Welcome to Okayest Cook, where the love for food and the joy of sharing a meal brings us together. Join our community of like-minded individuals on a culinary adventure, exploring new dishes, preserving traditions, and embracing the hunter-gatherer mindset.
Discover the joy of commensality, connecting with others through shared meals, whether in person or across space and time. At Okayest Cook, we believe in the power of education, committing to learning and sharing knowledge about hunting, gardening, foraging, processing, and preserving.
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Host Chris Whonsetler interviews personal trainer and whiskey content creator Dan Kidd about how personal taste shapes bourbon enjoyment, exploring tasting techniques and bottle selections.
9 Mar 2026
Finding Your Place with Michael Zarick
Food, Community, and Third Spaces with Michael Zarick (Third Space Indy)
Host Chris Whonsetler welcomes Michael Zarick of Third Space Indy to the Okayest Cook podcast to continue a conversation on community and “third spaces” as places outside home and work that foster consistent connection and conversation. Michael shares notable meals from a new food-focused project with Amanda Gibson featuring Indianapolis restaurants Macizo and Wisanggeni Pawon, emphasizing owner stories and kitchen access, while Chris highlights a Greenfield coffee shop, Hitherto, filled with board games and game nights. They discuss why third spaces matter amid isolation, COVID-era habits, and phone-driven convenience, and how car-centric infrastructure, zoning, and suburban design discourage spontaneous community compared with pub culture and transit-rich cities. Michael describes merchandise plans (locally made mugs) intended to get people into local businesses, recalls Pizzeria Ruby in northwest Arkansas as a personal third space, and cites Flanner House’s Flanner Farms and Cleo’s Bodega addressing food access. They also touch on roller rinks, walking, bus riding, and Michael’s ideal model: Abby Reckard’s forthcoming Lille Bønne community space in a rezoned Dutch church.
Find Michael: @Thirdspaceindy on Instagram
Web: https://thirdspaceindy.com/
~ Support Okayest Cook by grabbing some of our new merch!
https://shop-okayestcook.square.site/
Shopping with our favorite brand via affiliate links is also a huge help ~
Anova: We love their Precision Cooker 3.0 & vac sealers - https://bit.ly/3WT36ZR
MEAT!: Powerful meat grinders - https://bit.ly/4ho5a4r
Hedley & Bennett: Quality Aprons - https://hedley-and-bennett.sjv.io/EEzBq2
Yeti: The king of coolers - https://yetius.pxf.io/a1NJXq
Lodge: Cast Iron cooking - https://lodgecastiron.pxf.io/zxe7dr
~
00:00 Cold Open and Sizzle
00:35 Meet Third Space Indy
01:38 Notable Meals and Food Show
04:15 Coffee Shop Third Place
06:55 What Makes a Third Space
10:16 Isolation and Why It Matters
12:50 Mugs That Get You Out
15:39 Food as Culture and Story
18:19 Pizzeria Ruby Community
24:11 Beyond Food Third Spacesn
31:50 Food Deserts and Flanner Farms
36:26 Why Third Spaces Matter
37:19 Skateland as Third Space
39:15 Intergenerational Rink Culture
40:23 Online Community Limits
41:46 Cars Kill Spontaneity
46:07 Pub Culture and Transit
49:00 Zoning and Missing Middle
52:02 Transit Benefits Everyone
53:41 Bus Serendipity and Bus Camp
56:23 Walkable Cities and Green Space
59:17 How to Make Friends IRL
01:01:05 Dream Third Space Li Labon
01:04:18 Final Shoutouts and Where to Find Him
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More at https://OkayestCook.com
Sign up for our Second Helpings newsletter: https://OkayestCook.com/subscribe
Connect with us on Instagram @Okayest_Cook
And facebook.com/AnOkayestCook
Video feed on YouTube.com/@OkayestCook
Crew:
Chris Whonsetler
Email: Chris@OkayestCook.com
Web: ChrisWhonsetler.com
Instagram: @FromFieldToTable & @WhonPhoto
1 Mar 2026
Combating food insecurity with Sierra Nuckols
Community Food Box Project: Mutual Aid, Food Insecurity, and Food Apartheid
Host Chris Whonsetler continues a conversation about community and commensality, connecting his lack of personal experience with food insecurity to the need to keep community needs front-of-mind. Guest Sierra Nuckols, an Indianapolis native, explains how her upbringing and interest in gardening led her to food justice work, including partnerships with urban growers and community gardens. She describes food apartheid as the historically rooted, racialized and class-based system behind “food deserts,” noting how food desert maps mirror redlining patterns. Sierra outlines the Community Food Box Project (under Cultivate Indy), emphasizing 24/7 access, easy-open high-protein donations, and biweekly volunteer meetups, plus plans for a live box-status map and upcoming March 7 fundraiser. They discuss donating regularly, attending local policy meetings, and simple habits like buying an extra item each grocery trip.
