabled, if they can't get out, they can't get to the stores. I firmly believe that there should be a separate delivery system for this and they should get a set amount of goods in like a box, you know, like a butcher box or you know, canned goods and beans and rice, et cetera, and those should be delivered. I don't think that people should be ordering from restaurants because. And I shouldn't say that because as restaurant owners, both of us, that would help us be great to get an extra $500,000 a year. But I don't fundamentally think that that's right. And we do this right. So we're giving away, I mean, we give away probably $50,000 retail value of food a year to those who need it, those who are struggling, even seniors, especially in the Huntington Beach, Orange county area, who are trying to break that cycle of homelessness or just people who are struggling day to day. We did it with the fires last year. We're doing our share to table program, which is every single Monday. If the government came to me and said we're going to write you a ch, I wouldn't accept it because we have private donations as well as we do it as a business, we contribute as a business towards helping that. I don't need the taxpayer dollars because I think that then you have a conflict of interest.

Lauren Gruel (11:39)

Right. And you know what's crazy too? Okay. So I mean, the rumors are on TikTok that come November 1st, if they don't have their benefits, that they will start looting grocery stores.

Andrew Gruel (11:50)

I know that's been all over TikTok. There's been this TikTok trend Where they're gonna loot the grocery stores and they're gonna turn the places upside down. I mean, that's abso absurd.

Lauren Gruel (11:58)

It doesn't make. This is. I never will understand. You're angry and yet you want to.

Andrew Gruel (12:03)

Destroy something that's not yours or something that's there to.

Lauren Gruel (12:06)

But also then other people. Right, exactly. But other people who would go to the grocery store and just shop, like, they're like, what? You know what I mean?

Andrew Gruel (12:14)

Yeah.

Lauren Gruel (12:14)

It just doesn't sit right with me. Ever.

Andrew Gruel (12:16)

Well, and let's just break this down to its basic bare bones. I don't think that anyone out there wants to see somebody hungry and not be able to survive and not be able to eat. You know, we've talked about the limitations on these programs and being really just a catalyst to get somebody to the next level. And we've seen the ability to bridge struggle gaps with all these various public programs. I do think that churches and faith based organizations and independent nonprofits that people contribute money to get tax incentives to do so. I think that's a good program. Look at the food banks nowadays, right? So the food banks are gearing up for this November 1st date. I think that's a great thing. I think there's gonna be a ton of options available. I will tell you, if the food banks go dry after this, right? Let's say that. And the food banks go absolutely dry, I will be the first person to say we need to figure out a way to backfill those food banks so that we can help people. But I guarantee you the food banks are not gonna go dry. Because the problem is that the way these subsidies and these incentives are set up is to help the big soda companies, you know, to help the big food manufacturers, because a lot of what these people are getting is junk. And that's part of the irony here. There was a lady who was testifying yesterday about how she was gonna go hungry, and she was, you know, her family was gonna go hungry because they weren't gonna be the emergency program for the SNAP benefits. And the lady, I hate to say it, she was morbidly obese. And the comments were pretty rude in the comments section because it was like, she's not gonna go hungry. She's so obese. But what people don't realize is that you can actually be obese, but you can still be, like, nutritionally deficient.

Lauren Gruel (13:45)

Well, especially if they're eating, you know, food that aren'tthat aren't nutrient dense.

Andrew Gruel (13:49)

Exactly. And none of these foods are nutrient dense. And that's the problem is that a lot of these programs, these snap benefits into food stamp programs, have perpetuated obesity. Because when you look at who's funding and lobbying to continue the food stamp programs and the subsidy programs are the soda companies themselves. They are the massive food manufacturers. So when there was talk about removing soda from food stamps generally on a state level, the soda lobbyist came in and was throwing out 5, 10, $15,000 to influencers to start pushing the messaging that it's a freedom of choice and that we should be able to buy soda if we want. And why are we punishing people? Because they make their money off of it.

Lauren Gruel (14:28)

It's like a dedicated scam.

