Gabrielle Chappel Transcript
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Hi, everyone. You're listening to The Future Of Food Is You, a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host Abena Anim-Somuah, and each week I talk to emerging talents in the food world and they share what they're up to as well as their dreams and predictions for what's ahead. I love this new generation of chefs, bakers, and creatives making their way in the worlds of food, drink, media, and tech.
Today's guest is Gabi Chappel, an up-and-coming chef and contestant on this season's "Next Level Chef." I love diving into Gabi's cooking philosophy and learning about her culinary icons, including Alice Waters and Julia Child. Gabi and I also chat about her experience on "Next Level Chef," including what it's like to work with Gordon Ramsay and how she's gone in touch with her competitive side on the show. Stay tuned for our chat.
Thanks to everyone who joined us at Cherry Bombe's Jubilee last Saturday. It was such an awesome day of learning, networking, and of course eating. I loved meeting some of you IRL and seeing this amazing community come together to celebrate and uplift each other. And if you couldn't make it this year, I can't wait to see you for next year's Jubilee.
Now let's check in with today's guest. Gabi, thank you so much for joining us on The Future Food Is You podcast.
Gabi Chappel:
Thank you for having me. This is truly so exciting. First podcast. This is my first podcast.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, we're honored. We always like to start off by asking our guests, can you tell us where you grew up and how did food show up in your life?
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. So I grew up in a very rural, small town in central Pennsylvania. It's called Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. So it really confuses a lot of people when they're driving on Route 80 across the state.
They'll see a sign for Jersey Shore and they're like, "Here? In the middle of Pennsylvania?" Yes, I went to Jersey Shore High School. It is nowhere near as shore. It is near the Susquehanna River. But it is basically just a really small agriculturally focused, not particularly affluent, tiny, tiny farm town. I feel like people don't realize that Pennsylvania is majority that, it is one of the most rural states in the country. Quite a lot of spread out farms, and that's really where I come from. If you think corn and cows, that's pretty much where I grew up. And so it was interesting because food for me showed up in a juxtaposing way. On one hand, I had really busy parents. My mom, she was just such a go-getter. She was getting her doctorate when I was a kid and an education. And my dad, he was a tradesman, so he built my house growing up.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So cool.
Gabi Chappel:
He worked in construction and so he ended up teaching construction. My mom, she was a guidance counselor at the time, got her doctorate, became sort of this leader of trades programs in the school. Her specific job was helping get students involved in trades. So it's funny how my parents were both involved in craftsmanship and trades. Because of that, I ended up spending time in the kitchen with them in very brief bursts. So meals were quick, they were easy, they were Americanized versions of Eastern European cuisine, which is where my family's from.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Nice.
Gabi Chappel:
So goulash, pickled beets, and what we call pigs in the blanket, but they are actually stuffed cabbage rolls. So we call them piggies. And so it's funny because it is not the pastry puff with a hot dog. It is veal and beef with rice wrapped in cabbage and the other exciting stuff.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, I get the blanket metaphor. It's still kind of trash. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Gabi Chappel:
But I remember learning about the other pigs in the blanket way later in life being like, wow, that's not what I thought.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, false advertising.
Gabi Chappel:
False advertising. So I had this really quick dinner, but always had a meal together with my family situation. But then on the other side, it was just this extreme tenderness and care that went into creating a lot of food with my grandparents. My grandparents, we would do canning. We would just go there and all day long go and can, whether it was pickled beets or we would go and pick strawberries in the morning or grapes from my Nana's backyard, bring them in, make jelly, make jam, preserve them, and it was all the women in my family. And I have mostly female cousins, so it just was a coincidence that it was women.
So it was just like 10 of us in a room. My papa, my grandfather, would be down there with us and he would just love to be in the kitchen with us women. And we would all have our roles, so someone would be grinding the nuts and someone would be rolling out the dough, and someone would be manning the stove top. And so there was just this really beautiful synergy in the kitchen. And I just love and remember those memories forever. So it just was like that butted up against what my parents had to do to put food on the table growing up, which was sometimes fast food, sometimes it was Arby's for breakfast, and then at the same time just these really beautiful traditions that to this day I still do with my family.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You go to college at Penn State and you expand your palette in more than many ways. So you studied abroad in Spain for a semester because you were a Spanish major. Where did you study and how do you think that started to shape your relationship to food?
Gabi Chappel:
I actually studied Spanish and journalism. So it was funny because I was full in journalism. I was like-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Erin Brockovich.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. I was like, I want to be the next Erin Andrews. I was really into sports at the time too.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Nice.