Support the Community Food Box Project: https://bit.ly/4sdmiPb
Food Box Map: https://bit.ly/46xP3Ok
Social: https://www.instagram.com/communityfoodboxproject/
~ Support Okayest Cook by grabbing some of our new merch!
https://shop-okayestcook.square.site/
Shopping with our favorite brand via affiliate links is also a huge help ~
Anova: We love their Precision Cooker 3.0 & vac sealers - https://bit.ly/3WT36ZR
MEAT!: Powerful meat grinders - https://bit.ly/4ho5a4r
Hedley & Bennett: Quality Aprons - https://hedley-and-bennett.sjv.io/EEzBq2
Yeti: The king of coolers - https://yetius.pxf.io/a1NJXq
Lodge: Cast Iron cooking - https://lodgecastiron.pxf.io/zxe7dr
~
Chapters:
00:00 Cold Open Banter
00:33 Podcast Intro Community
01:54 Food Insecurity Blind Spots
03:49 Meet Sierra Nuckols
06:12 Gardening and Local Food
07:13 Community Garden Partnerships
08:20 Food Apartheid Explained
13:37 Rooftop Garden Tangent
14:52 Notable Meals Roundup
19:33 Spotting the Food Boxes
21:09 Origins of Food Box Project
23:31 What to Donate and Why
26:47 Root Causes and Awareness
28:32 Practical Ways to Help
31:18 One Item Challenge
31:49 Volunteer Meetups
33:55 Recurring Donations
34:24 Interactive Box Map
36:06 Food Apartheid Explained
40:31 Grassroots Solutions
45:57 If Mutual Aid Disappears
51:39 Magic Wand Future Focus
56:06 Community Dinners Plans
58:01 Start a Pantry Anywhere
01:00:38 Asking for Help Safely
01:02:49 Final Call to Action
Mentioned in Episode:
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More at https://OkayestCook.com
Sign up for our Second Helpings newsletter: https://OkayestCook.com/subscribe
Connect with us on Instagram @Okayest_Cook
And facebook.com/AnOkayestCook
Video feed on YouTube.com/@OkayestCook
Crew:
Chris Whonsetler
Email: Chris@OkayestCook.com
Web: ChrisWhonsetler.com
Instagram: @FromFieldToTable & @WhonPhoto
Inside a recent episode
Why You Like the Bourbon You Like with Dan Kidd
Published 14 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] And two of the barrels were identical ingredient-wise. The only difference was that this barrel was made from a tree that came from that forest. And this barrel came from a tree that was made from that forest. And they were very different, you know, exact same ingredients, exact same age, exact same placement in the warehouse. Like literally the only thing that was different was the trees, same species of trees, same age, same everything. And it's wild. I mean, it's alchemy. It's literally alchemy. Like you're putting fire under this wood and caramelizing the sugars. And you have an idea of how it's going to turn out, but you don't exactly quite know how it's actually going to be. […]
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