Enlightened Omnivore Podcast

LIVE: Hot Dogs, Weird Foods, and What's in My Fridge

Had an absolute blast this weekend talking weird food, hot dogs, Jell-O salads, presidential eating habits, duck pâté, giant wheels of White House cheese, White house ragers, and what’s hiding in our refrigerators with my friend Bennett Rea [https://substack.com/profile/205723909-bennett-rea] of Cookin’ with Congress. Bennett has built one of the most fascinating food history projects online — recreating the meals of presidents, politicians, and everyday Americans to explore what food says about culture, class, power, and identity. Somewhere between hot dogs for the Queen of England, and frozen cottage cheese suspended in Jell-O, we uncovered a surprising amount about American food. We also opened our fridges live for the internet, which may or may not have been a mistake. If you missed the conversation, listen to the replay. It’s a fun one. Come for the hot dog history, stay for the Siberian pine cone jam and morning presidential cocktails. And definitely go follow Bennett’s work at Cooking with Congress [https://www.instagram.com/cookinwithcongress/] — especially if you love food history, strange recipes, or the beautifully weird ways Americans have eaten over the years. WORKSHOP: The Enlightened Freezer Most people use their freezer like a graveyard for leftovers and mystery meat. But chefs, butchers, and thoughtful home cooks know something different: your freezer might be the most important tool in your kitchen. Join me for a practical workshop on Saturday June 13th, @9am PT / Noon ET to learn everything about freezing foods: how to organize things, preserve seasonal items, and make everyday cooking dramatically easier and cheaper. Paid subscribers can register at the link below. Stay Connected * Follow along on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@EnlightenedOmnivore], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/enlightened_omnivore/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@enlightened_omnivore] for video content, reels, and behind-the-scenes thoughts. I’m also on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/enlightenedomnivore] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesabicer/]. * Say hi on Substack Notes [https://enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/notes]—I’m posting almost every day about my random reflections on life. * Join me in Chat. It’s a space just for subscribers, kind of like a group text but less embarrassing. Download the app [https://substack.com/app?utm_campaign=app-marketing&utm_source=enlightenedomnivore&utm_content=author-post-insert], tap the Chat icon (it looks like two speech bubbles at the bottom), and find the latest “Enlightened Omnivore” thread. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe [https://enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

PODCAST Season Finale: Ending With a Friend

This is the final episode of The Enlightened Omnivore Podcast — Season Two. I’m taking a short break, but I’ll be back later this year with Season Three. In the meantime, there are more than 25 episodes waiting for you wherever you listen—so if you’ve been enjoying the show, please follow, subscribe, and leave a quick review wherever you download your podcasts. It would truly mean a lot. Now, the real reason this episode matters. My guest is Kurt Beardsley—one of my closest friends of more than three decades. And I don’t say that lightly. Kurt is the kind of friend who doesn’t just know my stories… he helped shape many of them. Kurt is a photographer, an artist, a maker. He’s spent decades in music and entertainment—technical theater, production work, building sets, solving problems, getting impossible things done on impossible timelines. He has that rugged competence a lot of men quietly envy. And somehow, alongside all that, he’s also one of the most emotionally grounded men I’ve ever known. That combination—capable and tender—might be the most “sustainable” form of masculinity out there. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe [https://enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