Gabi Chappel:
And so I saw myself maybe going down that route. But Spanish was something I just loved. I always learned, I always took classes ever since I was a kid and this was one thing I really wanted to do. I had such a unique opportunity because I got to go somewhat coincidentally because it's expensive. I mean studying abroad, it's not very easy for people.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's definitely a privilege.
Gabi Chappel:
It's definitely a privilege. It just so happened that that was the year my grand past and she left my family with very humble amount of money, but my parents decided that that was something that they wanted to put it toward was me being able to study abroad.
So it felt very much like that was my gram's gift to me in a way. It was just this incredible opportunity. I went as a sophomore, which is a little earlier than I think people will typically study abroad. I went through a program that was pretty intensive. It was through the University of Virginia. I was in Valencia, Spain and they have a campus there.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, very gorgeous city.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, and it was the perfect place to study abroad. You have Madrid, you have obviously Barcelona, but Valencia was perfect because there's not a lot of English speakers there and they have such a prominent culture of their own.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's also very historical, whereas I feel like Barcelona is more cosmopolitan.
Gabi Chappel:
For sure.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Valencia I think has this interesting agricultural distinct food regions. It's got a lot of that Middle Eastern influence. Yeah, it's a very eclectic and interesting place.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, and it's coastal, so yeah, it's exactly. There's just a lot of food traditions too. And so I was lucky enough to live with two different host families while I was there, and they were both very different. That was a requirement of them was to provide us with meals. It was like room and board and meals. I love to spend time with my host parents in the kitchen, and I was making albondigas with my one host mom and then tortilla and learning just how to do these different things in Spain. And so it really was, the first time I ever lived in a metropolitan area in general by a lot. Not only that, it was in a different language. Not only that, it was on a different continent. And so it just really uprooted me, but I loved every bit of it.
As much as I loved the way I grew up, I was so curious what else is out there? What other flavors are out there? What is so different than what I'm used to? I'm just insatiably curious in general. It was just such a great opportunity to really expand that. And not only Valencia, but I could for 23 Euros hop on a Ryanair flight over to, I don't know, Italy and experience Italian food all at the same time. So those little weekend trips became really special. And when you're a college kid and you don't have a lot of money, you eat street food. So I feel like I just had this really cool introduction to different street food in different countries too. I remember going to Florence and having a tripe sandwich, like a spicy tripe sandwich and being like, wow, I've never had tripe and I didn't even know what it was until today, but I had it and I liked it. Just those moments of discovery were really precious.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.
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You moved to New York City after school, which is now where you are, you've been here for a minute, and you end up going to the institution of Culinary education. Why did you decide to go there and can you describe what your program was like?
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. ICE was such a, it just landed in my lap. It was one of those things where I didn't know if I wanted to go to culinary school. I was at a really weird point in my career. I've done a lot from graduation until culinary school. But at this particular moment, I was working in this a dead end job that I could not stand. It was during the pandemic, so I feel like I was just doing it to stay afloat and it was just so far beyond anything I wanted to be doing. At the time, the one thing I had going on that I was in love with and kept me going was filming Epicurious videos. We were able to manage to find a way to do it at home, and I looked forward to it with such ferocity that I was like, clearly this is where my passion is. My passion is here with food.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And were you doing that freelance or full time?
Gabi Chappel:
That was just freelance. I mean, these videos, it's funny. I feel like people think like, oh, that was how you made a living. I'm like, no way, not even close. Epicurious was just a passion project. I recognized just how much I loved it and loved writing recipes and learning about that. And then as much as part of me was like, I could do this and this is when I was like, okay, I have social media. I can get into doing that and work through that, but then there was just part of me that was like, no, I really want to be more than just a blogger. I want to learn it from the ground up. Again, I just have this curiosity that's like, I just don't feel like I'll ever be fully satisfied unless I know that I've done everything I can to understand this thing I love so much.
So that was really what pushed me toward it, and then the thing that got me over the finish line in deciding to go to ICE was that they have this health supportive culinary program. At the time, I was pretty much vegetarian I would say, or in that realm, and it was non-intentional. I don't think I've ever really intentionally labeled what my diet was like even though I am plant-based and I profess that, it's just I am anti-label but understand that they have a place. But at this time, I just recognize that the thought of going to regular culinary school or the thought of going to a French program, I just had no interest. Truly. I was like, I don't want to work in that environment. I don't want to work in a restaurant. That's not my goal. When I finally found that ICE had absorbed what was formerly known as the Natural Gourmet Institute, now known as the Health-Supportive Culinary Arts program at ICE, I was like, wow, this encapsulates everything that I want to learn.
