The Future Of Food Is You: Sarah Teich Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond. Each week, we feature interviews with the coolest culinary personalities around. Today, we are launching a special mini-series called The Future of Food Is You hosted by the always inquisitive Abena Anim-Somuah. Today, and for the next three Thursdays, Abena is going to talk to some folks doing meaningful work around community building, content creation and more. I'm going to chat with Abena in just a minute, and she'll tell us about today's guest, Sarah Teich. A little news from Cherry Bombe HQ, we've got our Cherry Bombe's Cooks & Books Festival taking place the weekend of November 5th and 6th at Ace Hotel Brooklyn. We've got talks, panels, and demos with amazing authors, chefs and bakers.
There's a special talk that's all about Edna Lewis that was actually inspired by Abena in an article she wrote for Cherry Bombe that's taking place on Saturday. Also on Saturday, we are kicking things off with a Wok Panel featuring Chinatown Champion Grace Young and special guests, including Amelie Kang of MáLà Project. Visit cherrybombe.com for the schedule, the full talent lineup and tickets. Ticket prices start at $25 before taxes and fees. Abena will be there. I'll be there, and we would love to see you there. Today's episode is presented by Cypress Grove, the California-based maker of delicious American goat cheese. Given all the international awards they've won, Cypress Grove truly is the greatest of all time when it comes to goat cheese.
If you think all goat cheese is alike, you have to dig into the world of Cyprus Grove. There's Midnight Moon®, a buttery aged goat cheese with notes of caramel, their new Meyer Lemon and Honey fresh goat cheese is lightly sweetened and citrusy. Of course, there's the classic, Humboldt Fog. I love myself some Humboldt Fog. It is the soft ripened goat milk cheese with the ribbon of edible vegetable ash running through it. It's delicious, distinctive, and just what you need for that perfect cheese board or for that wine or shrub pairing. If you want to experience the greatness of Cyprus Grove Goat Cheese for yourself, look for it in the cheese section of your local grocery store or specialty shop. Want to spread the love? You can find Cypress Grove on goldbelly.com, which offers nationwide shipping. Visit cypressgrovecheese.com for more. Now, let's chat with Abena for a few.
Abena, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Thank you. I feel like I'm living a bucket list dream.
Kerry Diamond:
I feel like I am living a bucket list dream because we've been talking about this forever.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I still remember our Malai Ice Cream date where you sat me down and you were like, "We're going to do this thing." So-
Kerry Diamond:
Right. Right.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... look at how far we've come.
Kerry Diamond:
We are going to tell folks a little bit more about that, this mini-series, why you are the perfect person to host this, but first, I thought we would talk a little bit about you so folks can get to know you. I do not know anyone as passionate about new restaurants, chefs, pop-ups, and food projects as you. We had dinner a few weeks ago at The Musket Room and I was like, "How does Abena even know all this?" If there was anything going on in the New York food scene, you knew about it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's a great place to be, so I'm very lucky to be eating in New York. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
My first question is, were you always like this?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I've always been a naturally inquisitive person, but I think that combination of food definitely perked up much more right when I moved to the Bay Area after college. So in 2018 I had moved to the Bay Area and I was like, "What else can you do here but enjoy food?" I got into all different aspects of it. It was like the nerdiness of science through baking or which restaurants were happening or different recipes and products, so that's definitely been a big part of my life, I would say in the last three to four years.
Kerry Diamond:
You said moving to San Francisco. Where were you moving from?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
New York City.
Kerry Diamond:
You need to lay out all the geography for me because you also travel a ton, so-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I'm never in the same place at once.
Kerry Diamond:
I never know where you are. I'm like, "Is she in Mexico City? Is she in Brooklyn? Is she in the Bay Area?" Okay. Tell us just the story geographically.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I was born in Ghana, so that's where my family's originally from, and then brief stints in Canada and England and then came to New York City for college at 17. You can only imagine what that does for a small town Canadian kid. I still remember my first grocery shop trip was to the Trader Joe's in Brooklyn Heights. That was a really cornerstone moment for me, and then that blossomed into this big food energy. But then moving to the Bay Area in 2018, I now have the budg– the wallet– and the appetite for food. Then I think in the last two years, I've just been trying to explore food at a much more global scale, probably inspired by Anthony Bourdain. I have been spending a lot of time in Mexico City just because it's close by. The food is exceptional, and it's a great inspiring spot, but I am homegrown in Brooklyn now.
Kerry Diamond:
Because you are so international, I feel like you can say Mexico City is close by, it technically is not. But when you've done Ghana, London, Canada, Bay Area, I will let you say Mexico City is close.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
You slipped in London. I didn't know about the London chapter.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, no, that was a brief chapter. My family, we were just there for a little bit and a lot of my family's still in England, so sometimes people are like, "Why are you so obsessed with Great British Bake Off, or talk about Twinings Tea or Ribena?" So that's been a very big part of my life.
Kerry Diamond:
Mystery solved.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
You are working on something very cool right now. It's called Eden Place.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us what Eden Place is all about.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, so I think partly inspired by these travels and just, I've always been someone that is eager in community. I just thought it'd be really awesome to create a community of food-inspired people. I think especially with the pandemic, everyone had to come to terms with their relationship to food. We had to start thinking about where our food was coming from, how it was affecting our lives, and so that inspired me to start these dinner parties around New York City and getting people to get closer to restaurants. I've been doing that for the last year or so, and now thinking more big picture of what other events, spaces or things we can have under the Eden Place umbrella to get people excited about food and excited to intentionally gather again.