Andrew Gruel (14:30)

Yeah. So if I could take this entire program and turn it upside down right now, give me like 20 mayors across the country to pilot this in cities, I would set up a program where everybody got a pressure cooker, they got beans, they got rice, they got, you know, underutilized cuts of meat from local farmers, local ranchers. And then there was a program or a council of chefs that actually helped teach these people how to cook it themselves. Really give them the fishing pole and we make sure that we get them the right foods. We can help the ranchers and we can help the local food producers themselves. And I think that that's a much better closed loop system.

Lauren Gruel (15:03)

And I feel like too, I mean, to these people's credit, I guess a lot of people don't know how to cook anymore.

Andrew Gruel (15:09)

They don't. That's another problem.

Lauren Gruel (15:10)

They don't know how to cook. So, you know, the easiest thing is to get the doordash, you know what I mean?

Andrew Gruel (15:16)

Well, yeah, we're, and it's, I don't know, we have gotten pretty lazy, just generally speaking in society. But I think that's a good segue into our second story because here in Los Angeles, the non profit Crop Swap LA is actually reclaiming underutilized front yards. And I think this is also in urban areas. So I think it's gonna be for like underutilized development areas. And they're going to encourage people to grow fresh produce for local distribution.

Lauren Gruel (15:41)

I love this so much.

Andrew Gruel (15:42)

I'm shocked it's la because one of the reasons why I'm shocked is that the regulatory framework with city council and with ordinan through Los Angeles and the surrounding suburbs is that you can't grow produce in your yards. Right. Like there's so many restrictions on that. So if they're using this nonprofit as a vehicle through which they can actually deregulate and allow people to grow produce and then establish a secondary market whereby they can sell this produce to vendors and to neighbors or even give it to food banks.

Lauren Gruel (16:11)

I love this. And he also said. So the founder of the organization said that he hopes to improve diets and people's health. Like, that's great. You know what I mean? I just. I think all around, this is a.

Andrew Gruel (16:22)

Great thing, especially coming out of Los.

Lauren Gruel (16:25)

Angeles, and it should be, you know, kind of implemented across the country.

Andrew Gruel (16:29)

Well, that's the whole point. I mean, it's truly nonpartisan. So taking this hyper, hyper local. One of the first things that I did when I was on city council in Huntington beach was we got a plot of land up by the old Navy rail yard, and it's empty right now, and we're establishing a community garden there. We're gonna be utilizing aquaculture and aquaponics programs. We're gonna have community plots for people to grow their own vegetables. We're going to have larger plots where we can hopefully produce enough, not necessarily on a commercial side, but enough to bring back over to our navigation center, which is our homeless shelter. And we're going to do it all locally. And the idea is, if we can take that program and we can scale it out into other areas in Orange county, people see how easy it is. We set up the framework and say it's going to cost X amount of dollars. Here's the manpower you're going to need, here's the number of volunteers you're going to need, here's the supplies you're going to need. I mean, it's almost a franchise. Then we can get other cities to do that. But the disconnect, and you brought this up a second ago, is, okay, we grow the produce, we get the fresh vegetables, proteins, et cetera. What it is, who's cooking it.

Lauren Gruel (17:28)

Yeah. And we have to start. I mean, that's what we did with the Army. Remember, we taught young soldiers how to cook. They didn't know how to cook.

Andrew Gruel (17:36)

Loren and I went around with the US army as part of their program in 2019 that they had started was with BOSS, which was better opportunities for single soldiers. And the army realized that. And ultimately the Department of Defense is that they invested. I want to say the number is like $300,000 in a soldier.

Lauren Gruel (17:51)

It's a lot.

Andrew Gruel (17:52)

And by the time they're combat ready, they're not combat ready because they're obese or they have diabetes or they have one of these many chronic diseases. And then they're basically, I Don't want to trivialize it and say it's a wasted investment, but it is. Because now they can work sitting behind the desk, but they're not able to go out. Airborne division, et cetera. So what they wanted us to do was to teach soldiers how to cook, utilizing a hot plate in the barracks and buying from the exchange and teaching them actually how to shop. And what was fascinating about that is most of the soldiers, 18, 19, 20 years old, had zero idea. They couldn't even turn. They couldn't even hold a pan. They had absolutely no idea how to eat. And they were telling us that their dorms in the barracks are just littered with Burger King, Taco Bell, you name it. And when we would go into the exchange or the, like, the food halls that were associated with it, it was all the soldiers. None of them were going into the grocery area. They were all just going to the Burger Kings, the Taco Bells, the McDonald's of the world, KFC's.