It talks about nutrition, it talks about healing foods. It talks about integrating plant-based cooking and macrobiotic cooking, and I don't even know what some of that stuff means, but I'm really excited to find out. That was when I was like, okay, this is it. Just close my eyes, sign the check, and just like, all right.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How all good decisions are made.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, exactly. Just like, all right, here, I got a loan now. Let's do it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What does the structure look like for the plant-based program? Is it both theoretical reading and then application from making recipes, that sort of thing?
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, I would say that's exactly what it is. There is a fair portion that is based on nutrition. We are really looking at the building blocks of nutrition. So we have a teacher who is basically a professor of nutrition and a chef. Her name is Chef Celine. She's a total badass. I adore her and she was my very first chef instructor at ICE. She as a fifteen-year-old was working for some of the best chefs in the world, and so her career is just incredible.
But now she really works toward teaching people about nutrition. And so that was a very fundamental part. Another fundamental part was learning about sourcing and the sourcing of ingredients, where ingredients come from, what are the differences between these ingredients and when we're looking at process versus unprocessed whole versus unwhole, it is a bit more theoretical. Not everything in this program is very tangible. And there's a lot of things in this program that were based on books and ideas from people who are like, this isn't scientifically based. This is very much a tradition or something that's coming from tradition. We talk about Chinese medicine and obviously that's very well studied, but there's just a lot of components in this program that are like, this isn't French cooking, it's more than that. It's sort of this integration between ingredients, food, culture, lifestyle, and diet.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Since coming out of culinary school, it's been, what? Two, three years now?
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It seems like one of the biggest, I would say most point of contention questions in the food world is culinary school, yea or nay. Based on your experience, what would your response be to that?
Gabi Chappel:
I really think it comes down to what you want to get out of it and what's your goal leaving it. If your goal is to work in a restaurant, I say save your money and work in a restaurant. I do think that there is just invaluable amount of experience in working and staging. And if you're really interested in a cuisine, honestly, it might be cheaper for you to fly there, stay there, work in a restaurant there than it is to go to culinary school.
However, for me, I was trying to not only catch up on the basics of cooking, which I definitely learned and fundamental cooking technique, but I was also trying to find out these more, they're not exactly things you would learn in a kitchen. You don't learn nutrition in a kitchen, you don't learn about Ayurveda cooking or cooking for people with celiac disease in a kitchen. That's ultimately with food and what I'm trying to impart to people is I want to make you a meal. After you eat, you're going to be like, "Wow, I feel good." That not only tasted good, but it felt good. I mean, hey, I've had some really, really tasty meals, but I'm paying for it later in some way. I have a sense of stomach. That's a price I'm willing to pay, but that's not something I want people to feel like is just the standard.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Obviously, with your content side and your creation side, your recipe developer, you're a video producer, you're all the things. But I'm curious from your perspective as developing recipes and educating, it seems like that's something you're really passionate about with your content. Where do you draw inspiration from and how do you stay inspired?
Gabi Chappel:
Inspiration for me comes from people who have been in this position before. I mean, I feel like she's just an icon to so many people and not just me, but Julie Child and just her ability to be approachable as a teacher. I think it's important that if you want people to be on board and you want people to find what you're doing approachable, you need to approach it as a student yourself, and that's I think something that she was always really good at is like, yes, I have mastered this craft to this degree.
She went to culinary school and then she immediately started teaching. I see some parallels. I coincidentally have more restaurant experience than Julie a child in some ways.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It was a tough time back then. Also restaurants have completely evolved from what she was experiencing.
Gabi Chappel:
Oh, and not to mention just the level of expectation that she had through what I'm sure her culinary program was like based on reading her book and whatever. She was just such a big part of me wanting to be able to have that same sort of tonality. Same with Jacques Pepin, same warm. I want people to feel like, oh, that's cool. Okay, I could do that. That's interesting.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's interesting you say that about Julie Child because I think even her going to culinary school, a culinary school like Le Cordon Bleu was revolutionary in itself. You didn't go to culinary school for vibes. And I think that if you read her books or if you read Alex Prud'homme, her nephew's books, they're like, "Why are you here?" Literally, she had to even fight to get into the culinary school, which I think is so fascinating.