Kerry Diamond:
How can people take part in what you're doing at Eden Place?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
We are on Instagram and Twitter @theedenplace, all one word. Then we also have our Substack where I feature interviews, talks, a little bit details about the restaurants and events that we're working on.
Kerry Diamond:
Speaking of Substack, one of my questions for you is, if you could only subscribe to one Substack and you can't say Eden Place-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, man.
Kerry Diamond:
If you could only subscribe to one Substack or support one person on Patreon, what would you recommend?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, there's so many incredible Substack food writers. I think a person I particularly love is Alicia Kennedy, and she's an exceptional writer. I also pay for her newsletter, and I think just the way that she writes about food, it's very honest, but also very enlightening. I feel like I leave every Monday, part of it's how I start my mornings on Mondays, I leave just knowing more about food but also, more appreciative of the industry as a whole. She has great recipes too, so you can't beat that.
Kerry Diamond:
She's also very good on Twitter.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, exceptional Twitter takes.
Kerry Diamond:
What's the last great thing you ate?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, man. That's a good question. Erin McDowell just came out with her cookbook.
Kerry Diamond:
It's a savory baking-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
... cookbook.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
She had these really amazing jalapeño poppers wrapped in croissant dough, and we had a little party for her to celebrate the book when she was back in the city. I'm pretty sure I ate half of that plate of jalapeño poppers.
Kerry Diamond:
Yum. What was inside, the classic kind of cream cheesy-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, but it was a Parmesan cheese. It was much more rich, that little sharp tang of Parmesan. It was just like that perfect spice of jalapeno poppers. They're not too spicy, but they've still got that sweet kick to them.
Kerry Diamond:
Wrapped with croissant dough.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's me out, I'll eat the most basic thing or do the whole Michelin Star guide, whatever.
Kerry Diamond:
And lots in between.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
You and I have been talking about this podcast for a long time. As we mentioned, we went to Malai, one of my favorite ice cream shops, also happens to be in my neighborhood, which is great. Hi, Pooja Bavishi, founder and owner of the shop. I proposed this idea for a podcast to you and you were all in, which was great. Tell everybody a little bit more about the idea behind The Future of Food Is You.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I'm a big life mantras person, I've got the Apple Notes. Any adage or wisdom shared on to me, I put, and I think one that I've always loved is hyping under hyped people. I think especially coming into the food world, every year there seems to be the same people that are featured over and over again. There's so many other incredible people that are working hard and have these small communities, so why not use an incredibly popular platform as Cherry Bombe to give them that chance to talk about themselves and talk about their stories.
I thought that was really important to me and the mission of the podcast, but I think also, it's just a testament to who I am as a person. I will go to every pop-up, every inspiring thing that's exciting. I think in New York we are so fortunate that everyone just wakes up and chooses to do something small and it ends up blossoming. I think of my friends Ashley and Gautier at L'Appartement 4F. This is now a blossoming bakery that started from home or something other guests that have been highlight on our podcast, they've gone from home bakers, home chefs to now blossoming stars on TikTok or Instagram or with cookbooks. It's just been a really exciting time and what better place to talk about it than the best food podcast of all time?
Kerry Diamond:
Aw, thanks Abena.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, of course.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm super excited because honestly one of the most painful parts of running Cherry Bombe is that there are on only so many hours in the day-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Absolutely.
Kerry Diamond:
... and so many stories we can tell. Our magazine only comes out twice a year. We've been doing a lot more podcast episodes this season just because there are just so many incredible people coming to town and doing great projects, but I'm really thrilled that you agreed to do this because there are just a lot of stories we can tell.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The honor is truly mine. I think when we first talked about this podcast idea, I kept thinking to myself, I was like, "Why did she pick me? There's probably way more popular and way more talented than people than I am," but I think something you said was, "You were always the first person to ask a question at our Bombesquad meetings," but I think it's just a testament to how I'm someone that just always wants to find answers and awesome things. I think food is so vast that so many people have so many interesting stories and it's nice to dive deeper, so this has been an incredible opportunity. I'm excited to interview more people and get to hear more exciting stories about who's going to be the next cover of some big issue, or who's going to be the next Food Vogue star, the next Ina Garten, if anything? I think they're already here doing the work.
Kerry Diamond:
Absolutely. For folks who are like, "What are you talking about?" ask the first question. People listening might not know this, but Cherry Bombe used to be very much an events company. I know we have a magazine and we have our podcast and we do lots of different things, but we were doing tons of events before the pandemic and then the pandemic happened, and it forced us to pivot like everybody else, and we started doing virtual meetings. We felt it was very important to keep doing things for our community and keep everybody's spirits up and keep them connected.
So we started doing all these events and meetings on Zoom and inevitably, Abena was always there and we loved seeing her. Then after the event when the team was recapping amongst ourselves, we were like, "God bless Abena. She's always the first to ask a question. She loves all the guests. She's so curious, she's so inquisitive." We would always say, "We got to give her a show," and then the more we said it, we were like, "No, really, we got to give her a show," so that's how the whole thing came about.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I have to thank all my middle school teachers who are like, "You have to stop talking." It's finally panning out for good, so-
Kerry Diamond:
I can see the report cards.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Oh, I think I can get my mom to pull up some of those oldies but goodies. I'd heard about Cherry Bombe when I was in New York City, but then when I moved to the Bay Area I was like, "Okay, I'm just going to keep ordering the magazine." I think it was a saving grace for me during the pandemic to finally get to experience the Cherry Bombe community. Now I'm at every event that's now in New York, so that's really fun.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, we love the Bombesquad, we love the Cherry Bombe community-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Same.
