#25 | Andrew Galarneau: Cracking Gender Barriers in Food Media + Tzatziki Sauce
This episode of Women in Food is unique as one of the rare times I interview a “man in food” — food writer and journalist, Andrew Galarneau. During this conversation we dance between topics like an innovative take on cooking eggs to the complexity of gender inequality in the culinary industry. Andrew lays bare what he sees is the sobering truth of women's underrepresentation in professional kitchens and the obstacles they face, from systemic discrimination to the difficulties in establishing their own ventures.
Along the way, we take a short culinary tour through Buffalo's diverse food scene, as Andrew shines a light on the importance of supporting immigrant-owned eateries. He also shares some super practical advice for those in the food business on making their mark with media professionals and the importance of clear communication with strong business acumen. Andrew tops it off with his story and accompanying recipe for Yiayia’s Tzatziki Sauce.
This was a serious yet enlightening dialogue, providing insight into both the joy of gastronomy and the critical issues that shape the industry. Tune in for this rich blend of flavorful stories and essential conversations on the path forward for women in food
The Recipe starts at 48:36
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Andrew’s Social Media: Instagram, Facebook
Andrew’s FourBites Website with reviews and food conversations in the Buffalo, NY region
Are you looking to elevate your Business in a mindful and aligned way? Get a 1:1 Business Coaching Session with Missy at: WomenInFood.net/workwithmissy
Become a member of the Women In Food Community at: WomenInFood.Net/Community
Missy’s Farm Website: CrownHillFarm.com
Missy’s Business Coaching Website: SpiritBizPeople.com
Yiayia’s Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients:
1 quart whole milk Greek yogurt (or 2 quarts whole milk yogurt drained overnight through cheesecloth to make 1 quart)
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed then chopped finely as possible (knife and patience is best, 6-7 passes after sprinkling coarse chop with kosher salt, which helps break it down, but processor is OK)
1/2 cup fresh chopped dill (optional)
1/2 cup grated onion or fresh chopped chives (optional)
1/8 cup white vinegar or lemon juice
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Persian cucumber, grated, moisture squeezed out (I put the glob in a sturdy dish towel and start twisting and massaging it like a stress ball)
Salt, to taste, approximately 1-2 tablespoons
Method:
1. Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl, whisking well to combine. The garlic will bloom overnight and become significantly stronger.
2. Make it this way once, then adjust the ingredients to your taste.
In our commitment accessibility, we’d love to offer polished show notes to help make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who like to read rather than listen to podcasts. However, Women in Food is still a startup with limited resources. So we’re not there yet.
What we can offer are these very imperfect show notes via the CastMagic service. The transcription is far from perfect. But hopefully it’s close enough - even with the errors - to give those who aren’t able or inclined to learn from audio interviews a way to participate.
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Missy Singer DuMars [00:00:00]:
Welcome to another episode of Women in Food. I'm your hostess, Missy Singer Dumars. This podcast is all about the intersection of 3 things, food, business, and the feminine. Each episode, I invite you to sit down with me and my interview guest as we dive into this intersection to spark your food curiosity, share a favorite recipe, and give you some fun food explorations along the way. I'm inspired by these women, farmers, chefs, bakers, cooks, writers, and food makers who all bring their passion for beauty, nourishment, community, pleasure, connection, and deep care to others through food. These are women who advocate and take action towards increased food awareness for themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods. Before I introduce today's guest, I have one request. If you could go over to Itunes or whatever app you're using to listen and give us a rating and review.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:00:50]:
It's a simple act that helps other people find the show. Thank you so much. So today, I am really happy to introduce to you Andrew Gallardo. Yes, I know I don't have a woman guest. Today's episode is a little different, and I'll tell you why Andrew's here in just a minute. But to start, Andrew brings us his 35 years as a professional journalist and 23 years teaching journalism to an important conversation about women in food, particularly as seen in media. Andrew started with investigative reporting and applies those skills to his passion for food as a food editor and writer for the past 13 years here in the Buffalo, New York region. Now he leads 4 Bites, his food newsletter and media outlet, exploring the entire range of food culture in Western New York.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:01:36]:
I met Andrew a few years ago when he interviewed me for the Buffalo News. And from that first conversation, I learned how he does what he can to elevate the diversity of voices including women's voices in food. Andrew is absolutely my go to when I'm looking for the newest women chefs in town, and he usually has the 1st scoop on unique spots in the area. In addition, he's a supporter of the entire food community, not just restaurants, but farmers, growers, food hobbyists, and entrepreneurs. Having said all of that, I am thrilled to dive into this conversation on why women's chefs are so hard to find. And, of course, we'll have tons of food geekery along the way and a recipe. So, Andrew, welcome to Women in Food. I'm so honored and so happy to have you join us
Andrew Galarneau [00:02:23]:
for
Missy Singer DuMars [00:02:23]:
this conversation. Yeah.
Andrew Galarneau [00:02:25]:
The the the as, the only representative of my genus to be brought onto this show, I'm honored, and I will hopefully try to not dishonor my half of the species.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:02:37]:
I'm sure it'll be fine. And let me start with a fun light question. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Andrew Galarneau [00:02:44]:
I had a banana and a cup of black coffee.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:02:47]:
Alright. And I want our audience to know that besides writing about food and, of course, eating lots of it to write about it, you are quite an avid cook. So I'm looking forward to, getting into Food Geekery and your recipe along the way. And I wanna start with asking, how did you what tell us a little bit of the story of transition from investigative journalism to food writing?
Andrew Galarneau [00:03:14]:
Well, when I was a young reporter, I would go to restaurants and eat dishes that made me go, like, holy Toledo, this is fantastic. But I was on a young reporter's salary, So what I did was I was like, well, I want to make this, but I can't afford to buy it at the restaurant, so I'm just gonna make it myself. And that drove me into researching, you know, dishes and where to get ingredients. And, I did it because I was hungry and I wanted things I couldn't afford. So I got into cooking that way. And then when I was working so in, let's see, 1994, I'm working for the Saint Petersburg Times. They wanted some extra food content for the at this point, the Saint Petersburg Times, not only had a national international a section and a local b section, but they had a c section, like an entire section in your newspaper every day that had only news from your county. So I worked in Pasco County, and they were looking for, food court, food stuff.
Andrew Galarneau [00:04:21]:
And they were like, can you review a restaurant for us? I'm like, sure. And it wasn't a big deal. And it wasn't like the big restaurant review. I wasn't the, critic for the St. Petersburg Times, but it was a chance to just do some stuff like that. So that's how I got my feet wet. And then when I was working for the Saint Crowe, came back to Buffalo 1997, they had, at that point, a Sunday magazine, which later became a monthly magazine. And, this was just came in the Sunday paper or the and once a month when it went to monthly, and they needed food content, I wrote food columns for them.
Andrew Galarneau [00:04:58]:
I got a chance to play, really just play. They were like, we want you to do whatever you want. I'm like, okay. So I went out and bought the most expensive ingredients I could get my hands on because I'm like, when am I gonna get a chance to play with this stuff? And I wrote about it. And so what I've been doing is writing about food when I get a chance along with the mainline, for other organizations. So when Janice Okun, the original food editor of the Buffalo News, decided to retire after 40 years. I was right there. I had already been writing food, and I had been, lobbying for about, I would say, 8 years for the job.
Andrew Galarneau [00:05:36]:
Like, I knew I wanted it. When I found out after all the horrible
Missy Singer DuMars [00:05:40]:
Welcome to another episode of Women in Food.