Gabi Chappel:
Exactly, and at an older age and not old, but just she was a more advanced age. She already had a whole career under her belt. And so I feel like I've found so much inspiration in her and be like, if she could just do this, this literally is her second career and she could find this level of success, then why can't I or why can't I try? And why can't I try and impart that message to other people that if this is something that they're passionate about or if they want to learn, it's okay. You're not too far gone, you're not too much of a beginner. The entry level is just anyone and everyone.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I love that you say that and it's a good segue into my next question. How do you feel panned out in hindsight? Are there any big lessons that you've learned from now making food your career after lots of other tries?
Gabi Chappel:
In my first job outside of school, actually, I met this really wise and wonderful woman. I worked in advertising right out the bat.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Classic, yeah.
Gabi Chappel:
I didn't intend to, I wanted to be a journalist and then the next thing I know I wanted to not be in a small town. And so that took me to Portland, Oregon actually. And so I was living-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very cool.
Gabi Chappel:
And I worked in this huge, amazing, the biggest ad agency, most iconic. They were with Nike since day one and I was like, how did I even get here? But I met this woman just background, but this woman, she told me, she was like, "I always kind of think of my life in..." You know how in high school your junior, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. So she's in four year gaps. Ever since she said that to me, especially now where I'm looking back in eight years in retrospect, it's like four years ago is when I decided I wanted to go to culinary school, so I really have had that-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You're in your junior year.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, I'm in my senior year right now. Senior year, so I'm about to graduate from whatever this chapter is and move into the next one. That to me was a big lesson is that cycling through a career or starting over again, it's not failure. It's just very much something that is natural if you are constantly trying to better yourself and find that thing that you care about, then you're bound to leave what it is you're currently doing and grow into something else. It's a very beautiful thing and it's very natural and some people know exactly what they want to do for the rest of their lives and that's amazing for them. I'm very happy for them. But I think, as I said, someone who is innately curious about a variety of things, it's just such a cool moment when I realized that food was the thing, under my nose this whole time. Literally three times a day at least, sometimes many more. And so to just finally find that thing where I'm like, okay, I did the journalism.
I worked in production, and I hosted, and I thought I wanted to do this, and I got to that point during COVID when it all ended and I just had to grieve it. I had to grieve this loss of what I thought was the career I wanted when in reality the best was ahead and I now really feel at least I'm in the direction. My compass is now pointing in the direction where I know I'm supposed to go and I've never felt so sure of it, and it's just such a good feeling.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And it's not a white light. It's like you can probably envision more things on the path. Maybe it's more silhouettes, less shapes, that sort of thing.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, I love impressionism. I feel like I don't want to see, I don't want to be told what to see. I don't want to see fine lines. I want to see a blur, and then as I get closer it makes sense.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I want to talk a lot about social media because it seems like that is the way that you get to connect with a lot of your audience and the way you get to share a lot of your work. What I love about your account is you have this fun, exciting mix of teaching and sharing, and just talking about your journey as you're going through it, letting people learn alongside you sort of thing. I'm curious to hear why you think social media was the best medium for the things that you're doing.
Gabi Chappel:
It's funny. I really resisted it for a while. That is just because it's something that I did as a career to some degree. Basically, being a journalist or being a reporter and having to create videos and stuff, it just felt like something that was so much work. And so to have to do it with something that felt very casual, felt like, okay, if I'm going to do this, I need to commit to it. And so it just took me a while to be like, all right, this is the thing I want to commit to. And I think the reason and where I ended up finally reaching that point was, I hit this dead end of, I have this career and I'm starting to get into this food industry and now I've learned everything I want to learn and I have this audience built in.
I had around a 25,000 person audience for the past six years or so basically since I got on Epicurious. Those people have been with me through that whole journey and through all the algorithm changes and everything. Specifically, Instagram has changed and now looks a lot more like the TikTok model. I recognize that the only way I'm going to really reach this audience that has been, I don't know how to say other than loyal to me and really-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Supportive.
Gabi Chappel:
Supportive and to show my support to them as well is that why wouldn't I share with them the things that I'm doing every day and I don't have to make it a big thing. It can be as simple as, oh, I'm here at the farmer's market and I'm going to show you what I'm looking at right now. Just making it that approachable and making it something that for myself isn't that hard, it makes it more available and accessible for everyone else too.
I really love being able to share those moments of discovery because I want other people to be like, oh, that looks kind of fun or interesting, or maybe I'll go buy three different types of turnips and see if they taste different, and just giving people more of an incentive to play and to just be a little bit childlike in their discovery of food.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Who would you consider yourself to be a love child of when it comes to your cooking style and the things that you love to make?