Kerry Diamond:
... and to everybody out there who's part of it, if you're listening, you are part of it, so thank you. Let's talk about your first guest, Sarah Teich. She does marketing for the hospitality services company, Oyster Sunday, and she is the founder of Produce Parties. Why did you want Sarah as your first guest?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Sarah is the perfect embodiment of the future of food. I think for someone who has both their professional career and personal passion of food, she's a perfect example of someone that lives and breathes just eating and caring for people. I actually met Sarah in January. We got our first coffee at a Win Son and we could have stayed there all day if we wanted to. I think she is such a great person in terms of how much she wants to share food with others, not just from a physical food perspective, but also a community perspective. There was no better person to kick things off with, and also her produce parties were coming up as we finished recording, so we thought, "Why not make this another marketing channel opportunity for her?" as Sarah would say.
Kerry Diamond:
Absolutely. I am very excited to learn more about her. I can't wait to listen to your interview, and this is a little bit of a spoiler alert, but I don't want folks to miss this. Tell us how you're ending each show.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I'm being inspired by a little bit of nostalgia. Despite it being a future of food podcast, we're having every guest leave themselves a one-minute voicemail in The Future of Food Is You mailbox. I'm someone that sends a lot of audio notes to myself, mostly as reminders or mostly just as ways to keep myself going. It's been really beautiful just hearing how much people are hoping to grow their careers in food and what they want for their future self, so it's definitely got me teary eyed. I know it'll get our audience teary eyed as well.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm a big crier, so I'm going to get the Kleenex ready.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, same here.
Kerry Diamond:
All right, Abena, I think we're ready for you and Sarah. You know what, Abena? You know I'm going to say-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What are you going to say, Kerry?
Kerry Diamond:
You're the Bombe.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Thank you, Kerry. Here's The Future of Food Is You.
Sarah, so hyped to have you on the podcast.
Sarah Teich:
So excited to be here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I feel this has been a long time coming.
Sarah Teich:
It's a dream come true, really for both of us.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Baby's first podcast and friends interviewing friends on a podcast.
Sarah Teich:
It feels so right.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amazing. Let's kick things off with college.
Sarah Teich:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You went to Michigan. Go blue.
Sarah Teich:
Go blue.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What'd you study you while you were there?
Sarah Teich:
I studied psychology and I minored in food in the environment and marketing and sales.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, wow.
Sarah Teich:
... so it makes sense that I landed in food marketing. We're here, we're doing it. Since I started college, just really fascinated by food and the human brain, which is why we connect because you're the same.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. What were some of the classes you took for your minor?
Sarah Teich:
Oh, my gosh, so many cool ones. The one that really changed the game for me was anthropology of food, which was the first time I took a step back and I said, "Whoa, food is a business, a huge business." That just changed my career where I said, "I want to work in food, this is the career I want," but we also took Michigan agriculture classes, learned about farming. We went to the trash facility at Michigan.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What was the food culture like at Michigan outside of your class and the things you were taking?
Sarah Teich:
Michigan is a really interesting state just because it's so much farmland. So there was a huge farm-to-table movement that I was super inspired by. Also, being right outside of Detroit, just incredible food innovation happening in the city, and it really is an incredible food city. Detroit and Ann Arbor so heavily influenced my love of vegetables, which-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Which we're going to unpack-
Sarah Teich:
We're going to unpack-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... a lot more. Right after college you come to the Big Apple, still this food theme in your life. You start working at Dig Inn. Was it DIG or Dig Inn at the time?
Sarah Teich:
It was Dig Inn, so I was there when we rebranded to DIG.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Do you know why they did that?
Sarah Teich:
Yeah. It'd been Dig Inn for since the inception, and the CEO, Adam [Eskin], really was thinking about how to evolve the brand so that there could be all these different offshoots like the farm Dig Acres. There was a Farm Box, a sit-down restaurant. So it really was that step up to say, "We are DIG Food Group, and this is our restaurant, and this is our farm, and we're moving from this homey name." It's the first time too that I was exposed in my career to doing a rebrand, which it's like rebrand is that sexy word of, "Oh, Dunkin' Donuts is now Dunkin' or Weight Watchers is WW." People are like, "What is a rebrand?" So it was a really cool experience to be a part of.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's also interesting how much work goes into the behind the scenes, because everything has to change. Everyone has say this new name after the muscle memory of the old one.
Sarah Teich:
Yeah. We were opening new DIGs and people would say, "Is this Dig Inn? So there's so much re-education too that was happening, but I don't know. Normally, I say consumers don't care about the rebrand. It's more what it means internally and then what are we doing about it? How is it showing up in the world?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What was your specific role at your time there?
Sarah Teich:
Yeah. I was with the company for three years as an intern and full-time. I had a hand in everything from social to new restaurant openings, local restaurant marketings. I used to walk a 10-block radius around all of our new restaurants and just become best friends with the neighborhood. That was my job, which obviously being a social creature, I was like, "This is a dream job." I got to vibe for a living and I landed full time on the brand marketing team where we really thought deeply about people's connection to vegetables, how to influence consumer behavior to make smarter decisions and really tell sourcing stories of farmers, which I'm super passionate about, is educating people in the food system is what I nerd out about.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Dig Inn is so interesting. I think there's so many incredible alumni that have come out of that network, so it's amazing that that energy is still spreading out through the city. Were there two or three big lessons that you took from Dig Inn that you're still have incorporated into your personal life for your professional life?