Lauren Gruel (18:52)

And the grocery store had great.

Andrew Gruel (18:55)

Oh, the grocery stores were unbelievable products.

Lauren Gruel (18:57)

Like, really high quality. I was shocked that nobody was in there shopping.

Andrew Gruel (19:01)

Yeah, we were at Schoenberg out in Hawaii. And remember, they have, like, the Musabi and they had a whole bunch of Japanese products. It was actually. It was like a better grocery store than you would find in Orange county or Southern California. It was an amped up pavilions that was kind of eye opening. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit. And of course, they didn't really put any funding into that program. Perhaps we can push all the way up through the system.

Lauren Gruel (19:23)

I will say, just talking about COVID I will say, remember, everyone went through, like, a gardening phase. Like, we even did. And the kids were so proud. We had, like, zucchini and radishes and strawberries and squash. We had all sorts of things at our house because we were. All of us were bored. So we're just like, let's plant a garden.

Andrew Gruel (19:42)

Yeah. Well, we were also. We were still working the restaurants.

Lauren Gruel (19:44)

Well, we were working the restaurant, but our kids were home, so we needed, you know, we needed them to care for something.

Andrew Gruel (19:49)

Oh, shoot. I left them out on the roof. Yeah.

Lauren Gruel (19:51)

Okay.

Andrew Gruel (19:51)

All right. What else you got for me here today? We're getting into Thanksgiving season.

Lauren Gruel (19:55)

We are. I love Thanksgiving.

Andrew Gruel (19:57)

I do. I. You know, this is weird, and I don't want to sound like a communist, but I love Thanksgiving. I absolutely love it. But being in a restaurant industry, it's like, go, go, go, go, go. All the way up until the day before Thanksgiving. Wednesday is actually the Wednesday. In the restaurant industry, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is always a really busy day.

Lauren Gruel (20:15)

Is it because people are celebrating Thanksgiving that day?

Andrew Gruel (20:18)

Or, like, people come into town, catch up with old friends, get wasted, go to restaurants.

Lauren Gruel (20:23)

That's true.

Andrew Gruel (20:24)

You know, that was always, like, the biggest year in bars I remember in the town in which I grew up, because it was like everyone was coming back and having this quasi reunion over at Frank's Chicken House.

Lauren Gruel (20:35)

So Andrew doesn't like turkey.

Andrew Gruel (20:37)

I don't. It's not that I don't like turkey.

Lauren Gruel (20:39)

You don't like turkey.

Andrew Gruel (20:41)

I mean, I like the dark meat. I just don't like the way in which we traditionally treat turkey. It's the centerpiece of the table, but nobody puts the time into cooking it properly. So you get.

Lauren Gruel (20:51)

It's like, dry.

Andrew Gruel (20:52)

You get overcooked breasts and sometimes undercooked legs. Story of my life. Hey, O. I don't even know what that means, but. And it's like. I don't know. I just think that some of the items. Sometimes turkey dinners can be. The turkey's dry, so you use a ton of gravy. The gravy's gloppy because a lot of people don't know how to cook gravy. And then you get all these sides, but they're, like, overly sweet. I don't know what this move and this motivation has been over the past 20 or 30 years to make.

Lauren Gruel (21:18)

Like, why do you hate my sweet?

Andrew Gruel (21:21)

I don't like marshmallows on sweet potatoes. I think they're too sweet. It's like, we need the maple sugar, and we need the syrup, and we need the sugar again, and we need the marshmallows. And let's put some chocolate chips in there. Like, I want to have. If we're gonna have this savory, rich food, like, I want bright acids, I want bright flavors. I want a lot of herbs.

Lauren Gruel (21:40)

You do a good job with that. You make a killer cranberry sauce fresh.

