436: Kareem Rahma

26:41Give me one. Hmm. I'll have to think on it. Oh, here we go. I know. I'm sorry. It's my podcast. I'll pay. You'll pay? I'll pay. Hey, guys, if you're listening right now, this one's on the house. I'm slipping a$100 bill. He's not doing it. I'm putting a$100 bill on the table right now. And I'm asking for the recommendation. Here's a hundred. You got to grease them. I know. Also, I grease. The taxi drivers. No, no, no. I mean, they get paid. They're fair. Right. I grease maitre d's all the time. Oh. Yeah. I think it's a lost art. Yeah. How much are you doing? Like a hundred bucks, 50 bucks. Really?

27:1730 bucks. Where? Not going to tell you. Okay. I'll tell you off air, please. And then we can. But if you want to become a regular. Yeah. You got to have a good relationship with a maitre d. And part of that is being a nice, jovial, chummy customers who remembers details about the maitre d. Oh, how's your kid? I heard she was doing a play. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But you always got to agree some. It's a tip. You know, like it's a financial tip. Not like this is a tip that I'm giving everyone. But it is literally they're doing a job. And their job is to remember you and your preferences and to treat you like a regular.

27:58Yeah. So you got to tip them. I totally agree. And I have a note in my phone where I write down the names of people that work in places. Yeah. Me too. That's awesome. I didn't know if everyone does that. No, I told my sister because she moved somewhere and she wanted to become a regular at a restaurant near her. And I said, introduce yourself, ask everyone's names and then write them down. And then the next time you return, use them. And even if they don't remember your name, they're going to think that they should because you've met before. And that's how you do it. That is a great tip. I do that too.

28:25While we're on the subject of tips, I feel like that's a good transition into takes and your other show, Subway Takes, which is a great show on TikTok that you're actually developing into a longer series called Last Stop. I think the first episode announced dropped today. Yes, on YouTube, The Last Stop. The Last Stop. And this basically is where you interview kind of normal people, but a lot of like celebrities and more notable folks on their hot takes on the subway. How does the booking work for that? I imagine that you're like planning with Halsey in advance and you're not just bumping into her.

28:55Well, number one, the takes don't have to be hot. They always, but they are. I always, everyone's like, oh, I got to think of a hot take. I'm like, it doesn't have to be hot. It could just be a take. But they're going to get like roasted in the comments if it's not a hot take, you know? No, but sometimes the takes like, like they are not hot, but they become hot. Like what's your take? My hot take? No, just your take. It doesn't have to be hot. give me a give me just a take i just think some people should be quiet great take not hot in my opinion no i think that's a great agree with that but no they won't some people will be like i disagree like everyone should be saying what they think all the time yeah no i think not everyone including myself even though i have a podcast so clearly i'm like have a mic and i get to talk a lot you know you're you're in position of power yes for sure um the booking process it is it's a it's an interesting question but like it is very vibe based i take a lot of pride in programming the show and i treat it like it's a you know like a serious project so it comes down to vibes which is a very loose term um do i fuck with this person in some capacity do i like their output whether that's music or just like friendship or like whatever you know what whatever they're putting out into the world is a good um and then there's obvious like diversity men women straight gay trans black white muslim jewish christian buddhist etc so it's like making sure that age age is a big one and that one's a tough one for me um but it's like vibes diversity and um And then just like availability, right?

30:44Like I'm also a human, guys. I'm a person. And there's so many people that want to be on the show. And I'm trying. But like, you know, there's only been 140 episodes, which sounds like a lot. But that's only 140 people. But how many people are in New York? Like 5 million. Yeah. So it's like, and so many people. I also, I prioritize comedians. That's another thing. And it's been like that from day one. So probably half the episodes are comedians, either up and comers or established. And I want the show to be a platform for comedians because that is my background. And I think that like the late night slot has been it's like lost a lot of cultural cachet.

31:27I think that the old places like Comedy Central and Adult Swim and these channels that were dedicated to breaking new comics have kind of disappeared or are all shoveling money into established comedians. Like no one wants to take risks anymore. So I've taken it upon myself to say this is a platform first for comedians and then everybody else. But that makes it makes programming hard. Yeah. Because if I'm only shooting 10, 20 episodes a month, half of those are reserved for comedians and then half are reserved for like regular interesting people. And then like, you know, four or five or maybe like some sort of person of note or whatever that is like in the entertainment industry in one way or another.