Sarah Teich:
We had this mantra called “follow the food.” I always think about that because throughout my life I feel like I'm always following the food. In career, all my jobs so far have been food related except for my brief stint in media at Morning Brew. Every trip it's all about the next meal. Every gathering, it's about food, so “follow the food” is a mantra that I feel like I stick to. The second thing I learned is from a marketing perspective, people care about so many different things, and you have to meet people where they are. As much as we were telling the vegetable story, we were also telling a story of food accessibility, "Get this meal for less than $15." We were telling a human story like, "Look at these farmers, look at supply chain." We also were just telling a really good food story. We're like, "The sweet potatoes are sick."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
My college was a five-minute walk from the Dig Inn the Financial District and I'm pretty sure there was one point that's all I ate. I was just all full of DIG, so-
Sarah Teich:
Yeah, you were just running on sweets.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
They fueled my New York City - and those farro bowls, God's gift to this earth.
Sarah Teich:
The mac and cheese too.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That goes hard. It goes hard.
Sarah Teich:
Most definitely.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, I want to talk more about your personal life in New York City. Digging right into New York, you follow the food here. How have you found socializing around food in the city?
Sarah Teich:
It's very interesting because it's actually changed since I first came to New York. I think I dropped into the city and I was so hungry, no pun intended, to really break into the food industry scene and meet people, and so to me, that looked like a lot of going out to eat, trying new restaurants. Of course, there's been this trend like the rise of the dinner party and going to pop-ups more. Pop-ups are trending across cities everywhere, so the way I've socialized around food has changed. Where now it's, at first it was trying restaurants or maybe going to larger food events, and now I'm really finding so much joy in these smaller, intimate moments. You and I, we love cooking together. We love bringing people together over a table, and it's just feeling more intimate, which could be pandemic related. We're all craving that closer knit intimacy. But at first I was like, I had a list in my notes app of 300 restaurants.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
America runs on girls with the restaurant notes app.
Sarah Teich:
The way we organize the restaurants we want to go to.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Sarah Teich:
And now Google Maps.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, yeah. I do it now based on different niches too. I'm like calm places, vibe-y, date nights, parents are in town.
Sarah Teich:
How specific do those get, right?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, or sometimes dump them all in and then figure it out from there. What was the last fun dinner experience you've had?
Sarah Teich:
I just love putting things together on a table that makes it feel special. I had a few friends over for wine and just the art of putting, even putting just hummus into a bowl and putting some olive oil on top and some herbs, it's so calming. You feel like you're serving people something beautiful. I feel like the happiest thing to come back post- COVID for me is the grazing board. The huge, I'm talking butcher paper on the table. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I want more of that in 2023.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, how do you feel about the butter boards that are trending now? That's technically still a board.
Sarah Teich:
The butter boards, shout out to Justine Snacks, I think it's playing in this pool of, we just want communal eating. What is food if it not community? We all want to see each other ripping and dipping, and so I think to me it's just an indication of people wanting to feel that closeness and intimacy with food, which is beautiful.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You've been working on this really exciting produce concept that you describe as a way to celebrate vegetables-
Sarah Teich:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You've dubbed them as Produce Parties. What's the mission behind produce parties?
Sarah Teich:
The mission behind Produce Parties is to celebrate produce at its peak. Really, the thinking was we celebrate so many other things in life. We celebrate birthdays, why don't we celebrate the birthday of a vegetable, produce at its peak? It started small, it started organically-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Pun intended.
Sarah Teich:
Pun intended, but it's really grown, and I'm so excited about it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Well, tell us about that first produce party.
Sarah Teich:
First one was tomato, and I had actually just gotten laid off from the food industry. It was around COVID times, so this was July of two summers back.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
2020?
Sarah Teich:
Yeah. I put out a text of friends that work in food. I was like, "I have this idea, I want to celebrate tomatoes," but really for me it was trying to get myself re-energized by food because I was missing it and I was trying to think of creative ways to get myself back. It was 10 of us. I made a build your own board. I made a BLT [bacon, lettuce, tomato] station.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Incredible.
Sarah Teich:
Yeah, it was an incredible night. We had such great conversation over food. Everyone was really inventive with their recipe. It was just so beautiful. I went to the farmer's market that day, had my little tote. I was touching all the tomatoes to find the perfect ones. I posted about it on Instagram and I was overwhelmed by the amount of DMs [direct messages]. People were like, "What is this? Where are you?"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
"Who are you?"
Sarah Teich:
"Who are you?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Great question.
Sarah Teich:
"Who is she, a produce princess?" Maybe.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Heck yeah. Did you tell everyone to come to the party with a tomato dish?
Sarah Teich:
Exactly that. Yeah, so the whole ethos of Produce Parties is you bring a dish that incorporates a vegetable, and I love for it to stay really playful. For example, when we did our root vegetable party, my friend brought a bloomin' onion from Outback. I know you were there and saw that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That was an iconic moment.
Sarah Teich:
At the corn party someone brought candy corn, so to me it's a celebration of vegetables as a concept, and also it's a celebration of that vegetable in peak. But I wanted to stay accessible and quirky and everyone's invited.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
After everyone DMed you, what inspired you to put these parties out to the public?
Sarah Teich:
I do work in marketing and when you see excitement, what's the first thing you got to do? Grab that Instagram handle. I snatched at the Instagram handle without a plan and said, "Let's just test this. People are excited about it." From there it really just grew by word-of-mouth. I started putting some pictures on the Instagram and the events grew from 10 people to events with 100+ people.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Your last party at 120-something people.