Andrew Galarneau [00:05:42]:
And when I found out there's a job where, like, you just write about food, I was like, I want that job. So, you know, for 8 years for 8 years, I wasn't doing this consciously at first, but eventually became conscious. I ran the only, full newsroom party at the Buffalo News. They didn't have an annual event where everybody just got together, so I threw a party at my house for 8 years, Labor Day weekend, rib fest at Andrew's house. And I smoked, my spare ribs, and I made, grilled Thai marinated chicken skewers and something vegan. And I told everybody, just bring your favorite salad, side dish, or sweet. Because my intention is I'll I'll do the center of the table stuff, but I want you to bring that pride and joy of your family, whatever it is. Like, everybody's got something, right, that they do great, and I'm like, just bring that.
Andrew Galarneau [00:06:33]:
And the combination of everything was it always made it a nice party, and the kids are playing volleyball, and somebody shows up with a with a keg of homebrew, which in those days was unusual, and then we just had a party. So when it came time to choose who was gonna do it, I had been working the inside and the outside, and they picked me.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:06:53]:
Fabulous. Fabulous.
Andrew Galarneau [00:06:55]:
I'm sorry. You're not supposed to monologue that long, but I'll learn.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:07:00]:
You're okay. You're the guest here, so it's it's different. You can say whatever. It well, maybe I should be careful.
Andrew Galarneau [00:07:05]:
I mean, you
Missy Singer DuMars [00:07:06]:
can say whatever you want.
Andrew Galarneau [00:07:07]:
Did did I answer your question?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:07:09]:
Absolutely. Thank you for sharing. And, you know, I wanna get right right into the nitty gritty of the conv And
Andrew Galarneau [00:07:17]:
when I found out there's a job where you're like, you just write about
Missy Singer DuMars [00:07:20]:
why women chefs are so hard to find, as a food writer. And right before we hit the record button, you were saying to me that you were making a list of women chefs here in the area and struggling to come up with what felt like a thorough list. So I'd love to hear more about what started you paying attention to food diversity and, particularly women chefs and why women chefs are so hard to find.
Andrew Galarneau [00:07:50]:
Well, that's a couple questions in a row.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:07:52]:
I know.
Andrew Galarneau [00:07:52]:
I know.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:07:53]:
I just threw it all at you at once because I know you can handle it.
Andrew Galarneau [00:07:55]:
Let's just make a list, and we'll take them 1 by 1.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:07:59]:
Well, let's start with what what started to, make you pay attention more to those choices as you reviewed and wrote about food in the region?
Andrew Galarneau [00:08:10]:
Well, once I started taking my job seriously with the help of Krista Glenny, who is the Buffalo Spree food editor and, has helped me immensely grow as a professional, I started to ask myself, what so you've been given this vehicle. You didn't make it, but you get to steer it. And your job is to be a tour guide. Your job is to drive people around and point out things and go, like, here's why I'm pointing this out, and here's why it's important. And that's your job in a community. And, to make the case. Right? A critic makes a case. A critic is supposed to have favorites.
Andrew Galarneau [00:08:50]:
A critic is supposed to say, here's something we're celebrating, and I'm going to tell you bye. And if both parts are important, otherwise, you haven't connected it to the community. You're just like, oh, I think this is the best steak, which is you know, has some value. But if you wanna be a critic in the community, you want to you want to praise the the things that you'd like to raise up. And I don't punch down, so I don't run around criticizing things. I just praise what and articulate my case for this particular thing. So I had to ask myself, where am I driving this bus? What am I showing people? And I started out well, that's a couple questions in a row.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:09:28]:
I know.
Andrew Galarneau [00:09:29]:
Know. People don't go to restaurants on the east side, and I'm like, wow, that's an incredibly dumb thing to say. People live on the east side like anybody else. People eat things, and there are businesses feeding those people. So, wow, that sounds pretty, pretty damn racist if you ask me.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:09:45]:
And yeah. Can you for our listeners who are not from Buffalo, they may not know the significance of talking about the east side. So briefly tell us why that's important
Andrew Galarneau [00:09:55]:
to us. Buffalo is a, a definitively segregated city. On the east side of Buffalo, people don't go to restaurants on the east side and they're like, let's see, white flight and systemic disinvestment over decades from political forces and business forces have left the east side of Buffalo. It's, you know, it's it was literally on the east side of Main Street. And on this side is where you find majority of houses that are not doing well, blown out blocks that have been knocked down by the city over the years, and most of the black people in town and the brown people in town. And, not like they're not living everywhere, but that's that's the area on the east side. And
Missy Singer DuMars [00:10:44]:
And most notably recent in recent history.
Andrew Galarneau [00:10:47]:
Well, it
Missy Singer DuMars [00:10:48]:
was the silk shooting.
Andrew Galarneau [00:10:50]:
Well, it and and and when I say that this has been going on for decades, when a white supremacist, racist murderer decided that he was going to pick a hunting ground to kill as many black people as possible, because that's the kind of sickness that he has and the equipment that allowed him to do that, he picked the blackest ZIP code he could find, and that was on the east side of Buffalo. Right. And he went and he went hunting. And that's the east side of Buffalo because, and it's not any 1 person's fault and it's not any 1 person's problem, but it's a very real thing.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:11:23]:
Yes. So back to the Eastside has no good food.
Andrew Galarneau [00:11:31]:
So I've got an editor in it sitting in an air conditioning building in downtown Buffalo, looking out at the banking and the hockey arena, which as you can all see from our building, and the banks and the big tower in Seneca one. Let's see. White flight. And so I had to you know, you have to make a decision in that point. When you're working for an organization, you find out there are some people who don't share your values. You can either start a fight with them or you can just go do what you wanna do and figure out a way to square it later. And that's what I did. I didn't I never got into an argument where somebody said, you can't go do something.
Andrew Galarneau [00:12:07]:
They were like I just heard, like, the way they were trying to steer me, and I'm like, well, I don't think I'm going to do that. And what I literally did was I made sure that I drove through down past, talked to people, and I found places in on the east side of Buffalo that were absolutely worth reviewing. So I had a you know, you have to make a decision in that. The places in the Broadway market. And, you know, it was harder to find places worth writing about, and I had to ask myself, why is that? And, well, when you start to realize that some people who live in your community have been ill served by restaurants and stuff, you gotta ask yourself, well, what can I do about that? You know? I'm a critic. So what I did was I decided after that, every single time I had a chance to write about a restaurant that I could review that was run by a black person or a brown person, I would give them a little extra, maybe they make it closer to the top of the list because there's always a list of 25 places you could do. And you you know, the review is what can I get to, what can I get photos assigned? So there's always some x factors. So waiving that list towards and you understand, this is not giving somebody a spotlight who doesn't deserve it at all.
Andrew Galarneau [00:13:24]:
This is not like, oh, you happen to be an African American person. You're running restaurants. It's not that good, but I'm gonna put you in the report. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is I made a little extra effort to go find people worth sharing. That's all. And it was and it was worth it. And over the years, I made it my business to find places that could use help.
Andrew Galarneau [00:13:48]:
And that included a lot of minority run places and a lot of the very few women run places I started getting into. And so over the years, continuing to this day, my my my, focus as a critic is, who could use the help? Another one, first of all, your food has to be good, so that's not even a question. Okay? There's a ton, you know, on any given day, there's 2 50 places that have good food that I haven't written about lately. Well, who needs help? In other words, who's doing something great and is not getting the attention they deserve? And the other factor is, who does who do I want to raise up as a group, as a thing? Because when you show when when you reflect something in your media and you show the the world that, like, here's a black person, they're running off business. They're doing everything great. They're just, like, have you know, you are not only helping them by having helping people realize I can go give them money, but you are showing other people, like, yeah. Yeah. Black people run businesses because this might shock some people.