32:09But it is it is the toughest part of the job for me. And I never say no to anyone. but I they're just a long waiting list you know so like but I try to get everyone everyone who expresses interest I try to get them on but people are gonna hear this they're gonna be like I know sometimes it comes down to luck I want everyone to know I'm trying like I get hit up a lot like an unreal amount and yeah I'm trying my best I love you all thank you for loving the show it's really amazing it makes me feel very proud of what i built um but it's it's like sometimes it comes down to luck literally when we were in london we were shooting something unrelated to subway takes and we ended up shooting tube takes as a joke because it's funny and somebody just stopped me on the street and was like hey like you're from subway takes what are you guys doing here two people actually and both of them i was like you want to come on the show come on the show And I was already filled up.

33:07Like there was already like I was already had booked 10 people in advance. And then these other two people on the street randomly didn't know each other. They're separate days for like I'm a huge fan of the show. I was like, cool, we're shooting tomorrow at 10 a.m. Meet me at the station. And so it also comes down to like just like a little bit of luck and timing, you know, and good fortune. So because this is ostensibly a food podcast, I wanted to get your take on a couple of the food related subway takes that you've done. So I'll tell you the take and then you can let me know your take on it.

33:38OK. If I have to go up to order, I'm not tipping, which I will say that this person went on to talk about that. They think that employers or restaurants should be paying a higher wage. Not that people shouldn't be making money. But they're not going to the restaurants and asking them to pay workers more. They're just not tipping. You know? Yeah. So we did a last stop about this episode. It's not out yet. It might be out when this podcast is out. Coming to YouTube. coming to youtube so robbie hoffman a brilliant brilliant amazing comedian had this take and i let her cook because i didn't want to interrupt and i didn't have it's a tough one for me because i do leave a pity tip i go up i order my food i still i see that fucking blue screen that says 10%, 15%, or 20%, sometimes 25 % or custom tip.

34:33And I, if at minimum I do custom tip$1. And I think that's a cultural problem in America. And it does like, if you really kind of like peel the layers of the onion of the take, it is the problem of not paying employees. It should not be, it shouldn't be my responsibility to pay this person's rent because I'm paying for the food. Like I'm paying for the order. That money should go to paying the person who's giving me the order. And I had another one that's coming out soon. Another person that said, we should stop going to restaurants and bars that don't. And that was the take. And I said, a hundred percent disagree because I love going out to restaurants and bars.

35:20And he's like, I'm a bartender. My bar that I work at gives health insurance to all of the employees. You should go to that bar and you should stop going to any bars that don't offer benefits to their employees. So, again, another interesting like it is a problem that that that restaurant workers and bar workers get paid below minimum wage. And I don't know. It's something that is broken in the American system. So the purpose of Last Stop is that you make a little kind of panel of people to unpack that more. So for the last step on tipping, I'm curious who you brought in to kind of debate on it.

35:59That was a hectic episode. Yeah, that was a really hectic episode. I brought on Millie Tamarez. Do you know her? She's a comedian and she is a definitely a socialist. I would say I think. Sorry, Millie, if you're listening to this, I believe you would call yourself a socialist, maybe even a communist, maybe. uh and then and then and then uh bobby condon who is a great comedian who i think he agreed i don't even remember this was like four like three months ago but i i mostly brought on people who either had an opinion on the take or had worked in the restaurant industry and had an opinion on the take yeah um but it was it it's a touchy subject yeah i'll say my take on the tipping if you have to order is that I was a barista and I think that if you are ordering a drink that involves like steaming milk or like foaming anything like you should definitely tip on that if you're ordering like drip coffee that just has to be poured as a barista I'd still would want to be tipped on that but I think like there's a little less like kind of technique or like extra service going on there so it's kind of different no I get it I I always just leave one dollar for the black coffee no matter what yeah and i leave one dollar for i i at my at the coffee shop a dollar tip well so you go to the maitre d conversation if you're at coffee shop you go to regularly you want them to be on good terms with you yeah okay i have another take for you america has gone soft ever since we stopped drinking whole milk i think that that's a great take and i don't remember i think i 100 agreed you did yeah i i'd like i am having a return to cow's milk at the moment.