Sarah Teich:
Yeah. Again, to me, there's just this desire for people to connect over food, and it was one of those experiments that really blew me away and humbled me. But I was like, "These are my people. Who is coming to a corn-themed party? Those are the people I want to spend time with." Even seeing it turn into a way to meet people and people are coming just because they're excited to meet someone who would come to a corn-themed party is amazing.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you walk us through the idea of what a typical produce party planning process looks like?
Sarah Teich:
Yeah, especially because I do this on the side of my full-time gig.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Sarah Teich:
Side hustle season. I usually start thinking, so we're doing it quarterly, we're doing it seasonally. I'll start thinking about the next produce party probably two months before. Again, it's very community-centric. I want people to feel excited by it. So the Instagram community at produce parties votes on the vegetable. That kicks off the whole inspiration process, and then from there I will try to source the right partners, whether it's beverage companies or a food tech partner to join for the next party. Then all the promo goes out about two weeks before, but really that whole month before the event is about, "Okay, what are the vibes of this party going to be? How are we celebrating this vegetable? What is the experience?" Something that I love about you and the way that you plan dinners and food functions is thinking about the space that you're curating. So a lot of thought goes into, "Are we going to do icebreakers? Is there going to be name tags? What element feels interactive?" It's definitely not a small task, but I have so many friends like you that are willing to help.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
-show up to a produce party.
Sarah Teich:
And with the best cake.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I had to pick a thing, I was like, "This is going to be my thing." Now I'm thinking of a pumpkin cake to make, which I was just talking to another friend about this at dinner last night. I was like, "I don't want to just do a pumpkin bread either. I need to think big." Yeah. Let's go back to the partnerships things for a second. You've worked with some incredible brands, Ghia, AVEC Drinks and even the small batch fashion brand Wear Your Snacks. Why was it important for you to seek out partnerships for produce parties?
Sarah Teich:
It's always been a dream of mine to have something to call my own, but I also see partnerships as a really incredible way to shine a light on businesses that I'm really admiring. So these brands like Ghia, Wear Your Snacks, AVEC, I had been watching from afar, and I said, "If I ever had something where I could pull these humans in, that would be a dream," and so it has just been incredible getting to shine a light on these other businesses while also making the party more fun. The Corn Party, AVEC was pouring cocktails, making it fun, and to me, that's just such an additive in helping with the experience. So I'm really excited to keep exploring.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Are there three brands you would love to do partnerships with for future Produce Parties?
Sarah Teich:
Oh, yeah. The first one that comes to mind actually is some of the vegetable brands because I think as much, and we've talked about this too, I try to promote with the parties like, support your local farmer's market. But if that is not accessible or even to make it easier for people to participate, I'm thinking Farm to People, Farm Box. I'm thinking Misfit Markets, I'm thinking Imperfect Produce, like what would it look like to have actually someone come in and say, "We'll give you the vegetable to cook," and just make that more accessible, so that would be a dream.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I definitely want to lean more into the food and community. I think these are two areas that we've bonded over, and I've been so fortunate to see that manifest at Produce Parties. What are two distinct ways that you've seen community form at Produce Parties?
Sarah Teich:
More than two ways, I'm thinking about how people have gone on dates from Produce Parties. A Produce Party couple would be-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The dream.
Sarah Teich:
The dream, the ultimate dream.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
If you cook at their wedding.
Sarah Teich:
Exactly. Oh, we'll do a Produce Party's grazing board at their wedding.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Build a board. Yeah.
Sarah Teich:
But yeah, people have gone on dates, there's been business partnerships made from it, which is incredible and true friendships, so full circle. I remember it was a week after a Produce Party and my friend sent me a selfie at coffee with someone that she had met at the Produce Party.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so cute.
Sarah Teich:
For me, that just makes my heart sing because that has what this has become to me about the vegetable, but it's also about humans, which we're taking it back, human brain, people, food, it's all connecting. I would say the human connection has been really tangible. Then second thing is just how organic, you've been at the parties, conversation is flowing, everyone is talking-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Never a dull moment.
Sarah Teich:
... and really getting out of their comfort zone and having really good conversation. So that's probably the second way I've seen community really manifesting.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I think also when people are in the room for the same idea, it's really interesting what other things will stem from their conversations. I will talk about the actual produce theme maybe once, and I'll end up talking some other thing down the line. I think when you bring people who are naturally connected on one thing together, it invigorates much more conversation. Are there books or people that you consider sources of inspiration for how you set the intention around community at Produce Parties?
Sarah Teich:
Yeah, so many different people. Originally inspired by Michael Pollan, I would say a lot. Food Rules was like my first book read, actually part of my syllabus for this anthropology of food class that really changed the course of my career and just feeling really connected to food. I feel a really heavy influence from working at DIG. I learned so much about sourcing and farming and vegetables and why they're so important to our ecosystem, so I feel like that's been a really huge influence. I'm also just really inspired by, I just have to say it, the women I know that work in food. I feel like there's something about female spaces and the way that women are creating in the food industry right now that just creates this sense of community.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What better podcast to talk about that than-
Sarah Teich:
I know. That's why I said it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... a woman's podcast.
Sarah Teich:
Exactly, for Cherry Bombe.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, no Cherry Bombe has been such a huge influence, I think. It's just so amazing, but I think there's something really beautiful about female energy and the nurturing or the comforting in different ways or different spectrums that manifest themselves in food. Food is love, it's a love language. I think it's been amazing to see that, especially through you. Let's talk about the participation aspect of Produce Parties. Everyone has to bring a dish. It's a potluck. How do you set expectations, and how are they manifesting themselves at the parties?