Andrew Galarneau [00:14:50]:
But in a community like Buffalo where the east side is considered a place where other people go and I don't go, it hurts business if you don't see your ability as somebody who's in the suburbs and has been affected by this, idea, you can't just go and get this person's oxtails, which are the best oxtails in Buffalo, because you can't get over yourself. Part of my job is to help people get over themselves and just go eat some good food in the neighborhood that they haven't eaten in before and find out that people are just like you. They're just like you. They're making delicious food. They might not live where you thought you might wanna live or whatever, but we're all in this together and we can all eat each other's food.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:15:33]:
Well, it's interesting to have this conversation because I, you know, I've lived in this region only 7 years and came here and started a farm. And, and I talk about this on my website in terms of the inception of Women in Food and this podcast. But when I came here, I felt like what I saw on social media and in what writing written word I was seeing, it was like the same 3 or 4 white guy chefs and farmers. Same with the farmers, like old school, multi generational farmers. And I felt frustrated, but I've also lived in, you know, very diverse communities and cities, and had exposure to, or, you know, a range and a love for a range of styles and cultures and and food and and also figuring out how to be seen myself as a new farmer in the area and was very frustrated that it's chefs, and the quotes are always from these 2 or 3 farmers.
Andrew Galarneau [00:16:38]:
The places in the Broadway market?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:16:41]:
Was asking myself that question. Like, how how do we get more voices? And and so then when I met you, you were looking for those voices, which I really appreciated a lot.
Andrew Galarneau [00:16:52]:
Part part of the flattening of the overall media
Missy Singer DuMars [00:16:56]:
rep Was asking myself that question. Like, how
Andrew Galarneau [00:16:59]:
The reason you see the same names turn up in story after story about a subject, whether it's food or politics or business, is because when you're a reporter and you're trying to put a report together, the fastest thing you can do is call people who you know will call you back and give you a quote you can use. And I have done that. I will absolutely say me a culpa. The reason you see the same names it's like only seeing the the same streets in your community that you drive home if you drive to the same places every day. You'll never find out what's really going on. You'll find out what the same people think, but and unless you're out there meeting new people who are connected to the story or the beat or the situation, how do you know? How do you even start to be comfortable with a sense of that you have a handle on what's going on?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:17:54]:
Well, that could get us into a big conversation about the bubbles the the bias bubbles that social media has now created with algorithms or anything else. We don't even need to go down that path, but it I don't wanna learn. I love that you take it to Right. No. But I love that you take it to just even how you drive home and you see the same things. And it's a funny thing to think about because I very intentionally get bored driving the same way. And I everywhere I go, even if I've gone a 100 times, I go one way and return home a different route just to go somewhere different. So I guess I guess I'm an anomaly with that, but
Andrew Galarneau [00:18:28]:
So what some people call forcing yourself out of a rut for a journalist is essential. If you only take the same path, you only see the same things. And that's why I try to go meet people who I haven't met before as often as possible, because, one, I'm not afraid of strangers, so that helps. 2, almost always, they've got something for me. They've got something, an insight, a story idea, maybe they're a story themselves. I mean, and and when you just approach people and say, what do you got? Without some preconceived notion of like, I'm here to do a story on x, man, you it's like only seeing the the same.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:19:12]:
Yeah. I think you're giving some really, rich pointers for
Andrew Galarneau [00:19:18]:
a
Missy Singer DuMars [00:19:18]:
writer or storyteller, which I love. And what I wanna ask is, in the reverse direction, you know, what would be your top 3 things that you would suggest for a woman chef to to to get on that, as you said, your list or Cool. Okay. In their region, their list. We're, you know, we're talking about women entrepreneurs, in food. And, like, what are the ways they can, you know, be that go to call person or become that person?
Andrew Galarneau [00:19:46]:
Okay. So first, I have to talk about a little bit about what I have observed, of course, only secondhand, of the experience of women in the restaurant business.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:19:56]:
Yeah. Let's go there 1st.
Andrew Galarneau [00:19:57]:
1st, let's set some conditions here. I have never I've never been employed by a restaurant, so I don't know what it's like to work in a restaurant kitchen firsthand, but I am an avid collector professionally for years of restaurant workers' stories. When I run into a restaurant worker, if they have the patience, I will ask them to tell me about their whole career because I'm fascinated by this the inside life of this, you know, world that I'm trying to translate to the general community. Like, how does it actually work? And, so I've been basically taking restaurant life histories from every restaurant worker, who again, who will have the time to talk to me for 4 or 5 years now. And so this is basically so what I'm about to tell you is based on many, many, many conversations with many, many people done in a very systematic way. In other words, I don't just talk to people where if I hear they have a complaint or they have a problem, I talk to every restaurant person I can. So based on that, I'm gonna tell you that, well, the first thing I wanna mention is that, it always comes to mind when the subject of women in restaurants come up. When I was talking to somebody who runs has run 4 restaurants and has 2 currently open, and they mentioned that their, daughter was graduating from high school.
Andrew Galarneau [00:21:23]:
And I said, yeah. And you're gonna have them you know, where are they gonna start? And they looked at me like, Are you crazy? And women to work in a modern American restaurant kitchen, have to be ready to be barraged on all sides by sexism, butt pinching, marginalization, they're gonna be talked down to, like they don't know anything even if they are experienced. They might be asked for they might be told that they have to perform sexual, favors upon their supervisor, to get the best paying shifts. This is all straight from what people are telling me that multiple people have told me. So none none of this is a one off. Correct.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:22:13]:
No. I know. I've heard it.
Andrew Galarneau [00:22:15]:
You might have to you might have to stand in on the line in the kitchen running the line while your boss asks you incredibly hurtful questions about your partner who you thought you it wouldn't hurt telling them that your partner is is a trans person. And instead it turns into your boss haranguing you.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:22:39]:
Yeah. I think you're giving some really
Andrew Galarneau [00:22:43]:
About your partner's genitals? I mean, you know what? I should just stop. I mean, look, the the point is, there is no look. There are there are good kitchens. Okay? There are kitchens where this does not happen. They are rarer than they probably ought to be. So I'm not saying about your partners over and over and over again, women have to face, barriers that men don't. Well, I'm not saying a guy won't get his butt pinched, but a guy won't have to perform sexual favors on their boss in order to keep their high high paying job. Do you want to be out on the floor Friday nights when the whales come in and they're buying $1,000 bottles of wine? Well, you do what you gotta do.
Andrew Galarneau [00:23:29]:
And what that has done over the years is put so many women into positions where they had to decide. How far am I willing to degrade myself? How much am I willing to suck it up in order to make this paycheck that I want? And it drives women out of the business, first of all. For sure.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:23:47]:
For sure. And in fact, the recent statistics I've seen is, as of March this year, 56% of hospitality industry is female, only 17% are women chefs. And this year, Michelin Stars, I was curious, 0 women received Michelin Stars in 2023. And, and Michelin Stars overall is only, I think, 4% women chefs. And, you know, just
Andrew Galarneau [00:24:16]:
a Over and over and over again, when the quick answer to why don't you see more women's chefs is because to get to the position where you can operate and hopefully own your own restaurant, you have to put up with layers of horror you have to pass through veils of darkness and soul searching, and do I really wanna do this, and stuff that men simply do not have to go through. I mean, they have to go through their own travails, and there are many, but this is an extra slice that the women have to deal with. They're gonna people who will see them as weak, people who see them as, unintelligent, not knowing their own minds, people who can just be pushed around easier than anybody else. You have to be strong enough to withstand all of that headwind to get to the position however long it takes you to work in a position where you financially have your wherewithal and your skills together to put together a crew to run a restaurant. Like, the hazing that goes on is just so much more extreme, and it washes out a lot of people. It's really not a mystery.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:25:27]:
Yeah. Well and it goes further too. I would say. I've been in a couple of conversations recently about this particular piece and how not only do you have to be tough enough to go through all that, but then as a woman, oh, you're not supposed to be that tough. And if you are that tough, you're a bitch or whatever it is. So it's this crazy expectation.