37:41Like the other day I got a matcha latte and I got it with regular old milk and I got a cappuccino with regular milk. I think it tastes better in the coffee. I don't know if I necessarily want to like drink a glass, but is anyone drinking a glass of oat milk or almond milk? I have never. I'm not a milk drinker, but I think in some lattes it does taste better. Have you been to Abrasso in the East Village? This is a coffee shop for anyone who's listening who only serves cow milk. They don't offer any other milk. See, that's so snobbish. That place is snobbish, but I like it. I used to live near there.

38:13I used to go there all the time, but to me, snobbish. Yeah. I mean, some people just can't digest dairy, you know? Yeah. It's like, I don't know. I don't like limiting the options, but I do think that we should work to bring the dairy industry back. Is the dairy industry bad? I mean, it's a mass, like any I think any industry at scale has problems you know I heard about this farm in Connecticut that they raise cows for chocolate for milk for chocolate yes that sounds very cute and apparently there's some lady there that like sniffs the milk and knows which chocolate it should go to because she's like this is like this will be good with this like some Kareem I have to bring her on the podcast I love that I can my eyes just lit up I can get you the contact yeah it's apparently a cow farm a milk farm that only produces milk for chocolates okay which I think it's so fun okay i love that i will one more food take for you we need to normalize eating bread again this is from someone who said that she got bad looks whenever she got the optional bread at sweetgreen bread's fucking great i think people do eat bread though like i think this is a fallacy no there's a carb there's an anti-carb movement in the united states and i i know we've all seen the memes but like you go to italy for two weeks you eat all the carbs in the world and you lose weight right something's wrong with our bread here it also doesn't taste as good generally speaking there is you know obviously good bread and bad bread in terms of taste and flavors but yeah bread has a bad it's like milk it has a bad reputation and and and we do i think we do got like i think sandwiches are having a resurgence i made a really great blt on saturday so i would agree with that but i don't eat i don't eat pork bacon uh-huh turkey bacon this is not good It's not good.

40:00I just do no bacon, unfortunately. Okay. Maybe I should start eating bacon. I mean, I don't want to. Yeah. I can't get involved in that, you know? Any Muslim listeners, don't take my advice. Don't eat the bacon. I don't eat the bacon. I thought about eating the bacon. Don't sin on my behalf. So there's one more thing I wanted to ask you about that I was surprised by when I was doing my Korean research, which is that you invented the Museum of Pizza. I did. I did. this lore is coming back. I mean, it's a food podcast. I have to ask you. No, but this lore has been in the news lately. Oh, really?

40:33Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went on a podcast and I like randomly told the story of the Museum of Pizza and the person was like, this is the best story I've ever heard. And I was like, really? I don't think it's that interesting at all, but apparently it is. But like, yeah, there was a moment in time when I was an entrepreneur, which I was. Anyways. It was 2018. It was 2018. And you decided that what the world needed was the Museum of Pizza. Why? I saw the success of the Museum of Ice Cream. Right. And I was like, what? I can do that. I was just like, what is the other best food? Like pizza's even maybe arguably more popular than ice cream.

41:08And my twist on it was that the Museum of Ice Cream was simply a selfie museum. I was like, I'm going to make literally the MoMA. Yeah, you called it Mopi. Mopi. Everyone thinks it's Mopi. No, Mopi. Mopi. And so I but like what I did was like I enlisted artists that I love to make works dedicated to pizza. Like there was like short there was a screening room with like five films that were all pizza themed that people made for the museum. There was the world's largest collection of pizza boxes from around the world. But this guy Scott Wiener, I think you would love him on the pod. He is still around.