PODCAST: Clean Alcohol, Label Lookers, & the Alchemy of Tea

I keep hearing this phrase: clean alcohol. It shows up in product descriptions, social captions, and I hear it from the soccer moms as I wait in line for my decaf Americano. I wasn’t even sure what people meant by it. Was it a health claim? A vibe? Just a marketing buzzword? So I brought the question to someone who lives right at the center of that conversation: Jennie Ripps, founder and CEO of Owl’s Brew, a ready-to-drink alcoholic beverage company built around tea, botanicals, and transparency. Enlightened Omnivore is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Jennie and I have known each other for… an almost comical amount of time (depending on which of us is doing the math). We studied abroad together in Athens, Greece, in the late 1990s. We’ve only seen each other in person one other time — randomly, on a street corner in New York City Then one day I saw her picture in an article in Inc. magazine. Jennie had made it. She was CEO of one of the fastest-growing beverage companies. So this episode felt like both a reunion and a crash course in how the modern alcohol industry actually works. And the biggest surprise? A lot of what consumers think they’re buying… they can’t easily verify. What “clean alcohol” is reacting to Jennie’s definition starts simple: Clean alcohol means no preservatives, no additives, no weird ingredients. But the why matters more than the what. Jennie points out something most of us don’t realize: alcohol doesn’t operate under the same regulatory expectations we’re used to with food. You might be someone who avoids high-fructose corn syrup, potassium sorbate, or caramel coloring in your food… and then one night you settle in to watch a show with your main squeeze and pour a cocktail — without realizing you may be drinking those exact same ingredients. That’s because alcohol producers generally aren’t required to disclose them. I’m not trying to be alarmist. I don’t think alcohol is secretly packed with highly toxic ingredients (other than, of course, the alcohol itself). But it is remarkable how many of the most popular beverages we ingest live inside a black box. “Label lookers” and the new trust economy Jennie told me Owl’s Brew aspires to be “the most trusted beverage brand in the world.” Yes, it’s a bold statement. (And yes, I told her it was great marketing.) But her point was serious. Consumers are increasingly trained to turn the bottle around and ask: What’s in this?What does “natural flavors” actually mean?How much sugar is in it? How many calories?Why isn’t there a nutritional panel? She calls these people label lookers — and once you hear the term, you realize: that’s a lot of us now. And that’s when it clicked for me. Jennie isn’t trying to sell a wellness brand. We all know alcohol, even on its best day, isn’t exactly health food. Instead, “clean” has become shorthand for something deeper. Jennie’s selling accountability, and I’m buying. Drinking habits are changing — and visibility is part of it When I asked Jennie about shifting drinking habits — especially among younger people — she shared the explosion of choice these days. You used to have beer, wine, and spirits. Now theres a ready-to-drink (RTD) category, cocktails with THC, Non-Alcoholic, and low-ABV. She also shared how social media might be reducing demand, but not in the way you might expect. Or maybe you’re smarter than I am and you’re spot on. You’ll just have to listen to the podcast to know. Tea as ritual, tea as alchemy Somehow we almost forgot to talk about tea — which is kind of the whole point for Jennie. Probably the second beverage humans imbibed after water, tea is a most ancient beverage. You put leaves in water.The water changes.Something beneficial appears. Alchemy, in the most literal sense. It was nice to hear her passion and expertise on the subject. I’m going to get some genmaicha tea this weekend. As for me? I’m still more likely to pour a finger of bourbon or open a bottle of wine than to drink one of these RTD “clean” alternatives. But I’m definitely paying closer attention to the labels these days. Hope you’ll give this one a listen. Links & References * Owl’s Brew [https://theowlsbrew.com] * Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) [https://www.ttb.gov] * Wine & Spirits Ingredient Disclosure [https://www.ttb.gov/regulated-commodities/labeling/labeling-resources] * Potassium Sorbate & Sodium Benzoate [https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/food-additive-status-list] (FDA Fact Sheet) * Genmaicha [https://www.japaneseteas101.com/genmaicha/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genmaicha] (Japanese Green Tea with Toasted Rice) Stay Connected * Follow along on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@EnlightenedOmnivore], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/enlightened_omnivore/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@enlightened_omnivore] for video content, reels, and behind-the-scenes thoughts. I’m also on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/enlightenedomnivore] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesabicer/]. * Say hi on Substack Notes [https://enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/notes]—I’m posting almost every day about my random reflections on life. * Join me in Chat. It’s a space just for subscribers, kind of like a group text but less embarrassing. Download the app [https://substack.com/app?utm_campaign=app-marketing&utm_source=enlightenedomnivore&utm_content=author-post-insert], tap the Chat icon (it looks like two speech bubbles at the bottom), and find the latest “Enlightened Omnivore” thread. Enlightened Omnivore is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe [https://enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