Andrew Galarneau [00:25:49]:
Well, and these are just the social effects. Look. Mhmm. In any situation when you have to be able to be in charge and control a group of people, you need to be able to bring the whip pan. I don't care who you are. And some men don't respond well to that. But let's just step out of the social arena for a minute. A woman a woman chef who shows up and tries to get a loan for a restaurant has a harder time just because she's a woman.
Andrew Galarneau [00:26:10]:
Now the bankers will deny it, and that's fine because it's actually illegal. But I have talked to enough women chefs who had perfectly good business plans as far as it goes. And they came out and they couldn't get the loan. And I'm like, do you think it'd be different if you had a debt? And they're like, I think maybe, but how can you tell? I mean, I can't say that's an absolute fact that that happens, but that is the impression that women operators who had decent plans and support went in and talked to bankers. So and what I'm saying is I think it's not just on the social level either.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:26:45]:
No. It's on the business level. It's very deeply embedded in our culture.
Andrew Galarneau [00:26:52]:
And one of the things I just wanna take a moment here for people who aren't that deeply who haven't looked that deeply into the restaurant business. I mean, I want you to know that being able to cook really well is about 10% of a successful restaurant. Managing people, business, real estate leases, partners, suppliers, regulators from all the various levels that you have to deal with, filing the right paperwork, that's about 90% of the business. Okay? Being able to just because you can cook doesn't mean you are anywhere near being able to run a successful restaurant. It's a different sport.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:27:36]:
That's so true. I mean, it's people forget business. My, you know, my first my first career was in, theater show business and I'll never forget a professor saying to us in college like, Look, it's called show business. Of course, there's the show and there's also the business, and then proceeded to lead entire classes on the business part, how to manage yourself, how to get the jobs, how to manage finance, all that stuff because it is a business. And, you know, if you don't have a business, then it's a hobby.
Andrew Galarneau [00:28:10]:
Well, right. I mean, that's what separates it from something you do as a joy to something you do as a vocation. There's a whole lot of other things attached to it. And as many people who have tried to open restaurants because they were encouraged by well meaning people to say, Oh, you're such a great cook. Open a restaurant. They found out that cooking is great and it's not running a restaurant, different sports. And sometimes it can even ruin your love of cooking if you go about it the wrong way.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:28:40]:
True. I mean, and that, you know, it reminds me of, of, Alice Louise Waters' story of starting Chez Panisse, which my listeners know is one of my food heroines. I mentioned her often. And, you know, she started cooking for friends and experimenting, and then and inviting them over. And then realizing, gosh, this is getting expensive. Maybe I should ask them for some money for it. And it evolved into becoming a business, that's wildly successful now. And, but, yeah, it was an evolution into understanding the business side of it.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:29:13]:
And, you know, even as a farmer, I look at that all the time. I was just saying to someone, the truth is my eggs are actually a marketing strategy, not an, not a viable, profitable revenue stream. And that's okay, but I know that, you know, and and to to track those kinds of numbers to to know that information and pay attention to it. It is definitely different, and I find, as I develop Crown Hill more, I spend more time running a business and less time in the garden, and, you know, have my feelings about
Andrew Galarneau [00:29:43]:
The quick answer to why don't you so ask me ask me ask me a question. Come on. Hit me.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:29:50]:
So the other question well, you know, what what would be your top three things to women who make it through that grilling experience, to and are starting to have success or even just starting to launch their restaurant or business, what would be your 3 things on how they get on your or another journalist's list, the the the the ubiquitous list,
Andrew Galarneau [00:30:19]:
to
Missy Singer DuMars [00:30:19]:
be the call, to be the phone call, to be the resource, to be the, you know Well,
Andrew Galarneau [00:30:25]:
I'd be happy to break it down for how it works for me. I can't be for other people. So Yeah. A journalist is a person who always needs to be able to produce stuff, so they are always looking for things that they can turn into an article. So I would identify people in your marketplace who are writing or doing video or in some way publishing about something near what you're up to. In other words, if you're in a town and look around to see who's writing about the kind of food that you're doing. And hopefully, there is someone. And if there isn't someone, in your right town, look for the next biggest town.
Andrew Galarneau [00:31:15]:
Because, you know, journalists might not be in your town, but they can run around and write about stuff from a wide variety of geographical areas around them. So find somebody who's writing about food or writing about whatever it is you're doing and send them an email. Figure out what their email is, you know, get through to them on socials, whatever, get their email and send them an email. And it should be an introduction. And the when you're making an introduction, I'm I'm gonna put on my journalism teacher hat, remember, I call it the 5 finger fact punch. More boringly, it's called the 5 Ws. So it's who, what, when, where, why. So who are you? Like, you know, I'm, here's my name.
Andrew Galarneau [00:32:01]:
I I went to x school or not. I'm, getting into a business that's going to produce whatever it is, and here's where we are in our planning. Like, ideally, you wanna get a hold of journalists before you actually want public attention for what you're up to. Like, you wanna start the conversation before you have a deadline, you have something to sell or publicize. Start the conversation as early before it as you can, like a month, 2 months. If somebody gets a hold of me right now and says, I'm doing a thing next year, I put them on my calendar, and I put a tickler in for 3 months ahead of time, send them an email, said, hey. You mentioned this thing was gonna go off. Is Is it gonna go off or what? What's going on? So the first is to get on the radar, and you can do that as far ahead of the time when you need the public attention as possible.
Andrew Galarneau [00:32:55]:
Because then you're helping, the journalists ask all the questions they might have, and you're helping the journalists, you're giving the journalists enough time to figure out, like, where could I place this? In other words, if somebody comes into me with a story idea, I'm thinking, like, okay. I've got a variety of outputs. This column, that column, this story. I'm gonna do a collection of a guide to x, y, and z, you know, in 3 months. Like, when a journalist has a different number of ways they could use your material, and the if you get a hold of them before you need the publicity, you give the journalist the highest, chance to work out a way or sometimes multiple way. Oh, really? Ask me ask me start the conversation. Listen. If the journalist tells you, I'm not interested.
Andrew Galarneau [00:33:43]:
I don't do this, say thank you very much. Go talk to
Missy Singer DuMars [00:33:47]:
offer to say thank you very much, and do you know anyone I should talk to? Always ask
Andrew Galarneau [00:33:52]:
for referrals.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:33:53]:
Always ask for referrals.
Andrew Galarneau [00:33:55]:
Great point. Great point. That's right.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:33:57]:
I mean, even in sales, if someone says, you know, I'm not interested, I'm like, great. Do you know anyone who would be? Would you be willing to do an introduction? Yeah. No. I'm Always, always.