41:48He does something called Scott's Pizza Tours, where he takes you on a pizza tour. It's really fun. You can do the walking tour or you can take the bus tour. Scott Wiener, he also owns, he has a Guinness Book of World Record for most pizza boxes. And he has pizza boxes from Egypt and Tokyo. So cool. Yeah, like Switzerland and New York from the 70s. He has all these amazing pizza. We put them behind plexiglass. So there was a gallery. It was like a room. It was like an art gallery. so my twist on it was like you can take some pictures but this is an art-led museum like more serious than you expect it to be it's still i mean it's still about pizza yeah you know so it's like can't be that serious but there was an exhibit called the history of pizza which was an interactive this is the craziest thing i like made a hologram of scott to welcome people into the museum.

42:44Remember that Jurassic Park, that little guy? He was like that. And he was like, welcome to the Museum of Pizza. Here's the history. It was all illustrated. I mean, I spent so much money on this thing. And it was I thought it was awesome. But like the opening of it as a guy who was like, I'm going to self-produce it. I think there was 60 ,000 tickets sold or something or 100 ,000. I don't remember anymore. I have to check. I saw like 250 ,000. Is that possible? Maybe$250 ,000. Total. Minimum. Yeah. No, no, no. It was less than that. It was not$250 ,000. Okay, either I have$25 ,000 or$250 ,000.

43:20It's not$250 ,000. Okay. It might have been$25 ,000. Somewhere between. It might have been$50 ,000. I don't remember. But it was like really... And I also promised every single person that walked through the museum a free slice of pizza at the end. And you know why I did that? Because I thought it sounded cool. Logistically speaking. Nightmare. Very... nearly impossible. I resorted to hiring drivers on Craigslist, renting cars from Hertz, closing down one of the Williamsburg pizza locations, and essentially having two drivers going back and forth, maybe three drivers, picking up pizzas, bringing them to the museum, reheating the pizzas in a pizza oven that I bought specifically for this event.

44:07And everyone got more than one slice because I had so much fucking pizza and I paid for all those pizzas. It was awesome. It was crazy. There were so many things that could have gone wrong and there were so many things that did go wrong. It went smoothly. Everyone got a slice and I lost a ton of money. I was going to ask, did you make any money on this? It was promising until 15 days before the museum was supposed to open, the landlord ghosted me. of the original location, which was printed on the tickets. And that's when everything fell apart. So everything was great until this guy, until it was like, I lost my location, I lost my space, ran off with a$20 ,000 security deposit, and I had to rush to find the space.

44:56But in order to rush to find the space, I had to re-permit everything. I had to build 200 square feet of walls, because I got the original space had walls to hang the art on and to like make a maze kind of the new place was hadn't zero walls so i had to build all these walls temporary walls and so all the profits that i would have netted essentially disappeared and then some more but my only goal at that point was to like get it up and running and to deliver on the event i didn't care anymore about making money or losing money. I was just like, my reputation is on the line. I have a pretty good reputation.

45:39I've never fucked anyone in my life except for those people at McDonald's. Let's keep that clean, you know? So six years later, would you reboot the Museum of Pizza? No. Hard no. Hard no. I literally don't even have anything to say after that. Just no. No. I think that's probably for the best. Although I do feel like that really set up such a crazy... Following up the Museum of Ice Cream with the Museum of Pizza, I feel Like it's just such a strange era of like food immersive experiences. I don't blame you. It's just kind of interesting to look back on. Yeah. No, it's weird. It's weird. Like it would never work now.

46:14It seems so cheesy. But, you know, like it's like it's like it's manufactured. It was a moment that we had like collective psychosis. Right. Where we were like we need pics for Instagram. And it was a collective moment of like literal tragedy that we all went through. Okay, so I want to close the episode today with doing a little lightning round with you because your shows are so much about the city of New York. They're all kind of New York related questions. Tuffy. And I'll just give you a category and you'll tell me the first answer that comes into your head. Okay, my palms are sweating. Okay.

46:48Favorite neighborhood in New York? Windsor Terrace. No, Park Slope. No. Lower Manhattan. Let's just do the whole Lower Manhattan. Okay. The worst subway line in New York? Oh, God. The ones I never take. Yeah. The best subway line in New York. I fuck with the JMZ. Yeah. The L also, the trains run so frequently. Yeah. There's something special about that. The L train has traumatized me. Yeah. Yeah. Your favorite special occasion restaurant in New York? Bomonti. Your favorite low-key restaurant? Bomonti. Your favorite bar?