PODCAST: Wintering Like a Butcher

In this episode of Enlightened Omnivore, I sit back down with my good friend and butcher doppelganger, Heather Thomason. The first few minutes with Heather are always the same: a quick audio check, a little screen glare, the shared relief that yes—this sounds good, we’re here. Then the real catch-up begins. Heather’s been on the podcast a few times now, and each time feels like a different chapter of a fulfilling life. The butcher chapter. The non-profit chapter. And now, something new. This time, Heather doesn’t arrive with a new title or a big announcement. She arrives with warmth on a cold day. With the quiet honesty of someone who’s stopped forcing clarity. “I’m wintering,” she says. Cocooning. Not hiding—just listening. And I know exactly what she means. It’s that season when you stop “doing” long enough to feel yourself again. Heather shares about stepping away from her nonprofit role—less as an exit, more as a clearing. She loved the people. She cared about the impact. But somewhere along the way she noticed the simplest truth: This isn’t my life’s work. Saying that out loud takes a specific kind of courage. The kind that doesn’t come from certainty. The kind that comes from finally trusting your own temperature gauge. Putting Down the Pen, Picking Up the Brush Heather and I first connected through writing. Her HUNGRY HEART [https://open.substack.com/pub/heathermaroldthomason] Substack was my first introduction to the platform. If you haven’t read it, it’s worth your time. Her early posts felt eerily parallel to my own feelings after closing—like someone else had already written the thing I was circling. Her work inspired me to start Enlightened Omnivore. For Heather, writing felt like the obvious container for her creativity. Until it didn’t. She describes the feeling without drama: the page started to feel like a job. The discipline didn’t feel like devotion—it felt like pressure. The words weren’t flowing. The identity didn’t fit. And then, almost accidentally, she returned to an older self. A class. A paintbrush. The smell of oil on canvas. That sensation of your hands remembering something your mind forgot. Within weeks, she was walking outside and seeing differently—light on bark, shadow on snow, the way trees hold their posture through winter. She started taking photos on hikes the way painters do: not documenting a moment, but collecting a future one. There’s a particular kind of happiness that shows up when you’re back in the right medium. The rest of the episode meanders around two friends with such busy lives that they need a podcast to catch up. At some point, the conversation drifted—like it always does—from craft to emotion. I tell her about my sad movie experiment. She tells me about the books she’s reading and what’s coming up in her garden this year. This episode is as close to a conversation at my kitchen counter as I’ve gotten all season. I loved it. I think you will too. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe [https://enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

PODCAST: How to Save the Rainforests Without Picking a Food Fight

This week on the Enlightened Omnivore Podcast, I sit down with Jack Bobo of the Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies at UCLA to tackle one of the most polarizing questions in modern food culture: Can agriculture actually be part of the climate solution—or are we arguing ourselves into a corner? We start with regenerative agriculture, but the conversation quickly zooms out to something bigger: why food debates feel so toxic, and why progress keeps stalling. Jack offers a simple but powerful reframe: “Most food fights aren’t about values. They’re about metrics.” Most of us want the same things—healthy people, a livable planet, farmers who can stay in business. But we measure success differently: carbon, water, biodiversity, labor, price. Cue the shouting. Here’s the surprising part: Jack argues that many U.S. agricultural sustainability metrics have improved dramatically since the 1980s. Less land. Less water. Fewer emissions per unit of food. The real problem? We’re producing more food than ever—and not improving fast enough to keep up with demand. We dig into why doom-and-gloom narratives backfire, how policy can accidentally export environmental damage, and why the next 25 years may be the most important food transition in human history. The takeaway is simple—and radical: You don’t fix the food system by creating more villains. You fix it by choosing better ones. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe [https://enlightenedomnivore.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]