Sarah Teich:
Expectations are low, which I actually like, because to me there's so many buckets of people that come. There are friends who are chefs or people who are chefs. There are my incredible home cook friends like you and other humans who bring incredible dishes. Then there are appreciators of what's happening who normally come with a bottle of wine and just want to meet people. Then there are people who truly don't know how to cook and they're bringing the candy corn or the bloomin' onion.
I think that that's brilliant because to me to have this true celebration and people come together, it's about a type of person that would go to an event like this, so they could be excited about it. So I really want to keep it that way, and so the single entry point for cooking or bringing something is it needs to include the chosen produce. I keep it really broad. My favorite part of the day is I've had people tag the account while they're cooking and to see the process, and, of course, to see especially the home chefs that are going hard, it brings me so much happiness because I'm just like, "Look at this time that they're carving out to celebrate this vegetable and put time and energy," and it's really beautiful.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Do you offer resources? Let's say you have a friend who doesn't know how to cook, but they're using produce parties as a way to gain practice. Have you found those types of people coming to the parties?
Sarah Teich:
I try every season I'll give some recommended recipes just to get the engines going, but really, I want people to use it as a time to be creative. We have a recipe sheet so when you know what you're going to bring, you type it into the recipe sheet. You can imagine that gets really crazy with parties of 100. It's like this huge sheet of everything everyone's making, so I do that so that ... for artichoke. I was like, I don't want 500 artichoke dips. For pumpkin it's going to be the same five pumpkin breads max, so we really want people to get inventive and be curious and have fun.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It reminds you, do you remember the community cookbooks when you were growing up that your class would make-
Sarah Teich:
Yes-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... but it's just the modern version of that?
Sarah Teich:
Exactly. Oh, my God. We're just trying to replicate things from our past in a trendier way.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It seems like the Produce Party potluck, that seems to be the cadence you're riding on. It's quarterly potlucks. How do you see that going in the next five years?
Sarah Teich:
I really feel like I've been riding this wave of so much organic interest and excitement and still really in a discovery phase of where it could go, because I see, it could go so many ways. I'm really excited about centering vegetables at the core of it all, starting to design some merch.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Ooh.
Sarah Teich:
Listen-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You have my address. You can send me some.
Sarah Teich:
I have your address and if you have any things that you want me to make, obviously farmer's market tote high on the list.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Very high, you need the tote.
Sarah Teich:
Yeah. I think when I think about five years, I think about more content and helping people understand seasonality. There's a lot of questions around when is produce actually at its peak? I'm humble in saying I don't even know all the micro produce trends, so it's a lot of Google, it's a lot of reading, but I also would love to celebrate produce in other cities. I have had interests in different cities of people saying, "Hey, I'd love to host this, and how cool to host them in all different cities at the same time and just ...
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I feel like you need to go to Berkeley, that's the next best place-
Sarah Teich:
Berkeley, I know this place is near and dear to your heart, Mexico City.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, I will go with you for that one.
Sarah Teich:
That's what I'm saying. London, because I know someone running a supper club in London, so-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Stockholm, Copenhagen.
Sarah Teich:
Oh, my gosh, yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Sarah Teich:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It can be done.
Sarah Teich:
Produce Parties goes international-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Spain.
Sarah Teich:
Spain, Madrid.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Produce Parties, as you mentioned earlier, isn't your only rodeo in food, your 9:00 to 5:00 is in food. Can you tell us about your role and what company you work for?
Sarah Teich:
Yes, I can. I am proudly director of marketing at Oyster Sunday, which is a hospitality studio that supports independent restaurants, so every single day I am eat, sleeping, breathing, restaurants and food.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What specific types of restaurants are y'all working with?
Sarah Teich:
We have really incredible clients. Our company's based between New Orleans and New York, but we have clients all across the United States. We've had a few international clients as well, which is, that always gets me excited, but anywhere from fine dining to fast casual to a few actually hotel concepts. We're working on our first farm concept-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, incredible.
Sarah Teich:
... upstate. I won't give too much away.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, whenever the time comes, we're excited to follow along. Let's talk about the specifics of restaurant marketing.
Sarah Teich:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What are three pillars that you consider for a successful restaurant marketing campaign?
Sarah Teich:
So interesting, because I know so much of this has changed with the rise of short-form video and social media. Restaurant marketing used to be things like having a sign on the side of the road or advertising in your local paper. Social media has absolutely blown up the concept of restaurant marketing. For me today in the digital age, number one thing is going to be authenticity, and we talk about this a lot with our chefs and our operators is, food is so intimate and you're telling a story.
You can be known for one dish or one thing or one cuisine, but it really comes back to you as the chef or the creator, so I would say authenticity. The second thing I would say is really having a solid communication strategy. I have this working theory now that people only listen to one thing that you say in an Instagram or post or an email, so always figuring out what that one thing is that we're trying to say because there's so much happening on a restaurant level. Then the third thing I would say is leaning into community. I know the community word gets thrown around a lot.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Biggest buzzword of the year.
Sarah Teich:
It's the biggest buzzword, but it really ... I think it, again, it's just, it's the center of everything, so leaning into your loyalists and making them feel special. That's why the rise of loyalty programs for restaurants has been huge from a revenue perspective, but also from a brand perspective, from everything. It's speaking to your base and letting that shine.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Let's talk more about loyalty programs. How are they structured in the restaurant space?