47:30I just like, I like going to dives. I like exploring new dives. So what's my favorite dive? Oh, my God. This is so hard. I know. I like Coyote Club in Bed-Stuy. Me too. Your favorite bakery in New York? Oh, my goodness. This is so difficult. Is it this difficult with everyone? 50-50. Levain. Whoa. Do you really think that? I don't know. Okay. I'm so sad. Your favorite place to take a visitor in New York? I don't have, you know what I realized? I don't have any favorite places. I just, I literally. You just vibe. I cruise, I'm on cruise control. Yesterday I ate Chipotle because I was hungry. What was your order?

48:12You don't remember. It's a treatable, half chicken, half steak with all the sauces. Hot, mild, medium, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, fully loaded. Wow. Corn, everything. Okay, I was going to ask you one more New York question, but if you're feeling traumatized, we can just end on a Chipotle order. No, I'm not traumatized. What was the other one? my last one for you no no the one before that your favorite bakery okay that one I don't know no it's okay I don't have an answer for that one and then the one after that was where would I take someone yeah Balthazar okay my last one is a now closed New York City place that you wish you could revive Sidewalk Cafe great answer I will link to all the things we talked about in the show notes and I hope to see you on the L train soon thank you so much for having me

49:05Hey, Eliza, we're back. And you know what? We're going to talk about the farmer's market. How about that? You grew up in Southern California, and I'm sure your relation with farmer's markets is different. Growing up in Michigan and living in New York, we get them May through, I would say, mid-September. What about you? You got them year-round, right? Yeah, they're definitely year-round. There's definitely just always strawberries, things like that. I have this fun relationship with my mom where she I text her when I finally get cherries or stone fruit or something. And she says, so beautiful. We've had them since March.

49:39And it just breaks my heart a little bit. But I do think that as someone who moved to a more seasonal place, there is something kind of special about going to the market every week, waiting for something that you want, like tomatoes, to arrive. I'm always asking the farmers, like, how long they think something is going to be available for, when they think the next thing is going to come. And I think especially in summer when everything can kind of bleed together, it's a nice demarcation of time. Yeah, it makes you feel like you're really getting into the real summertime months. Do you have a favorite New York farmer's market?

50:10Yeah, I feel complicated about them. I live close to the Fort Greene one, so I go there most Saturdays. I love to kind of see a lot of my neighbors and just pick up a couple of things and make lunch. But I do think that market is behind. Like my friend Dominique, who goes to Prospect Park Farmers Market, Grand Army, I think gets things a full two weeks before the Fort Greene one. Wow, really? I don't know why. I don't know if it's just one farm that gets things early that happens to be there or what's happening. The Union Square one is awesome. When I lived in Manhattan, I would go there. And I still, if I have a free Wednesday or Friday, will go there sometimes.

50:46I just went to do a little shopping trip for my friend Pearl Jones, who's a food stylist, which was very funny because I was in the market taking photos of tomatoes and sending them to her for approval, which I normally would just be empowered to buy my own tomatoes. But she needed them for a very specific shot. So I was like one of those food people in the market. That's how the work gets done here. Yeah. I miss I used to live in Carroll Gardens and there was a Sunday market. That's a good one. Yeah, it's a good one. I was there when it started and it really has grown. Lonnie Farm is there, which I love.

51:14I think Lonnie has some great fermented products, but also I just miss their, that these like avocado squashes. I don't know if you've ever had the Lonnie Farm avocado squash. Yeah, I have. I like those. And they have ACQ Bread, which is a really great bakery is there. I mean, I really like Halal Pasture Farms up at the Union Square one. I've been getting some cool things from them that are kind of hard to find elsewhere. Yeah. And I, you know, right now I am going to the Goshen Farmer's Market every Friday, and that's near my, where I live in Orange County. And wow, I love S &SO, which is a terrific black dirt farm from Orange County.

51:50And they're down at the Union Square Farmer's Market, I think, one day a week. But they're up in our area Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. And wow, it's like incredible local produce. I would say like they always have onions and onion powder on occasion. That's like one of the big crops in the area, which, you know, you think like onions and shallots, whatever. But when you have like a really good fresh one, it really hits in a different way. But they also have like they always have great lettuce greens. They have like, you know, the kales of the world. But they also have like, I would say, incredible scents with like chives and like alliums in general are really strong there.