Andrew Gruel (21:44)

I do, but people are like, I remember I posted our recipe for our cranberry sauce, which is fresh cranberries and a lot of vinegars, red wine vinegar. We use a little bit of honey to sweeten it off, but a ton of fresh herbs in there and spices and cinnamons, et cetera. So you get this incredibly warm, herbaceous, vibrant cranberry sauce. And everyone's like, what the heck is that?

Lauren Gruel (22:03)

What is that? I like it from the can.

Andrew Gruel (22:05)

Yeah, it just. Just. Just slopping out of the can.

Lauren Gruel (22:08)

And also, do you call stuffing, dressing, or do you call it stuffing?

Andrew Gruel (22:11)

I call it stuffing. Dressing is weird. That's like. That's like perverted bread.

Lauren Gruel (22:15)

I posted something was it last year on X. And I said, oh, stuffing's my favorite. And they're like, what do you mean stuffing? It's called dressing. And I'm like, what?

Andrew Gruel (22:23)

Well, do you call. Do you call tomato sauce gravy or sauce?

Lauren Gruel (22:28)

Tomato sauce?

Andrew Gruel (22:29)

Yeah, like red sauce. Do you call it gravy or sauce? It's Sunday gravy on the East Coast. That's the Italian Sunday gravy.

Lauren Gruel (22:37)

It's just a tomato sauce.

Andrew Gruel (22:38)

Oh, my gosh, it's gravy, Lauren. Speaking of gravy. So turkey gravy is one of my favorite things because it's so gamey and it's so rich. But you gotta make your own turkey gravy fresh and it's easy.

Lauren Gruel (22:52)

Do you have a video on that?

Andrew Gruel (22:53)

Yeah, we did a video on it last year. The perfect turkey gravy.

Lauren Gruel (22:55)

All right, we got a. Show that again.

Andrew Gruel (22:57)

We will show it again. Well, remember you used chicken feet?

Lauren Gruel (23:00)

Oh, yeah. That was disgusting. He was, like, throwing them in my face.

Andrew Gruel (23:03)

No, the key to a good turkey gravy is you want a ton of gelatin in there. The gelatin is what gives it. And collagen, Right? It gives it that silky. Not the collagen you put on your face.

Lauren Gruel (23:12)

I don't put collagen on my face.

Andrew Gruel (23:14)

Yeah, a little collagen cream, what have you. It's what gives it that rich and silky mouth feel and flavor that's just unctuous and umami, like, and addictive. The way in which you get extra gelatin. You know, you're using the backs and using the bones and the leg bones. There's a lot of gelatin in there, in the joints, but you get it from the chicken feet. So you go to an Asian market and you buy a bunch of chicken feet. That's what you gotta do.

Lauren Gruel (23:35)

Okay, that's a good tip. But also, it's kinda scary. Just be forewarned, if you haven't seen chicken feet, it's a little scary.

Andrew Gruel (23:41)

We were putting chicken feet, like, under the kids pillows, and they were waking up in the middle of the night screaming.

Lauren Gruel (23:45)

Well, they're so creepy.

Andrew Gruel (23:47)

Looking at them after I blanched them. Don't worry, it wasn't like raw chicken. The kids weren't sleeping on salmonella.

Lauren Gruel (23:52)

All right, Andrew. What the fork.

Andrew Gruel (23:53)

Oh, my gosh. McDonald's is debuting a Thai green curry chicken and fish burger in Malaysia, which, by the way, what the fork? Wtf?

Lauren Gruel (24:03)

What the fork? Okay, I'm not. Well, you. You're not a big fan of curry. I don't necessarily hate it as much as you do, but like, this just doesn't scream anything exciting for me. Like, I wouldn't want go out and want to try that.

Andrew Gruel (24:16)

I don't have a motivation to eat fish at McDonald's. People love the fish filet. They do absolutely love it.

Lauren Gruel (24:21)

Yes.

Andrew Gruel (24:22)

And to me. And it comes with cheese on it. Like cheese and fish to me is disgusting. I'll eat cheese and shellfish because shellfish is rich.

Lauren Gruel (24:29)

You eat self shell shellfish.

Andrew Gruel (24:32)

Yeah. Well, what's one of our number one sellers? The lobster grilled cheese.

Lauren Gruel (24:36)

Okay. Yeah, I'm sorry, I was thinking of like shrimp.