Andrew Galarneau [00:34:05]:
And I'm quite I know I'm quite persistent myself. And if somebody says, oh, I know somebody, I'm like, okay. What's their phone number? You know? Let's go.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:34:14]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew Galarneau [00:34:15]:
Because, you know, I I do that for anybody who asks me. Like, anybody who's like, do you know a guy who does or a woman who does x? I'm like, if I know him, I'm like, here you go. And when I get an inquiry that I don't have the answer to, I know I need to be a better reporter and I add that to the list.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:34:33]:
So I'm gonna go back to your intro email so we don't lose track.
Andrew Galarneau [00:34:36]:
Yeah. Intro email.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:34:37]:
Who Who you are.
Andrew Galarneau [00:34:39]:
Yeah. Yeah. Like like and and look. If you got anything to mention that's interesting, mention it. If you happen to be if it's not pertinent to exactly the product, but you just happen to have cooked on Antarctica for 6 months, mention it. Anything that's interesting in your background that's relevant. Oh, by the way, I also am an accomplished piano player with a degree from Juilliard. Anything that's interesting that's out of the ordinary, like, because we wanna present you as a person.
Andrew Galarneau [00:35:05]:
If you're an interesting person and you happen to make these granola bars, like, the granola bars are one thing. But if you just happen to have a black belt in judo or something, you know, mention it. You never know what's gonna be good. So who? What? So what is your business? What is your product? How far how far along are you to introducing to market? You know, General time frame. When I ask people for time frames who are making plans, I say, please be as vague as you like. Like, I don't I don't try to nail anybody down more than they wanna be nailed because that's how you create false expectations. So, who, what, where? Like, physically, where is this? Where are you making the thing? Where do you, you know, where do you operate from? Also, where in a in an Internet sense do you have what is your web presence? What is your social presence? Like, let me look at your stuff. How far have you gone? And why? Like, it always helps.
Andrew Galarneau [00:36:00]:
So motivation is a great selling point. Like, why are you making this? Why are you doing this? Why did you choose at this point in your life to do this?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:36:08]:
Well, and we started with that question. I asked you why did you get into food writing?
Andrew Galarneau [00:36:13]:
Well and, see, if you can just send me that, then I know whether or not this is something I'm gonna wanna file away for March or get on right away or tell the person, I don't do this, but, you know, Mary Jo over here might be interested. You know?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:36:33]:
So what do you think pulls women back from
Andrew Galarneau [00:36:36]:
doing this kind of retail? Wait. Wait. Hang on.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:36:38]:
Oh, go ahead. Go ahead.
Andrew Galarneau [00:36:39]:
The most important point is, I want, as a journalist, to I'm gonna do a report, okay, on whatever you're up to if I decide to do it. The most impact the best it would be for you is when I want that's when I wanna run because I wanna help you as much as possible. So to do that, though, you gotta start talking to me, like, a month before you need public attention focused on your shit. Because when for me to get the report done in the right way and get the all angles figured out and get to maximize the potential of it, I can't be getting emails that are like, I'm doing an event tomorrow. Every time I get one of those, I'm like I sit down and patiently write an email back to them and I say, well, here's some of the details of my life and here's how it works. I don't know.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:37:24]:
I'm laughing because I've been guilty of that with you.
Andrew Galarneau [00:37:27]:
Well, no. No. No. There's no point there's no point in yelling at anybody. We're all in this together, and next week next week, there's gonna be another train. There's always another train. So my role is to try to educate people who are reaching out to me and being like, this sounds interesting. I can't do anything with this now.
Andrew Galarneau [00:37:43]:
Next time that you do it to me, please x, y, and z. And some people follow-up, and some people don't. And the people who follow-up are people you wanna work with because they're serious.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:37:52]:
I think that's a super important thing you just said right there at the end about follow-up. And, you know, one of the things I look at, as a business coach and a businesswoman, business leader myself, is, fostering relationships. And that's really what you're talking about here with that first email is starting a relationship, introducing yourself, and then fostering it, staying in touch. You know, you don't necessarily invite your friend to dinner an hour before dinner served. You give them a few days notice. Right? Like, same thing. Here's the thing.
Andrew Galarneau [00:38:28]:
In a business relations this is a business relationship. Okay. You should be able to give and get clarity. If you send me something and I'm like, man, there's no way I'm gonna be used to this, I'm gonna tell you that, you know, until so you don't waste your time and you're not got hope on me that I can't bear out ever. Like, I'd rather just be, like, real direct with people and be like, okay, I don't do this, but, you know, you might wanna do this. Now, if you did X, I might be interested. If you do that, let me know. You know? And just because, like, I'm here, I'm listening, but I I'm not gonna spend a lot of time, trying to develop a relationship with somebody who's trying to sell something I can't use.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:39:09]:
And I wanna point out that everything that you were talking about before, in the food and restaurant industry, but culturally in general, the, the like uphill challenges for women, leads to I think why women are often not as comfortable or as do as easy of a job being direct in the 1st place and just coming out with it themselves. Like, I hear you say, I'm just gonna be direct. And what I know of a lot of women, and I've coached a lot of women around their voice and around, you know, their publicity and their visibility. There's so many all that cultural crap creates so much fear and discomfort around being clear and direct, in the 1st place with their voice or what they what they have to say. So there's it is it's interesting. There you know, there's another layer there of that that you talk about it like, yeah, be direct with me. I'll be direct with you. And I wanna recognize that, especially for women, there's a layer that they have to get through in order to even feel comfortable and safe or, you know, familiar with being direct and saying what they need to say.
Andrew Galarneau [00:40:23]:
Oh, yeah. I mean, I have only, you know, experienced this secondhand. But you know what? I know for a fact that, like, if I'm, you know, working in a job and I'm thinking of doing something independent and I go to my coworker, hey, you know, maybe we could start something together. I don't have to worry about whether or not that person is hearing, I'd like to have sex with you. Right. That's something guys don't have to deal with. I mean, for the most part, anyways. I don't know.
Andrew Galarneau [00:40:57]:
That's
Missy Singer DuMars [00:40:57]:
No. It's true.
Andrew Galarneau [00:41:00]:
Anyways, so but when I see, the women's chefs who have made something shine in this town, and I know some of the things that they have, had to deal with to come and to be great in front of all of us, I mean, my hat is off even more because I know that nobody nobody decided to make it this way, but the only way she got there was she played the game on hard setting.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:41:30]:
Yeah. On that note, in a moment, I wanna dig into a little more food geekery and your recipe that you're gonna share and what we love about food. But before we do that, I want to take a quick break and share a bit more about how women in food is supported. As you know, I care a lot about food and land, and this includes the success of food and land based businesses, what we've been talking about today. I believe that sustainability goes beyond the land to how we grow ourselves and how we grow our business at the same time. I've noticed that many folks in the food and lands and land space have fantastic concepts, strong passion, deep care, but still struggle to market and run their business in ways that can make the impact they envision while also providing for themselves at the same time. I always say that most farmers I know are great farmers, but dread or avoid sales and marketing. I'm the other way around.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:42:30]:
Farming is my learning curve, although that's improving. But I know business really, really well. Besides hosting this podcast and running my farm, I'm a business coach having coached hundreds of entrepreneurs over 6 continents to mindfully grow their business with a combination of intentional strategy and natural unfolding. So if you're listening to this podcast as a food or land based entrepreneur who's looking to what the next phase of growth for your business is, this kind of coaching support could be for you. If you'd like support in this way, you can go to my website to have a 90 minute session with me. That website is womeninfood.net forward slash work with missy. Work with m I s s y, and I'll put the link in the show notes as well. I really want every listener to thrive and particularly land and food based businesses to thrive.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:43:19]:
Because, honestly, I believe that the success of a food or land based business is the success of our future. Once again, the website is women in food.netforward/workwithmissy. Our local Yelp Buffalo has been a wonderful supporter of women in food programming almost since the beginning video series in 2020. Did you know that you can search specifically for women owned businesses on Yelp? Support your local women owned businesses by visiting them and writing Yelp reviews. Download the Yelp app and search for women owned. So Andrew, with all that and this rich conversation, what are some of your I wanted to know what are some of your well, what's exciting you to to cook and eat these days right now? We'll start there.