52:27I've been really loving the golden bar squashes. What are you doing with them? Yesterday, I cubed golden bar squash with some shallots and chives and another produce I'm going to mention in this roundup because this is just a setup to some lists of vegetables and fruit that we love. I did it all in a pan and it was amazing. So what's your first fruit, vegetable, et cetera, that you're loving right now? Well, tomatoes is the obvious answer. We've finally hit tomato season here in New York, which means that I now have bacon and bread in my freezer at all times because I am on a mission to eat at least one BLT a week.

53:06I'm pioneering something called BLT brunch, actually. So into it. Which is when my friends come over and we go to the market, the Fort Greene one, and get tomatoes and then bring them back home and make BLTs. And maybe I did like a fruit salad last week. My BLT is actually with avocado, so a B-L-A-T. I love doing like garlicky, cutie mayo, salt and pepper, maybe a little bit of lemon on the lettuce and just thick, squishy bread. And the tomato should be the same thickness as the bread. So it's a thick tomato sandwich with just kind of a little bit of bacon seasoning. So good. B-Lat for life. I'm all about that one.

53:40Yes. What is your produce you want to shout out? Well, I'm going to shout out peaches because they're really good this year. And there's been years, and I don't know how the climate and science works, so don't quote me, but we've had drier springs and the peaches weren't good, but we had a very wet spring around here, and the peaches are really nice local peaches. And I've been doing a lot of, I'm just raw, obviously just eating the peach as you eat a peach. But I've also been putting like some balsamic and feta on peaches, which I think is a nice combination. I just got back from Greece and I had some stone fruit with local cheeses, which we call feta here.

54:17And they're amazing. And really, I just think the local peach scene in the Northeast has really worked out. I actually went to the grocery store. I missed my farmer's market visit this Friday. So I just went to my local grocery store, bought some peaches. Not good. Ugh. Those are like the grocery store. Such a bummer. Like a bad peach is heartbreaking because a good peach is so spectacular. I know. Like the mealy peach is the worst, you know. It's like peach is a beautiful fruit because it's both texture and acidity balance, right? So like you want to have like obviously the flesh of it needs to be tight.

54:49It can't be too mushy. But then you want to make when you bite in, you want flavor. It can't be dull. It has to have sweetness and acidity and have that peachiness to it. That's why it's so hard to find a good one, I feel. What's your next produce to shout out? Have you had lemon cucumber before? It's a specific kind of cucumber. It's yellow. I have not. No, I haven't. It's one of the many heirloom cucumber varietals that I see at the market in the summer. I got it at Halal Pasture Farms at Union Square, which is just such a spectacular farm. Everyone that works there is so kind. And one of the people were walking around with a platter of sliced cucumber.

55:25And at first I thought she meant cucumber that had lemon drizzled over it. But I asked and it's actually just the flavor of the cucumber itself. It has this kind of citrusy note. And I really am obsessed with cucumber in the summer for chilled noodles or I like to do like a fruit cart kind of situation. So that's what I did with this lemon cucumbers. I just sliced it up and ate it with some jicama and some peaches and some tajin on top, as I love to do. And it really was so special. So I think if you see lemon cucumber, you should definitely go for it. Wow. I never would have thought that that combination would have worked, but it sounds amazing.

56:02Jicama and cucumber. Yeah. I mean, I did not invent it. I think if you're in L.A. or in Mexico, that's like a pretty standard fruit cart option. I don't know why here in New York the jicama is much harder to find. So I feel like that's less common. But peaches you'll find. Yeah. And it's really crisp and refreshing and delicious. So good. Nice. Nice call there. What's your next one? I was sent from Rose 7 Seed Company, which is the brainchild of Dan Barber of Blue Hill. I was sent sweet garlic. I've heard about the garlic. Yeah. I had a moment. I was on the mailing list. I think a few other of my colleagues in food media got it too.