Andrew Gruel (24:39)

You wouldn't put. Okay. You wouldn't have a quesadilla with blackened shrimp and a little bit of cheese on there.

Lauren Gruel (24:43)

Okay, yes. Maybe you're right.

Andrew Gruel (24:44)

Turning her upside down inside out. I'm gonna show you guys what it's all about.

Lauren Gruel (24:49)

Oh, gosh.

Andrew Gruel (24:51)

So the thing is, is that I get it and this is a one off and this is in Malaysia and they have totally different palates. But what I see here and my problem, it's not the McDonald's sandwich, okay? McDonald's is the conduit through which they try and enter food trends into the mainstream. And you know what I don't like about this?

Lauren Gruel (25:09)

What?

Andrew Gruel (25:09)

The curry.

Lauren Gruel (25:10)

You don't like curry?

Andrew Gruel (25:11)

I don't like curry. Not because I don't like good curry. I think people don't understand that curry is complicated. It's a multifaceted flav. There's green curry, there's red curry, there's madras curry, there's dry curry, there's curry and coconut soups. There's so many different ways to use curry, but people just see curry and they dump it on everything. It's an overwhelming flavor.

Lauren Gruel (25:32)

It is. It's very overpowering.

Andrew Gruel (25:34)

It is. So if you don't cook it properly, you don't just add curry to something.

Lauren Gruel (25:38)

You have to be very careful.

Andrew Gruel (25:40)

It's like you learn. If you learn to drive, you know how to drive basic, right? With an automatic. If you then step into a stick shift, Ferrari or sports car, like that's a specialty car. You got a. Be specific in how the way in which you drive that curry is the Ferrari sports car of spices and seasonings. You have to know what you're doing. So I think there's something nefarious behind this. I think McDonald's is going to Try and roll curry out all over the place.

Lauren Gruel (26:04)

Oh, let's hope not.

Andrew Gruel (26:05)

Speaking of something nefarious, do you know that I saw a news headline just this morning? We didn't talk about this one. Gonna be surprising everybody. Lauren's gonna cut me behind the scenes afterwards. She said we didn't go over that one, so. In San Diego, they are teaching in elementary schools. There's this program that bugs are good to eat, if not better. Meat is bad for you, and that it's healthy to eat bugs and bugs are the protein of the future.

Lauren Gruel (26:29)

And who. San Diego, like elementary school?

Andrew Gruel (26:31)

Yeah, in the school systems. And we've talked about this at length in the past. I have a major problem with, like, consuming bugs because. Well, it's pretty obvious, right? It's intuitive. I shouldn't even have to explain this. Why?

Liberty Mutual Announcer (26:43)

I just.

Lauren Gruel (26:43)

Yeah. Like, no part of me, like, instinctually wants to, like, eat a bug.

Andrew Gruel (26:47)

Yeah. The other day I swallowed an ant accidentally.

Lauren Gruel (26:49)

We have.

Andrew Gruel (26:50)

We've eaten ants. There's a grasshoppers I like. Okay. I don't like it. That was more novelty. Like, I don't like grasshoppers or crickets or any of that. But we did. We went to a bar in New York City. It was a bar based out of like, Mexico City. And they do this thing where they do like, roasted salted ants around the rim of like.

Lauren Gruel (27:06)

Yeah, like your drinks or your shots or whatever.

Andrew Gruel (27:08)

Yeah. And we did it.

Lauren Gruel (27:10)

I couldn't do it. I mean, I would. Like I had maybe.

Andrew Gruel (27:14)

And I was like, oh, they weren't like carpenter ants. They didn't have, like, you know, big old tails on them. These were just like little farm raised ants. I'm hoping they were farm raised. I hope they didn't just get them from back behind the restaurant.

Lauren Gruel (27:23)

You never know. It's new year.

Andrew Gruel (27:24)

Yeah. I did feel weird the next day, but that could have been the roofie.

Lauren Gruel (27:29)

He slipped himself.

Andrew Gruel (27:30)

I have roofied myself before. I did roofie myself once. Cause I was curious what it was like. I was in college. I'm like, what is it? You know, everybody talks about roofies. I'm like, what's it like? What's scary is that I actually got it.