Sarah Teich:
It depends on the type of restaurant. Again, we work with independent operators, so your more fine or medium fine dining and then fast casual restaurants, that's where you've really seen a huge bust in loyalty programs or I should say boom, that could be from an app. That also could be from, you're getting an email that says, "Happy birthday." In my role, I love to think about loyalty as in something that you just do all the time. For the nicer restaurants, it's that happy birthday email, it's that dining credit if you haven't revisited the restaurant in six months or something like that. For fast casual, it actually can be a bit more gamified, so my Gold star is always the Starbucks app. Do you have the Starbucks app?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I do, but I go to Starbucks on my birthday. There you go. That's it.
Sarah Teich:
Exactly, so there's opportunity to really change specific behaviors like, "We're going to give you this amount of points if you get this bowl," and so talk about changing the game and behavior. We can actually influence people to purchase something specific. We weren't able to do that prior to loyalty programs and loyalty in general. So loyalty programs are really cool and really important.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Back in the day, if you found out about a restaurant, it was the food section of the newspaper, the Michelin Guide or watching Rick Steves, shout to Rick Steves, or Anthony Bourdain. How are restaurants now balancing offline marketing and online marketing?
Sarah Teich:
It's always, I would say, a push and pull because I do think it's really important to have both. We throw this word around a lot in the marketing world. We say omnichannel marketing, which is all types of marketing. You're doing digital, you're doing physical. So I think depending on the type of restaurant you are is really important to consider if you're doing digital versus physical more, but I really think there needs to be a balance. A lot of our clients, which is interesting, are skewing digital, so they are thinking about automated email campaigns. You download a restaurant and you get a, "Thanks for coming," email and you go, "How did they get my email?"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How did they get your email? Did you give it to them?
Sarah Teich:
That is the secrets of marketing, secrets of marketing.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Next podcast.
Sarah Teich:
Next podcast, exactly. But I think both are really important, especially remembering people are coming in to have a physical experience. The rise of pop-ups, the rise of events and collaborations, that's all what we would consider physical marketing, and it's on the rise again, so it's important to consider.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Restaurants are doing so much collaboration stuff. I feel like even with brands, it's like I didn't know two different restaurants or competing restaurants could work on something together. How has that benefited from a marketing perspective for your clients?
Sarah Teich:
Yeah. We always talk about a restaurant has its audience that it speaks to, so think about an Instagram following. Then there is a audience that they don't own that we want to reach, so that's partnerships and collaborations. You're reaching a new audience that's relevant, that is going to be really incredible. So all of these pop-ups and collaborations, especially between these chefs that themselves are ... they're never going to want to say it, I'm sorry to all the chefs, if you're a chef and you're listening, you really are an influencer. You're becoming a social persona, and so when you associate with similar chefs and you do a pop-up, you're reaching their audience as well. It's been a powerful awareness driving tool, it's also just fun. The joy that I see on these-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Group projects.
Sarah Teich:
... group projects, bringing it back.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Bringing it back.
Sarah Teich:
Like the joy on these chefs' faces when they are brainstorming for a collaboration, I'm thinking in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, The Meat Hook did all these summer pop-ups and they did one with Bonnie's. Just seeing the energy flow between chefs is incredible, so I think it's just fun for them too. They're like, "Okay, marketing whatever, fun, food collab. Yes, please."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's talk about social media.
Sarah Teich:
Let's talk it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How has it been influencing your marketing strategy for your clients?
Sarah Teich:
It is huge. Something we talk about a lot is how Instagram has become this 3-by-3 billboard for your restaurant. So someone's going to eat at a restaurant, they're going to search you on Instagram ,and where are they going to go? They're probably going to go look at your tagged photos. They want to see what's most popular dish, but they also want to know far and beyond just having good food that you also have a brand. It's this concept of every brand wants to be just a little bit more, and I feel like restaurants are going through that same exploration, so everything we do is considering social. Again, that's been a huge shift for the industry, but it's been really fun. We've been playing around a lot with short-form video, another dirty word in the marketing world, I would say.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Does every restaurant need to be on social media?
Sarah Teich:
That's a great question. My opinion is yes, because it's a missed opportunity if you're not. How you use social media, though, can entirely be up to you. I think that you need to be on social media because you want to be discovered, but I also think there's a few restaurants like Superiority Burger in New York-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Great spot.
Sarah Teich:
... amazing spot, Middle Child in Philadelphia, Turkey and the Wolf in New Orleans. There's a few restaurants that I really admire because they just do what they want on Instagram, and they don't play by the playbook. They are screaming in the captions. They're just being hilarious, and so that's where I go back to that pillar of authenticity. Who are you as a restaurant, and then how can we bring who you are through your social media in a really authentic way? So yes, I think restaurants should be on social media. Once you're on it, do whatever the hell you want.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What's one restaurant marketing strategy that is just here to stay?
Sarah Teich:
The rise of video has been huge, and I think what it's really shown is this need to show what is being made. Video has unlocked that, but when you think about menus and menu design, there's always been descriptions of menu items, illustrations on menus. So this concept of showing what goes into something and now you can do it so visually, I think that's really important in food marketing, restaurant marketing. It's the reason why the Starbucks ads, or maybe even Applebee's where just the food really zoomed up with hands, and people want to see it and imagine themselves in it, and so I think that is here to stay. Let's call it watching what you're going to eat be made.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You're also quite early in your career. You still have such a long way to go, though what you've done is so impressive. What's one piece of advice you've received that you feel like helps you succeed in your role?
Sarah Teich:
I'm always-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Its in the notes app.