Gabi Chappel:
On one hand, I'd say it's a bit, I don't want to say obvious, but I feel like an obvious answer is Alice Waters. I have a bunch of her cookbooks and-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
They're incredible. I gift them to so many friends.
Gabi Chappel:
It's just seasonality and understanding new nuances of variety and when things taste good. And I'm learning too. These are all things that I'm in my fourth or fifth season of really paying close attention to everything as it comes in season. And I have a field journal basically-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's amazing.
Gabi Chappel:
Where I take notes of things I taste and I take it with me when I travel, so I'm in Mexico City and I'm like, okay, this passion fruit tasted like this, this, and this, and I have to believe it was probably the best one I ever had. Hawaii, and so just keeping tabs on these things. Alice Waters, she was the mother of that and modern California cuisine. She just excelled at that and fresh and simple. All of her recipes are to some degree, or at least now through phases of her restaurants and through different head chefs, they've varied quite a bit and had different levels of difficulty. But its base, it was like, let's just treat this with as little attention as possible and let the ingredients shine, and so I really love that. On one hand there's Alice Waters and then on the other hand I feel like Ottolenghi has just this-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Big hearty, bright.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, bright, just flavor. He has a whole cookbook called “Flavor” that I own. And just this idea of incorporating different flavors to elevate the same basic principles of veggies and of fruits, and beautiful produce, and just transforming it into something unique and that has just such a distinct flavor profile. And he obviously has a lot of global influence as well, and he is also quite a collaborator and has a lot of collaborators on his cookbooks from different places like Mexico and other countries that have distinct flavor profiles. My food also, I tend to have it be a bit more global than Alice Waters. So I feel like they're the perfect marriage of what I'm always trying to achieve.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No, I think those are two very awesome people because I think they're able to use vegetables in distinct ways. I mean, have you been to Chez Panisse yet in Berkeley?
Gabi Chappel:
No. It's the list of things I want to do this year is make a trip to go there.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, we're huge manifestors on the podcast.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, all right.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's our first one.
Gabi Chappel:
Okay. First one.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
But I remember going there for the first time. It was one of the first bougie meals I bought myself. It was so interesting because I think she almost lets oils and spices almost bring out flavors, whereas I feel like Ottolenghi uses flavor to help with what he's making. It's more of a partnership with Ottolenghi and I feel like with Alice Waters, it's vocal support, it's like background type of thing which I think is really interesting.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. There's the slow and intentional drawing out of these flavors and transformation. The natural flavor in Ottolenghi is just like, I am using rose water to elevate the slightly rosy scent that you can detect in this whatever veg. And it's just a really cool marriage of those things.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, it's even a contrast in their copy. I make so many of Ottolenghi's recipes from The New York Times and I have the books, but it's like rose water salmolina pistachio almond cake. And you're like, okay, we've arrived.
Gabi Chappel:
I think I have... And to that point too, there are recipes that I have that I'm like, oh man, this had so many ingredients in it. And then for example, I did a pop-up last summer where one of the dishes was just a plate of green zebra tomatoes with lemon juice, olive oil, flaky salt, fresh oregano and currants. And that was it, and it was the top seller. People sometimes just want really, really beautiful simple food too.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
When you think about your work and how you inspire and motivate yourself, are there any values and principles that you think ground your work and what you're doing?
Gabi Chappel:
The things that really ground me are honestly reminding myself of where I came from or how would my parents react to this? They're just not very metropolitan people. My mom in particular is very adventurous. But I feel like there are a lot of times if I'm developing a recipe, part of me is how will people think about this? I think about even my nana, my grandmother, I'd be like, how would they be able to digest this recipe? How would it sound to them? And so, I feel like it's really grounding in some ways to be like, okay, there's two different languages that you can speak here. One is that to the general population and one is to other people who are very interested in the nuances of technical cooking and cookery. Anytime I'm trying to stay really grounded and stay to my roots, it's like, how would my family react to this and how would people from my hometown react to this?I really love that. I love that I have that to keep as a voice in the back of my head.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How do you hope that your recipes and your cooking inspire people to incorporate more of a plant-based philosophy into their cooking?
Gabi Chappel:
To me, it's like, okay, you eat meat. Cool. Okay, I do too.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Love a burger.
Gabi Chappel:
It's not something I say no to in certain contexts. It's just that in my own cooking and when I think of things that I really want to create or when I'm feeling inspired, it just comes every time from produce, from vegetables, from plant, seeds, nuts. I end up being really bored by meat. I've just had it a million times, I've tried it. Yeah, I've had some really good steaks, but I feel like the only time we're ever having something really that good is we're comparing it against the last time we had something that good.