Andrew Galarneau [00:44:10]:
Cooking cooking cooking and eating.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:44:12]:
Yeah. Let's get into cooking and eating.
Andrew Galarneau [00:44:15]:
From well, now we have to ask, for myself or for other people? I do most of the good cooking for other people.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:44:23]:
I understand that because I'm the same way. I'm the same way. But, you know what? One of the things I've noticed recently is that when I love to cook for other people, it you know, like, I love to get into the complexity of cooking something really interesting. Like, I just bought a whole duck. I'm gonna roast my 1st duck ever this weekend for New Year's Eve. I'm very excited to figure it out. But then when it comes to what I like to sit down and eat, simple, simple meals, a piece of meat or chicken or whatever, simple vegetables, nothing fancy. So I totally get what you're saying that cooking for other people and the love of the act of cooking is a different thing than what you like to eat.
Andrew Galarneau [00:45:06]:
So I'll tell you what. So I'm currently hungry and I'll tell you what I'm gonna make
Missy Singer DuMars [00:45:10]:
myself
Andrew Galarneau [00:45:11]:
cooking for myself after we're done talking.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:45:14]:
Okay. What's that?
Andrew Galarneau [00:45:15]:
I happen to have obtained, a dozen eggs from a backyard chicken person in Buffalo and so they are a day or 2 old and I am going to get a skillet, nonstick, put in a nice knob of butter, and I'm gonna take a clove of garlic that my friend Gary Skoog sent me. He's got hardneck, that he sends me, which is wonderful. And I'm gonna smash that clove of garlic, not cut it up, smash the shit out of it into a lump but that's fractured and leaking oil, and I'm just gonna let that bubble a little bit in the butter for a while and I'm gonna crack 3 eggs into it. A little salt, a little pepper. I'm gonna flip those eggs once, just enough to firm up the tops, and then drop them onto some toasted DiCamillo bread.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:46:12]:
Ma'am, I'm gonna call you when I need new egg recipes because I'm always looking for more as an egg farmer for my, customers. I send them a lot of egg recipes. Always looking for new new things and ideas.
Andrew Galarneau [00:46:24]:
Listen. You can you know, eggs. A little smoked paprika on an egg goes a long way.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:46:33]:
Mhmm. Actually, this morning, I did one of my favorites with eggs. I, I love cheese and I love eggs. I don't always love them together except an herb ricotta omelette. And so I did that this morning and I had some confit shallots from my own gardens. So I smashed some of the confit, shallots into the ricotta as well. So it was like dill, shallot, ricotta inside, farm fresh eggs.
Andrew Galarneau [00:47:00]:
Well, if we're if we're talking, like, dangerous little recipes in the egg realm, I've got one for you.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:47:08]:
There's so many.
Andrew Galarneau [00:47:09]:
Now this comes with this you gotta click the warning on this one because do you really wanna know how you can make hollandaise in about a minute with no double boiler?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:47:20]:
Okay. I don't have
Andrew Galarneau [00:47:22]:
a double
Missy Singer DuMars [00:47:22]:
boiler for hollandaise, but I'm so curious. We're gonna have a hollandaise brunch get together. I know we are, but go on.
Andrew Galarneau [00:47:29]:
So all you gotta do is take, an egg yolk and a little pinch of salt, a little pinch of, I don't know, cayenne, and, about a table spoon of lemon juice, put it in the bottom of I use a glass pint. It wants it needs to be something that the bottom of your immersion blender will fit securely in. You got it on the boat motor. Right?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:47:57]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So even just a measuring cup. I do it in a measuring cup.
Andrew Galarneau [00:48:00]:
Oh, you already so you already know the hack. You gotta do is turn all you gotta do is melt a stick of butter, turn on the thing, pour it in there, and zit. It doesn't even take 60 seconds. You got hollandaise. Like and and, see, for some people, that's dangerous because removing the whole double boiler thing and, like, it was hard to make hollandaise. So, like, once you know you can make hollandaise in a minute whenever you want it, that's dangerous.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:48:21]:
Well yeah. And you'll go through butter really fast Oh. Which I do anyway. I wanna be careful getting to egg recipes because, actually, we're, I'm gonna be doing a whole solo episode coming up soon for women in food, and we're gonna Well,
Andrew Galarneau [00:48:34]:
I dive
Missy Singer DuMars [00:48:35]:
deep into eggs being an egg fart.
Andrew Galarneau [00:48:36]:
Wanna talk about tzatziki?
Missy Singer DuMars [00:48:38]:
Yeah. Let's talk about tzatziki. 1st, for our audience, what is tzatziki for those who don't know?
Andrew Galarneau [00:48:44]:
So Tzatziki is a characteristic Greek, dress yogurt, essentially, that you start out with. It's a yogurt with characteristically garlic, cucumber, salt and pepper, and various other things. And I went through a lot of Tzatziki recipes, but then I spent some time with some Greek people and a Greek grandmother walked me through hers and I make it differently now. So, the so first of all, there's no point in making tzatziki if you're using anything other than drained yogurt, Greek yogurt. If you only have whole fat yogurt and you're making it yourself, just do the cheesecloth thing, whatever you gotta do, get the whey out of it. Next day in the morning, you've got, something that's not quite cream cheese texture. And so the garlic. The garlic, for best results, you want to either microplane it or chop it so finely that it turns into a paste.
Andrew Galarneau [00:49:48]:
If you have time and a knife, bang it out. I find that adding a pinch of kosher salt while you're mincing and remincing, the abrasive quality helps bring the oils out and turns it into a paste faster. Or you can just microplane it. Either way, you you get,
Missy Singer DuMars [00:50:08]:
little pressure. Sometimes, if I have big enough cloves to not destroy my fingers, I use the same grater I use for, ginger.
Andrew Galarneau [00:50:17]:
Well, yeah, that's gonna be a little more that's gonna be a little more coarse, but that would also work.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:50:22]:
Oh, no. It comes out like a mince, like a like a paste,
Andrew Galarneau [00:50:26]:
mince. That sounds good. Yeah. You don't want chunks and you don't wanna puree it, because part of the thing that is there is little bits of garlic that you catch and they're fresh. And there's no point in using garlic powder. I mean, you'll get something that's not tzatziki. Anyways, the other important point is the cucumber. So I usually use a Persian because of the fewer seeds and I don't bother peeling it, just run it through a box grater.
Andrew Galarneau [00:50:53]:
And what you wanna do though is definitely squeeze the shit out of it and they put a pinch of salt, like, mash it hard with your hands because you're trying to encourage all the liquid release, and then tighten it up in a ball and a cheesecloth to get all the water out of it because the texture that it creates in the shreds of cucumber is nice in the finished thing.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:51:16]:
Yeah. I mean, both these both straining the yogurt and squeezing cucumber help your tzatziki not become a watery mess.
Andrew Galarneau [00:51:25]:
Yeah. Well, that's the point. And the other thing that really surprised me was when she put she put vinegar in it. And I'm like, really? She's like, yep. Vinegar and, the best extra virgin olive oil you can afford, basically. So it makes, just the relationships of the tanginess between the vinegar and the lacticness and the oil to bring a little smoothness and richness to the whole thing, salt and pepper to taste, just remember that this garlic is going to bloom. So what it tastes like 2 hours after you make it is only a part of how garlicky it's going to get. And that's basically, you know, they'll walk through on that.