56:35So we were all like blown away by it. But they really, they sent it to us and it was good stuff. So I have to shout it out. It's really, really great. it's kind of got the sweetness of leeks with the mellow savory notes of garlic and really i've been i've been sent like two full bunches plus some seeds which my wife tamara is going to grow i i actually made some fried rice with it which was amazing uh one day and i i mixed it up with with some with some squash and that was a beautiful thing because it really is you can eat the whole you can eat even like the the end of it which on a leek you would never really eat here they've like figured out a way to make that actually tender enough when cooked and then my other preparation i roasted them and i love roasted shallots or scallions or any alliums i just love a roast and doing the full the uh garlic roasted with i was making a tri-tip um wow i was into it i love that yeah what's your next one sugar snap peas yes i love them so much i used to eat them just by themselves as a kid in my lunches as a snack.

57:36And I still like eating them raw. But these days I find that I like to kind of slice them on the diagonal really thin in a salad. I've been really having a hard time eating when it's really hot out here in the city. And so I feel like doing like a steak salad or like salmon with salad, that kind of vibe is something I've been really into. Last night I did a kind of kale Caesar take on a salad with these sliced so thin. They look so beautiful. They're really satisfying to kind of like snap and peel off the zipper part of it. And I have found that some people have not tried them before. Wait, who are these people who've never had a sugar snap pee?

58:11Just like my friends that live in my neighborhood. If you see me in Fort Greene, like I often, I'm just kind of giving people small amounts of the produce that I buy at the farmer's market. And I bumped into a friend of my girlfriends who had never had a sugar snap pee before. And when I offered him one, he said no. And I said, no, like try this. And I, you know, zippered it off for him and gave it to him. and he was surprised by how sweet and crunchy they could be. So I guess sugar snap peas is my other like soapbox moment. I love and the calling it the zipper is so such a good term because you've got to get rid of that zipper.

58:42I think a lot of people or not a lot, but some people forget to do that. And it can't digest that little. No, you can't digest it. And I think there is something kind of satisfying about knowing how to butcher a vegetable in the same way that you would butcher meat, you know, like doing that little bit of processing, especially like when I get home from the market, I kind of just like sit down and power through the whole thing just so that I can eat them whenever I want. And I think like there's a lot to be said for just knocking it out. I'm the same way when I come back to the farmer's market, I have like a washing, drying process.

59:11And then I'll definitely start chopping away and paring down. And I think the knife cut for a sugar snap pea is important. You know, like sometimes on the diagonal and if you if you cut them wrong, too small even, they're not like as fun to eat. Right. You got to get that right knife cut. Something that I think is special to say with sugar snap peas is that you can eat the entire pea. It's not just the inside, but the shell itself also has this really nice kind of texture and it's not too harsh. So if you slice it right, then the peas will kind of stay snuggled inside of the exterior and you get this kind of contrast of pea textures.

59:43Amazing. Do you have another one you want to talk about? The last thing I want to talk about is not necessarily produce, but it's a recipe. Zola Gregory's blueberry crisp that we just published. It is a great reason to go to the farmer's market, buy any kind of the berries. You can get strawberries, you can get blueberries, you can get stone fruit, like peaches and nectarines. You can even do it with plums. And I love this recipe. I'm linking to the show notes. It's a really pared down technique. You edited it with her. What's your takeaway from this great summer farmer's market produce crisp?

1:00:17So Zola calls it an any fruit crisp, which I think is really cool and helpful because I'm someone who just buys my fruit to eat it. But then, you know, maybe it's not as good as I want it to be or I'm out of town for a couple of days. It needs to be used up. I think like the crisp is kind of the ultimate throw your goodies into a pan and make a delicious dessert out of it. Also so good with ice cream. And I think that's what's special about her recipes. She talks about how to maybe accommodate for fruit that's juicier or that's less sweet and how to kind of make a full balanced dessert out of it.

1:00:47Love it. Well, thanks for sharing your produce picks, Eliza.

1:00:53This is Taste is hosted by Matt Rodbard and me, Eliza Abarbanel. The show is produced by Shalia Harris and Pat Stango and edited by Clayton Gumbert. Theme music by Steve Rydell. Visit Taste online at tastecooking.com and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for updates on all cool things happening.