Lauren Gruel (27:41)

Hold on. You really roofied yourself?

Andrew Gruel (27:45)

Somebody.

Lauren Gruel (27:45)

We have never.

Andrew Gruel (27:47)

Somebody gave me. Somebody was like, this is a roofie. And I didn't want somebody to give it to, like a girl or take it. And jokingly, I took it and I put it.

Lauren Gruel (27:54)

Why didn't you just throw it in the toilet?

Andrew Gruel (27:55)

I know I took it, but all I know is I woke up at like 4:30 in the morning behind a Denny's with his pants off. No, my pants were around my ankles. But I was eating the Moons over Miami.

Lauren Gruel (28:06)

Oh my gosh, Andrew.

Andrew Gruel (28:08)

Okay, that's not true. But just wanted to make everybody lighten up here. It's not that light. That's not funny. But the second area in which we've eaten bugs is Lupita's, which is a great restaurant in San Jose, in Cabo in Mexico. And they have like a little appetizer. You get like a wooden bowl of roasted grasshoppers. And then they've got some chili and lime seasoning on there. Oh, yeah, we got it for the kids because we thought it'd be funny, right?

Lauren Gruel (28:30)

And they tried it.

Andrew Gruel (28:32)

Yeah, they ate it. Our kids will eat anything.

Lauren Gruel (28:33)

They will.

Andrew Gruel (28:34)

Our kids will eat. Absolutely. If I was like, hey, here's a stick that I found in the street. And we bread it.

Lauren Gruel (28:39)

You wanna try it?

Andrew Gruel (28:39)

And fried it, we'd be like, okay. They're like, our kids are animals. They are. All right, what are we 86ing today? 86 it. Get rid of it. No more.

Lauren Gruel (28:48)

No moss for me. It is E bikes for kids. I cannot stand the E bikes. I am turning into one of those people. Because the other day I was driving, it was pitch blackout. It was dark, it was like seven o'. Clock. You know, the sun's setting early. This group of like maybe six or. I was gonna say six.

Andrew Gruel (29:07)

Seven. Six, seven.

Lauren Gruel (29:11)

These kids just come out onto the street in like a main street. They're not in the bike lane. They're in the street doing wheelies and all this crazy stuff in my head, I'm like, what if one of these kids flips backwards? And like, what am I supposed to do?

Andrew Gruel (29:24)

The wheelies are too much. Like, the wheelies are too much.

Lauren Gruel (29:27)

And they have. They don't pay attention to traffic. They're on their phones the whole time. Like there needs to be some sort of driver's license test for these things because they don't know what they're doing. And I don't think they understand how dangerous they are.

Andrew Gruel (29:40)

First of all, you sound like a 90 year old lady. And I love it.

Lauren Gruel (29:42)

I'm concerned because I love it.

Andrew Gruel (29:43)

No, no, no. Cause I agree with you. You're like a personification of the nextdoor app. Cause if you go on next door, it's like, e bike, E bike, E bike. And everyone's like, okay, Rhonda, I agree with you. And I have to take put on my Policy hat here, because we address this on city council on multiple occasions. On the one hand, you know, you don't want to take it away from the kids because ultimately they're gonna get their hands on them. And it's like, if they don't learn and they don't know the rules of the road. Right. I personally think that you. It should be. They should go along with the driver's license at a certain speed limit. Like, if you're selling. Selling an E bike that goes 10 miles per hour below, that's fine. But anything above that, you got to get a permit goes.

Lauren Gruel (30:20)

You have to say, they don't pay attention.

Andrew Gruel (30:23)

They don't pay any. They don't. They don't know the rules of the road. They're driving in the road.

Lauren Gruel (30:27)

They're going, like, on a red light.

Andrew Gruel (30:29)

Yeah.

Lauren Gruel (30:30)

And it's just like.