When you eat a steak or you order a steak, you're only ever thinking of that best steak you ever had and whether or not it's living up to that, and that doesn't really exist with veggies. My goal is to have people in this mind space of like, wow, this is by far the best time I've ever had asparagus. I didn't know asparagus could taste like this. I've never knew cabbage could taste this sweet and have these caramely flavors. I never knew even what a kohlrabi tasted like. I didn't know that I can pair it with apple and turn it into a slaw.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What even is a kohlrabi?
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. I feel like I just want people to be more open to the idea that dishes can be incredible without meat. I think that people are getting there and they're more receptive to it. My goal is to come to these people as someone who eats meat, but truly, like you said, plants are guiding my diet. They're guiding my day in and day out. They are what makes me excited. All I want is for other people to just get excited about eating vegetables too. And I think that comes from discovery, from understanding that there's so many more varieties out there going to farmer's market, the connection between the tactile, touching, smelling, tasting, and just these moments because they become memories, they become very memorable and that makes you more curious and want to learn more and be more interested and excited.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, I really love that. I think there's a lot of negative connotations with being vegan and a lot of things replacing like the fake meats and sort of things. But I think being plant-based is a lot. This is a way to explore food and this can be the foundation of how you eat, which I think is really special.
Gabi Chappel:
100%. And that connection to nature and how it is inextricably connected. I remember just one thing that got me really into seasonal eating was getting my CSA box or working with Groundcycle. I would get Groundcycle. This was even way before culinary school. I'd get Groundcycle and I'd get my veggies and I'd be like, what do I do with this? And just that puzzle mentality of how do I make a beautiful meal out of these veggies that are in season right now? It just was a really awesome way to become more connected to what's in season and learn more about that because as you learn, then you get more excited about it. Every year I'm like, oh, I can't wait. All right, we're about to get asparagus. Ooh, oh my gosh, cherries are coming up. That anticipation builds. It's just like this beautiful presence. The more you're in tune and the more that you're aware of what's going on with the seasons and with nature and your food, I feel like you just have a greater sense of presence and grounding.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You started on social media, you've been in on YouTube and video. Now you are probably doing your biggest video project yet. So you are one of the contestants on this season of "Next Level Chef," the cooking competition show with Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington, and Richard Blais on Fox. For those of us who are unacquainted with the show, can you explain the show's concept?
Gabi Chappel:
Oh, where do we begin? It is unlike any other culinary cooking competition show. It is so unique because the prize and the whole point of the show is mentorship, right? It's like you are put on the team of either Chef Arrington, Chef Ramsay, or Chef Blais. And as you're on these teams, you also get the opportunity to interact with these coaches, mentors, and you are learning from them as you are competing in this competition. Basically, you're on three different levels of kitchens starting in the basement, which is a really, we're talking like bare bones, basic Brooklyn basement kitchen here.
The second floor is a pretty nice standard, has all the gadgets kitchen, then the top kitchen you have all these fun toys to play with, and top-end pies-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Like nitrogen, dry hydrogen.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, you get all the fun-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Modernist cuisine.
Gabi Chappel:
Yes, the smoking gun. You got a lot of really fun tools to play with. Obviously, that comes to your advantage based on what you have to make. And then the hardest part though, and that sort of the pinnacle of the show is this platform that drops from the ceiling, and so if you're on the top floor, you get the first pick, you get 30 seconds to grab your ingredients, go back to your station, and then 30 minutes to make a meal based on the theme, and that's repeated through the levels. It is chaos, it is mentorship, it is just high stress, but high fun. Honestly, it is to me equal parts on the opposite ends of the spectrum of just sheer terror and absolute the most fun you can possibly have cooking.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What sparked the decision for you to go on the show?
Gabi Chappel:
I had a friend from, honestly my freshman year at Penn State. Her name's Adina Lewis. She was a casting director. We met freshman year and now she's doing casting and asked me, "Hey, Gab, I've been following your career. I feel like you'd be a good fit. Would you want to do this?" That was actually last year for season two, and I said, no. I was too afraid. I just didn't feel like I had enough experience and whatever. And then this year she asked again and I was like, I'd be absolutely stupid to turn this down again. It was just more of like, why would I ever turn this down? I can't believe I almost that slip through my fingers for the first time, so I absolutely need to make sure that I'm doing it this time.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, shout out to Adina.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, go Adina.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And for asking a second time because you know... For research and entertainment purposes, I watched a few episodes of the show before our conversation and there was something really cool just about also the different types of chefs that they have on the shows and everyone almost being on the show to grow and to learn more just to show how really good they are. I thought that was really special.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, yeah. And just beyond that, there are categories of chefs, right? There's the pro chefs, there's the social media chefs, which is what I was considered based on my history of working with Epicurious for years, and then there's the home cooks. And so it's really cool to put everyone together and be like, okay, how does everyone stack up against each other, and it's a really fun dynamic.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What's one thing that surprised you about being on the show?
