Hidden Apron, is a roving collective of day jobbers, side hustlers, and weekend warriors who are in love with all things gustatory. We weave stories and experiences through our pop-up dinners, turn flavors into words on our blog, and produce this podcast. In breaking bread, we set out to break the boundaries we've placed on ourselves and between each other.
This show features conversations with the people of our food system and their label-defying lives. We talk to chefs, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, farmers, and everyone in between on their philosophies, ambitions, and entertaining detours. Even if you're not a foodie, these episodes have a lot to say about living a deliciously rich life!
For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
Ep. 33: Reflections on Breaking Bread and Boundaries (A Recap of Sorts)
After a year’s worth of writing, editing, reflecting, then editing some more, we’ve finally finished our 33rd episode, four years after we had first launched this podcast and a year after we had published our last episode. This is a long overdue reflection of sorts tying every one of our last 32 episodes. Across them all, we’ve gathered the underlying truths that not only relate to food but also the experience of being. This was the most challenging episode we’ve recorded not only because we wanted to give justice to the generous wisdom our guests have shared but because they themselves come from such varied backgrounds: farmers, tech startup founders, writers, educators, activists, and everyone in between.
In this episode, we go surface three broad themes that hold all our episodes, if not all of Hidden Apron, together:
- Food is never just Food.
- Our problems are real and difficult, but the fundamental solutions have always existed.
- It all starts with “Why” and the stories we tell ourselves.
We also include snippets of past episodes and they’re quite a trip back in time when many of our guests (and us!) were in different stages in our lives. You’ll find a full listing of past episodes in the show notes below if you’d like to take a deeper dive with a guest who’s whetted your appetite. Given that this is a season closer of sorts, we’d be remiss in not thanking everyone who’s been along for this side project of a side project. From being one of the thousands of downloads, to providing us with valuable feedback, to one of those who’ve shared your own stories as a guest, maraming maraming salamat!
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast (http://hiddenapron.com/podcast).
19 Dec 2018
Ep. 32: The New Filipino Kitchen Authors Pt. 3 - Alexa Alfaro and Dalena Benavente on Navigating “Half”-Lives with Full Faith
This is the third installment in a special series of conversations with fellow authors of the recently published cookbook and anthology, "The New Filipino Kitchen" (available on Amazon) that features Filipino cooks, writers, and thinkers all across the globe. We take a peek into how they view the world and their cuisine.
For this “Halfsies” edition (all 3 of us are of mixed heritage, me being Chinese-Filipino and Alexa and Dalena being half Caucasian), we feature:
- Alexa Alfaro (for another round!), an Alaska-born Milwaukeean who, after a 10-week trip to the Philippines, was inspired to open her city’s first Filipino Food Truck “Meat on the Street” with her younger brother in 2014. This involved dropping out of her Engineering degree but weeks from graduation. Since then, the pair have opened a brick-and-mortar slinging their famous BBQ sticks and pork adobo to the masses.
- Dalena Benavente, born and raised as one of the only Filipinas in the Southern state of Tennessee. She has worked as a recipe developer and product tester for Kraft, filmed with Paula Deen, and hosted numerous cooking segments on a variety of radio and TV channels. She is also an accomplished author with her memoir “Asian Girl in a Souther World”.
We talk about:
- The realities of straddling racial and cultural lines and what it’s like to go “back home” to the Philippines.
- The ways we balance being relatable to our many communities without diluting who we are.
- Balancing the expansion of your business while serving your Home Team and your "Day Ones”.
- Balancing affordability/access with charging what you think you’re worth.
- Staying sane be it in the Food Truck business or trying to balance a day job with the side hustle.
There’s a lot of nuance in these conversations that I think often gets overlooked in favor of simpler narratives so if you’re also a Halfsie or find yourself straddling multiple worlds, “jobs”, and identities, give this episode a listen.
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
11 Dec 2018
Ep. 31: The New Filipino Kitchen Authors Pt. 2 - Katrina and Kristina Villavicencio and Alexa Alfaro on Expectations from Family to Food
This is the second installment in a special series of conversations with fellow authors of the recently published cookbook and anthology, "The New Filipino Kitchen" (available on Amazon) that features Filipino cooks, writers, and thinkers all across the globe. We take a peek into how they view the world and their cuisine.
For this East Coast edition, we feature:
Katrina and Kristina Villavicencio, co-creators of the Washington DC Supper Club Timpla along with their friends Aniceto and Paolo. Their simple vision of introducing modern Filipino cuisine to the city has grown to incorporate storytelling, design, and art to educate others about Filipino culture. Their combined experiences in food service (Kristina) and art (Katrina) make them a versatile team that is able to explore multiple facets of the Filipino culture.
Alexa Alfaro, an Alaska-born Milwaukeean who, after a 10-week trip to the Philippines, was inspired to open her city’s first Filipino Food Truck “Meat on the Street” with her younger brother in 2014. This involved dropping out of her Engineering degree but weeks from graduation. Since then, the pair have opened a brick-and-mortar slinging their famous BBQ sticks and pork adobo to the masses.
If I had to pick a single word for today’s show, it would be: Expectations. Be it:
Expectations around Filipino food (looks, tastes, methods, and costs).
Expectations around our age and the need to balance respectful obedience and forging our own path.
Expectations around the immigrant experience and the constant theme of sacrifice.
Expectations around gender; something we don’t get to cover much on this show. I’m glad we talked about this topic in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the fortuity that a majority of the co-authors I’ve been touring with and are getting the much-deserved spotlight (seeing as immigrant women are the keepers of cuisine) are female.
Of note to me was how we can think about our relationships with women in and out of the kitchen and where we draw the line between demanding excellence at work and abuse.
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
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