Andrew Galarneau [00:52:08]:
Like fresh dill is always good. I wouldn't use dried dill, I think it's gross, in this application. But, you know, do whatever you want. Some people grate onion into it, like just take a white onion, run that through a box grater and add that to your tzatziki. Cake.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:52:20]:
Or some chives or
Andrew Galarneau [00:52:21]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But the basic is garlic, cucumber, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper. No, not even pepper, just a little salt.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:52:30]:
So how is that different from what you were doing before? What were the big differences that
Andrew Galarneau [00:52:33]:
you liked? Some Tzatziki recipes will tell you to use sour cream, some will tell you to use yogurt, some will say that, skimmy yogurt is good for Tzatziki. All these things are like, no. I mean, you're making something else and God bless you. People who chop the garlic. I've seen recipes where they put the pork cucumber in a food process and process it into a paste. This is just you know, it's a simple thing. You just gotta stick to the basic guidelines. And if you want, you know, to make this kind of tzatziki, if you're happy with tzatziki with dried dill and chunky garlic in it, you know, bless, you made something good.
Andrew Galarneau [00:53:19]:
This is the way I make it, though.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:53:21]:
And so what do you like to do with your tzatziki? Or
Andrew Galarneau [00:53:24]:
what are some
Missy Singer DuMars [00:53:25]:
of your favorite ways to enjoy it?
Andrew Galarneau [00:53:27]:
Typically the side dish when I make souvlaki. So souvlaki is just grilled stuff. I learned how to
Missy Singer DuMars [00:53:34]:
make it stuff. Is that the technical term?
Andrew Galarneau [00:53:36]:
Well, I mean, you can have beef souvlaki, grilled chicken souvlaki. You can have, you could do the same thing same spice treatment and grilling with either paneer, like cheese. Mhmm.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:53:47]:
You could
Andrew Galarneau [00:53:47]:
do it with fish. Done it with shrimp. You could do it with tofu. So when I'm saying souvlaki, it's, you know, what do you wanna make souvlaki ish? So the most the the classic is chicken souvlaki. That is my number one, thing to break out in I mean, if I've got the meat, I can get it I can get it on the grill in 5 minutes. So if you want boneless, skinless chicken thighs or tenders, never chicken breast. Okay? Never. Chicken breast does not hold moisture through this process.
Andrew Galarneau [00:54:21]:
You need either boneless skin a size or tenders, trust me. And then, basically, you're just adding, dried spices, black pepper, white pepper, oregano, powdered onion, granulated garlic, and, vegetable oil as a sort of emulsifying mixture agent to make sure it all coats everything. You smush it all up and you grill it. I mean, you can marinate it overnight if you want, but you don't have to. And it comes out
Missy Singer DuMars [00:54:50]:
I like to do that with tzatziki and, like, a big old salad.
Andrew Galarneau [00:54:53]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then, you know, you get maybe you got a nice piece of pita bread or something, little salad, and then that's complete. You know what? I I don't even necessary if you give me tzatziki salad and bread, I don't really need a souvlaki, to be honest with you.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:55:09]:
Mhmm.
Andrew Galarneau [00:55:10]:
And then you, you know, then you've got a nice vegetarian meal.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:55:13]:
Yeah, either way. Yeah. What, what are you having fun, eating or tasting these days out there in Well restaurant and food lands?
Andrew Galarneau [00:55:25]:
I am, among other things, I am cataloging, the I'm preparing some findings on the 8 new restaurants at the Westside Bazaar. So
Missy Singer DuMars [00:55:38]:
Tell and tell our listeners about the Westside Bazaar because it is a super awesome space and and super interesting here in Buffalo.
Andrew Galarneau [00:55:44]:
Well, actually 2 super awesome spaces.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:55:47]:
Yes. That's true. It's not 2.
Andrew Galarneau [00:55:49]:
Downtown Buffalo in the theater district, in this historic space, they have at 617 Main Street, they have Downtown Bazaar. It is the region's only Filipino food, only Ethiopian food, only South Sudanese food, Burmese food, Pattaya street food is, oralia Mexican street food is all in one place that's open from 11 AM to 7 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. And you can go in there and go to any of these things. And these are all people who are there making small businesses work. And it's the variety in 1 room is astounding and unprecedented until you realize that there's 2. The other one's on Niagara Street, 1432 Niagara Street, it has 8 restaurants in it. So, Malaysian, Egyptian, Congolese, so Central African, Burmese, Vietnamese. An Italian place is actually making a wonderful tomato pie and bolognese and, Japanese sushi.
Andrew Galarneau [00:57:03]:
And I'm sure I'm leaving somebody out, and it's not because I hate them. It's just because
Missy Singer DuMars [00:57:08]:
It's hard to remember all of them. It's it's an amazing space. I visited 1
Andrew Galarneau [00:57:12]:
room, and you
Missy Singer DuMars [00:57:13]:
can be there.
Andrew Galarneau [00:57:14]:
And, oh, also bubble tea and a bakery.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:57:19]:
Right.
Andrew Galarneau [00:57:20]:
Yes. Right. So it's a 2 story space. It's very chill. People are going in there, eating some stuff. There's a bookstore on Second Story. And it's just a community space that's wandering around. And the hardest the worst thing about going to the Westside Bazaar is trying to figure out what to eat.
Andrew Galarneau [00:57:37]:
And that's why I'm making a guide. I have I have a little bit further to go. And in the next week or 2, at 4bytes, that's f o u r b I t e s dot net, you know, I'll put up a guide to the Westside Bazaar including, you know, the one dish to get if you're getting something from each of the places, my recommendation, some things some there's a lot of stuff there that is the first appearance of classic world dishes in Buffalo. Okay? So you gotta take you gotta take stock of that. You gotta say, hey, everybody. Here's our friend, Laksa from Malaysia. People around the world enjoy this dish. It's now in Buffalo.
Andrew Galarneau [00:58:17]:
And just so you know, if you're into this if you're into coconut curry soup with some fishy things going on in it and a lot of fillings and people love it, here's your chance to try it finally.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:58:30]:
Yeah. I, I've been really as I've gotten to know Buffalo better, having, like I said earlier, only lived here 7 years and not from this area, I've been blown away by the range of cultures and foods and the support for more of that businesses, that I think people from outside of Buffalo don't realize are here. And it's been really exciting to to see more of it flourish every year.
Andrew Galarneau [00:59:02]:
You know, I was talking to Christa Glenny, who is the food editor at Buffalo Spree, used to she came up and ran Nickel City Chef.
Missy Singer DuMars [00:59:11]:
Mhmm.
Andrew Galarneau [00:59:11]:
10 years in this town and, we were talking on my 4 bite show, you know, how does Buffalo go forward in in turn the food scene? And we were talking about how do you make clear to the rest of the world that Buffalo's got a lot more than wings and pizza? I mean, you can go to Buffalo and learn about tea leaf salad from Burma or Buffalo was a place where I learned about fufu. You know? People all across Africa, fufu was part of their daily life. I didn't learn about it until, Yallies, a Ghanaian, as in from Ghana, restaurant opened up on Kenmore Avenue, like across literally across the street from this Dairy Queen. And I go in there and fufu is something I've eaten before in various restaurants, but I don't think I got a good version of it. And I'm sitting there on Kenmore Avenue across from the Dairy Queen eating fufu, and I'm like, I get this African thing now. This is amazing. I'm like, what a treat. I mean, what? I can do this in Buffalo.