Gabi Chappel:
I was genuinely very surprised by honestly how much we were able to interact with, so I was on Team Ramsey. I got to work with him every day for as long as I was on the show. He was my mentor, he was my coach, and so just knowing that I was able to work with Chef Gordon Ramsey every day was just the craziest out of body experience. So that was really a surprise. I didn't expect it to be quite so involved. There were a lot of surprises throughout the show and I was definitely a little bit blindsided by exactly how long the days would be and stuff like that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, I'm sure there's lots of takes all that thing. Yeah.
Gabi Chappel:
Honestly, no, it's not the takes. There's one take and that's it. It's like the cameras are rolling and then it's over. That actually surprised me as well. I thought there would be more of a production value situation but-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's truly reality.
Gabi Chappel:
It is reality. Once that platform drops, it's on until that 30 minutes is up, there is nothing stopping.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, I know your contract probably has some very airtight rules, so if we want to see how you end up on the show, be sure to check it out. When does it air for people who are interested?
Gabi Chappel:
Thursday nights at eight on Fox, and then it's the available the next day on Hulu, so you can catch up on the whole season on Hulu.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes. You've done a lot of stuff, not just online, but offline. You've hosted pop-ups, you've collaborated a lot of friends. How have you found community to be helpful for you when you've been trying to figure out and define who you are?
Gabi Chappel:
It is so crucial, especially in New York City. I just feel like it is of the utmost importance to not only have friends that will throw your name into any room or any conversation with someone that is in a position to help your career, but also to be the person to say their names in the same rooms and with other rooms with other people, because at the end of the day, we all have our own different individual goals and what we want to achieve. And I feel like there's some people who may see this as a competition or in opportunity to find, feel like a bit scarcity mindset in a way.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, like they're the only ones that can do the thing.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. But in reality, oh my gosh, the amount of nuance that there is between every person and what they want to do, it's just like why wouldn't you want them to come with you?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Exactly, and it almost feels like you actually are better when you help others.
Gabi Chappel:
Networking has been the one thing that has absolutely just skyrocketed my career and across the board in every category is just meeting people, and not only meeting people within your industry. I have so many incredible friends that are doing really cool things in spaces that are adjacent to what I'm doing or are completely opposite from what I'm doing, but just to see them, especially women, specifically women who are rising in their careers and are just absolutely crushing it is just so inspiring and it just makes me want to keep going.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Wow, that's so beautiful. Well, there's no matter place to talk about women doing cool stuff than here at The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. We're huge benefactors on the podcast. Are there dream collaborators or projects that you'd love to work on as you're continuing in your career?
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. I feel like step one, I want to just become more involved in the community. I am really hoping to do some demonstrations at any of the green markets this summer. I haven't gotten the chance to do that yet. I really want to do that. I want to maybe do something at the botanical gardens.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, that'd be so gorgeous.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. I really just want to put myself in places where I am all the time.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Makes it easier for you too.
Gabi Chappel:
Absolutely. So I would love to be able to do that. And I honestly really just feel like education is so important. My goal would also be to work with students in any way or continue to educate. And so I'm hoping that I can maybe work with some universities. I know that this summer I'm going to be doing something at Penn State.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very cool.
Gabi Chappel:
I'm actually very excited. I was asked to be the alumni speaker at the ICE graduation this may.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Congratulations.
Gabi Chappel:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so awesome.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, I'm so excited. It's on my 30th birthday. So I'm going to maybe have everyone sing me happy birthday.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, that's the only way you get to get your diploma.
Gabi Chappel:
Right, and I'm so excited. Mashama Bailey is going to be there as well, and she's like the keynote speaker, so I get to just share a green room with her all day. And so honestly, it's hard for me to really pinpoint what exactly my dream collabs and all these other things would be because quite honestly, I feel like I'm just entering into that right now.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so beautiful.