Andrew Gruel (30:31)

And too many kids. A lot of kids have gotten hurt, especially in Huntington beach, and we're hearing these horrific stories. So E bike safety is huge. We're actually having H item coming out on next week's council agenda where we are going to be addressing bike safety, E bike safety, et cetera. I agree with you on this. I wouldn't say 86 at all together. But I will say this on the business side. I asked one of the city council members, you know, what's kind of the background history on the regulation and the policy, and they said, if you and I go, I'm going to ban E bikes. Right. Like, Andrew coming in, like, scorched ban E bikes. These kids are. When I was a kid, I walked uphill 700 miles a day. And the. They were like, we have so much business that comes in from these E bike shops and E bike rentals. The business owners would. Would have a fit.

Lauren Gruel (31:13)

And I don't think we should get rid of them. They're just. They need to, like, know the rules of the road. That's it.

Andrew Gruel (31:18)

Well, I think you should start a course. My 86. It is Yelp.

Lauren Gruel (31:22)

We've never liked Yelp.

Andrew Gruel (31:23)

This is my 86 it every single week. Here's the thing with Yelp. I'm not saying get rid of Yelp altogether, because I also use Yelp. I'll go on Yelp to look at the photos. I don't like the star rating and the way it's used as a bludgeon that people can actually use it to abuse a restaurant. I think we should get rid of the star rating on Yelp. And it should just be pictures and reviews. It forces Americans to actually read again. Like, nobody. You think anyone reads the book.

Lauren Gruel (31:49)

Make reading great again.

Andrew Gruel (31:50)

Oh, gosh. You know what? You should become a teacher. So that's it. That's my 86 Yelp. I'm probably gonna make that an 86. It, like, every five or six episodes altogether. I wanna sharpen your skills.

Lauren Gruel (32:01)

All right, I have a sharpen your skills tip.

Andrew Gruel (32:04)

All right, give it to me.

Lauren Gruel (32:05)

All right, so you should salt your vegetables before cooking. Dry brine, not after. So if you salt raw vegetables, especially mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, you know, onions of the, like, 10 to 15 minutes before cooking, the salt draws out surface moisture, and it does two major things. Andrew, do you know what those are?

Andrew Gruel (32:27)

Well, it makes the vegetables taste richer and deeper, and it also helps them brown because you're removing the moisture.

Lauren Gruel (32:33)

So. And I feel like. I mean, even for me, like, sometimes I, like, forget to do that, and I'll just start, you know, sauteing the vegetables, and I'm like, oh, shoot. And then they just. It just tastes like a vegetable with, like, salt on it. You know what I mean?

Andrew Gruel (32:44)

And there's vegetables all over the floor, too. Hey, she's a good flipper.

Lauren Gruel (32:48)

The pans he gets are very heavy.

Andrew Gruel (32:50)

I get heavy pans. I have heavy pans. Lauren's entirely correct on this, and it's obviously this. This is similar to kind of the dry brine on the meat. The only difference with the vegetables is that when the salt does draw the moisture out, it's not necessarily gonna go back into the vegetable the way it does with the meat. So you just kinda pat them dry. And you do get a much quicker, beautiful browning on the vegetables without overcooking or burning them. So 15 minutes before you cook the vegetables is when you wanna salt it. So pre salt kind of dry brine on the vegetables. We're there. That's a good one. I think that's the best sharpen your skills you've had yet.

Lauren Gruel (33:26)

I've only had two.

Andrew Gruel (33:27)

Yeah, well, you're shooting one out of two. All right, so. Wow. We covered a lot there. Snap benefits, E bikes, salting vegetables.

Lauren Gruel (33:35)

So many things.

Andrew Gruel (33:36)

86 in Yelp. I mean, you're all over the place, but we got some really good content coming up in our next episode as well. So make sure that you subscribe to us on wherever you listen to and get your podcast. Apple, iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia, Spotify, you got wherever you're getting your podcasts on American Gravy. You can follow me at chefgruel on X I'm ndrew gruel on Instagram and.

Lauren Gruel (33:59)

You can follow me aurengruel on X orringruel on Instagram and message us on.

Andrew Gruel (34:06)

Any of those platform maps regarding what you want to hear as topics, what you want to see. 86 if you've got your own, sharpen your skills because we really want to make this an open dialogue. We're a family here, so American gravy coming at you live.

Lauren Gruel (34:19)

See you next time.

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Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

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This is an I Heart podcast.