Andrew Galarneau [01:00:16]:
It's just wild.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:00:17]:
Yeah. And it's, you know, besides bringing all this unique food out into the open in Buffalo, it's supporting a number of new businesses to get off the ground and get started. And, in fact, some of those businesses that started at the bazaar have moved on to their own spaces and
Andrew Galarneau [01:00:35]:
Yep.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:00:35]:
Whatnot. And I love I've loved discovering in there's a number of communities and places that are helping, you know, launch food businesses more and more, and providing, you know, start up resources.
Andrew Galarneau [01:00:53]:
Yeah. And when I wander into one of these places, like, what, it was a couple months ago, we went out looking for punnipuri and, the place we were going to was closed and then, Debadry De Sur, who's a Buffalo news reporter who grew up in Calcutta, she's like, hey, I wonder if they have Fuchka. And I'm like, what's Fuchka? She starts googling it. I mean, we're standing in the parking lot outside this restaurant that's not open, and she's googling it. And she's like, oh, yeah. Fillmore. I'm like, I didn't know that was there, mister food guy in Buffalo. Right? So she leads us over there, and I that's how I discovered a place called on Filmore called t Buffalo Tea Chat.
Andrew Galarneau [01:01:42]:
So t e a c h a t, Buffalo Tea Chat on Filmore. And it turns out it's this little Bengali place. So get this, Debatrida, I mean, you know, there's a lot of different sorts of peoples in India, she's Bengali. And when she walked into Tchap, she started talking in Bengali to the proprietor, and she told me that was first time she got to talk Bengali to somebody in 6 months.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:02:10]:
And you
Andrew Galarneau [01:02:10]:
know what? The Fuchka was amazing. Fuchka kicks Panopuris ass all day long, and I don't Now
Missy Singer DuMars [01:02:16]:
you have to tell us all what Fuchka is so we know and don't have to run to Google while we're listening.
Andrew Galarneau [01:02:21]:
So Fuchka so Panipuri, you might be more familiar with, is a member of the Indian chat snack family. So that's chat, c h a a t. So Panapuri is puffs usually made from semolina that are hollow and they bust out the top of them. They're about the size of a golf ball and they fill them with, chopped potato and onion and cilantro. And then they are eaten by, first, you take a little liquid. So it's, tamarind water, they call it. So tamarind, dark, tangy. So tamarind is like brown, but it tastes like lemon, but it's got more fruit to it.
Andrew Galarneau [01:02:58]:
Mhmm. And they
Missy Singer DuMars [01:02:59]:
take some a good description of tamarind? You
Andrew Galarneau [01:03:02]:
take some, tamarind water and you pour a little bit into the busted out top. So you put a little juice into this golf ball thing, and you just pop it. You just eat it.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:03:11]:
Mhmm. And it's
Andrew Galarneau [01:03:11]:
such a wonderful snack, and it's fun to play with. So that's a panopurri. So fuchka, first of all, at this place, this lady makes her own puffs. Okay? Mostly people who make Pang sell panopuri are buying bags of the premade puffs, busting out the top, and selling them. Makes her own puffs. Number 2, Fuchka has chopped egg in it as long along with the potato and onion and, herbs. And this lady sells it for $5 a point in Buffalo, New York.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:03:46]:
Sounds good. Now I'm getting hungry.
Andrew Galarneau [01:03:48]:
Well, here here's the thing. So here's what happens. Here's here's here's here's what here's what it's like for me. Like, somehow, we found this place. Deb Madrid got us there. I didn't even know Fuchka existed. I'm eating this stuff in Buffalo, and I'm like, this is amazing. And I'm like, how am I gonna get people in here to give her money for this? Because if she is encouraged, in 2, 3 years from now, maybe she opens a Bengali restaurant.
Andrew Galarneau [01:04:13]:
You don't know. Maybe. So but I know this is great. And I know even if nobody is coming here to eat this, I know that it will lift the spirits of everyone to know that this exists and that this person who immigrated here to Buffalo and is making a new home. Our new neighbors are up to some great shit. Holy shit. So that's a tonic to the spirit even if you're not hungry for FUTCHKA.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:04:38]:
Right. Right. Well, Andrew, I love this conversation. I have 2 last questions that I ask all my guests. And the first question is, who is, what what women inspire you?
Andrew Galarneau [01:04:55]:
Well, I have a list. Zolom Gomida, Abyssinian Ethiopian. You can find her at the Downtown Bazaar. Niel Lan Wen, and I'm sorry if I mangled her first name. She's from Vietnam. She's running Fam's Kitchen on Union Road in West Seneca. They brought banh mi bread to Buffalo. They bake their own bread every morning.
Andrew Galarneau [01:05:22]:
It's the 1st time that I've lived in Buffalo that I've been able to get this. Okay? This is a big deal. Amira Khalil, the Palestinian grandmother who's making man'saf, every other Friday night and all but all such a great thing 6 days a week in Riverside at Amira's Kitchen. I wanna shout out, Dina Mariello and Sherry Davies, a couple who have run one of the best Italian restaurants in Southtown's Buffalo called The Dove for 25 years together. She is the front of the house. She is the back of the house. They worked together for 25 years. They run one of the best places in town.
Andrew Galarneau [01:06:01]:
Mary Angie Ordano, Cucina Pavera on Kenmore Avenue. Gina Lappi, who has turned Casa Azul into basically the best restaurant open late regularly down around Allentown where you can sit down and get in and just have a taco that is, like, great. And I wanna talk about 1 more, Zoey Wen. She is a Burmese woman who I have followed her work through 3 different locations now. She's at the Downtown Bazaar, 617 Main Street. She's turned Pattaya street food into more than just bubble tea and fried snacks. Now you can get a complete Burmese line up there. You can get your tea leaf salad, your curry, green papaya salad, if you like it a little spicy, and a whole bunch of great stuff.
Andrew Galarneau [01:06:48]:
And these are places where women are getting it done today despite everything, and my my hat is off to them.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:06:56]:
Thank you for that amazing, go to list in our region and how they inspire you, which I love. And my last question is, as we complete, if there's, you know, anything you didn't talk about or that you wanna say more, you know, what do you wanna leave our listeners with?
Andrew Galarneau [01:07:17]:
Well, first, I have to plug my website and food product, which is called 4bytes.net, f o u r b I t e s.net.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:07:26]:
And that link will be in our show notes for sure.
Andrew Galarneau [01:07:29]:
Where where the news is always free, but you gotta pay 97¢ a week for the whole enchilada. And the other thing I wanted to say is, if anybody out there knows, a woman who's working in a restaurant and you think I've exaggerated any of this, please, ask them. A lot of women have been through things in restaurants that they don't feel like they can talk about or they feel like they deserved it or somehow they can't complain because they took money for it and shit. And I have found a lot of untreated, frankly, PTSD among restaurant workers and especially women, and, my hat is off to them. So if you know a woman who's worked in a restaurant, you know, give her a hug, would you? Because she's been through some shit.
Missy Singer DuMars [01:08:18]:
Well, thank you, Andrew, so much for sharing your stories, your perspective. A lot of really, great, tips along the way. And, of course, recipes with us today. To all our listeners, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Women in Food and got a bit of inspiration for your next meal. A last request, if you could go over to Itunes or whatever app you're using to listen and give us a rating and review. It's a simple act that helps other people find this show. Once again, thank you for accompanying me on this delicious adventure. Join me around the table for our next episode, and get ready to