Gabi Chappel:
I don't care to dream beyond that because I just feel like everything is going into this beautiful space where I just want to really appreciate the moment and just be like, oh my gosh, all these really cool things are happening right now, I've dreamed of this. And so I'm just going to soak it all in.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow, that's so exciting for you. Congratulations. I hope we get to see a snippet of the speech of your-
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, I got to get onto writing it, but-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You've got some time.
Gabi Chappel:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are there any upcoming projects or things you're working on that you can share with us?
Gabi Chappel:
I am really excited. I'm going to start doing some more long form content. As much as I love your basic social media, I feel like I'm really excited to get into the YouTube space and to do some more long form things. So I'm hoping to work into that territory this summer. That's something that I'm going to start working on and I'm starting to ideate and think through. I'm going to continue to do more pop-ups that I'm really excited about, maybe in some other cities.
I have a lot of friends in some really cool cities like Portland, Atlanta-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Also great produce.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah, the best. So my goal is to be a little bit more national across the nation. I'll say global. I'm like, I don't know if I'm there yet but-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Once you hit Canada, you're global, so it's like.
Gabi Chappel:
Yeah. Okay, cool. So we're aiming for that. But yeah, I'm really just hoping to work on that kind of stuff. I am working with a really cool organization called the Magnolia Tree Earth Center. It was founded by Hattie Carthan in the nineties. She's an incredible staple of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. She planted a magnolia tree, which is the only historic tree in Brooklyn on the national registry or whatever, however, they document significant trees. She basically founded this school where she focuses on environmentalism, teaching local community about where the food comes from and taking care of the environment. And so I recently connected with the program manager of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center, and I'm going to start teaching classes with them quarterly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow. So can anyone sign up or is it more for-
Gabi Chappel:
I think it's specifically for just anyone in the neighborhood, so anyone I think in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. We're still in the very early planning stages, but it's such a cool foundation and she's such an icon and it's unfortunate because I feel like it's with anything, you have waves of people in the community who do these really amazing, incredible things, but then with time, generations, and quite honestly gentrification, you lose that part of the neighborhood that really knows and absorbs that figure, and so I feel like for me, it's really important to try and keep her legacy alive while I'm living in Bed-Stuy, just carrying on this torch of knowledge to the youth and empowering them to be able to make these really wonderful decisions not only for their community, but for their health.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
As you think on your career and the things you're working on, what do you believe is the future of plant-based eating?
Gabi Chappel:
The future of plant-based eating is going to be rediscovering heirloom varieties of produce and diversifying our monocultures of plants and people getting to the point where they'll go days without eating meat and not even realize it, not even think about it, not even think that they are doing anything significant. It's just the way they eat. They just happen to eat a plant-based meal a few times a week mostly, and anything else is just something that they maybe were able to get from a local farmer.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Gabi, this was such an amazing conversation. If you want to continue to support you, where the best places to find you?
Gabi Chappel:
I'd say follow me on Instagram @gabchappel, and my YouTube is going to hopefully be up and running this summer, so @chefchapel. And yeah, I'm on TikTok as well, @chefchappel. I'd say find me on my socials and yeah, find me on "Next Level Chef."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amazing. Thank you so much.
Gabi Chappel:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Before we go, our guest is going to leave a voicemail just talking to themselves 10 years from now. You have reached The Future Of Food Is You mailbox. Please leave your message after the beep.
Gabi Chappel:
Hey Gab, so I hear you're turning 40 soon. I am about to hit 30, so I'm really excited to see how our thirties treat us because honestly, it's hard for me to imagine what it is that you're going to be doing because I can hardly believe that we've even gotten to this point in our career. All those years and all that time doing so many different odd jobs, and here we are, we've finally figured out that food was exactly what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives.
It's crazy that this has been our calling this whole time. Beyond that, we've learned so much from New York City, so many lessons, and so I'm really hoping that maybe by 40 we can find a way to work nature back into our lives. I hope we continue to teach other people about the small beauties in life, and I hope we return the favor of mentorship and helping others build their own unique gifts. I can't wait to read our cookbooks, and I'd love to know how close we are to that retirement dream of living on a ranch in Montana, owning a little cafe in town, and maybe even someday I'll be a cowgirl. But I know we're not quite there yet and there's a lot of work to do and a lot of people to feed. Love you, Gab.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's it for today's show. I would love for you to leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our show. The Future Of Food Is You is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Thanks to team at CityVox Studios, executive producers Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker, associate producers Jenna Sadhu and Elizabeth Poett, and content operations manager Londyn Crenshaw. Catch you on the future flip.