Sarah Teich:
It's in the notes app. I'm always absorbing advice from every area. I do feel like there's a lot of pressure to dive into one thing, especially in the marketing industry, there's a big conversation around should you specialize? Should you generalize? One of my best mentors said to me, "Always have a growth mindset. Always be wanting to learn," and I feel like that's really guided me as someone who has specialized in parts of marketing, but now feels like more of a generalist getting to lead a team of incredible marketers and help them shine. I've always leaned into what I'm most interested in, whether that was social or graphic design or email marketing or loyalty programs, just continuing to push towards what I didn't learn or what I didn't know and learning. So I feel like that has taken the pressure off to just be ... we talk about we're not one thing, we're multifaceted humans.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
We contain multitudes.
Sarah Teich:
We do. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I want to be keeping it 100%. You are doing two incredibly big things. You have a full- time job as a director. You're hiring, you're managing, but you're also working on Produce Parties, but you're leading. How do you find time to balance and just take a breath?
Sarah Teich:
I'll be honest, it's hard. It is very hard. I feel like we've glamorized hustle culture and now there's been the unpacking of it. Now it's like anti-hustle culture.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Soft life.
Sarah Teich:
Soft life. Live on a farm, lay on your couch, listen to your body. For me, I think it's been getting really good at managing stress, and I'm a big therapy promoter. You need a good therapist, you need a good support network if it's accessible. I also love meditation and cold showers, working out. I feel like just having your stress toolkit is really important, but also, just I have a lot of trust in the people around me. A lot of that means letting go of perfection. You have to trust the people that you manage. You have to trust the people that help you, partners help you bring to life something like a produce party, so just letting go of that control. I feel like that's been a big thing the past year and I also feel really privileged. This is all in the industry that I'm most passionate about, the beautiful, incredible wild world of food. I just ground myself in this. This is where I want to be, this is what I'm doing, and I feel really grateful to get to wake up every day and be in it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
We're just going to end on a fun note, so-
Sarah Teich:
Yay.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... this is clearly about the future of food. We're just going to give me prediction for a couple of topics I'm going to throw at you.
Sarah Teich:
Great.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Just snappy, nothing too crazy. Give me prediction for the next fast casual concept.
Sarah Teich:
All right, I saw it on TikTok, fast casual charcuterie boards. We're talking a lot about boards here, so again, communal eating, but I've seen this trend too with markets. They give your picnic box for you to go to the park across the street, so fast casual, but it's charcuterie-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Adult Lunchables.
Sarah Teich:
Adult Lunchables, literally just adult Lunchables.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
A prediction for the next fruit or vegetable hybrid?
Sarah Teich:
I'm really into tweaking within a specific produce category, like the honey crisp apple and things like that. I guess my prediction would be just more categories within categories. I think even more than mixing we can see food scientists really thinking about how to get a vegetable sweeter or more tangy and turning up the volume there.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Turn it up.
Sarah Teich:
I love sweet things, so I'm like, "I want the sweetest tomato ever, or the sweetest pepper ever." Also, it could be farmers, not just food scientists, right? One in the same?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
They all work together. Sometimes they're both-
Sarah Teich:
Yeah, it could be both.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Next social media platform for food creators?
Sarah Teich:
My fear is we're going to get even shorter with the short-form video. Instead of 20-second videos, it's 10 and then five and then one, but that's my fearful prediction. My hopeful prediction is that we actually get more community based, so thinking about recipe sharing and celebrating on Instagram food that's being made. I don't know, something like a little more like BeReal, but just for cooking maybe. I don't know.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Cook real.
Sarah Teich:
Cook real, eat real, be real.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's like they give you a scavenger hunt and you find something in your kitchen.
Sarah Teich:
How many business ideas have we come up with just for this podcast?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
We need to look back on this and start forming some LLCs [limited liability company].
Sarah Teich:
Or everybody needs to be taking notes and then-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Call us.
Sarah Teich:
... call us.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Sarah Teich:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The state of tipping?
Sarah Teich:
The state of tipping-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Out the door, here to stay.
Sarah Teich:
Hot take, out the door because I think more restaurants are going to start incorporating tipping into charges. The reason I say that is because we saw with COVID, obviously people, there was an increase in tipping, like, "Oh, you used to tip 20%, now you're going to tip 25 because these restaurants are going through a hard time. Margins are really difficult." Then a lot of restaurants started to say, "We want to take care of our team regardless, so let's just add a flat fee or take that into consideration." So concept of tipping, here to stay, how it's currently being done, changing.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The last one, future of farm-to-table?
Sarah Teich:
I just hope we get even more into the farm. I'm very inspired by dinner parties that happen on farms. Outstanding in the Field is an incredible organization that brings the dinner party to the farm, so it's the opposite. It's a table to the farm instead of the farm to the table. So my hope would be more interactive experiences on farms, and can we just get back to the roots a little bit more? Farm-to-table did such a good job taking farm to our plate and having us understand it's important, but I think we got to go back the other way. I've always joked that at my wedding the gift will be foraging for whatever produce is in season.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I can't wait for that one.
Sarah Teich:
Do you see that for me?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I'm already getting my hunter boots.
Sarah Teich:
Amazing. You have a little gift bag and we're like all pulling tomatoes off the vine together. Does that sound beautiful?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes. Now I want to do that for my wedding whenever I get married.
Sarah Teich:
We can both do it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Group weddings.
Sarah Teich:
Group weddings.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Group projects, group weddings. Sarah, how can people find you if they want to get to connect and learn more about Oyster Sunday and produce parties?
Sarah Teich:
Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram @SarahRose714. Same for Oyster Sunday, we're @OysterSunday. We have a beautiful website that our team designed and produce parties lives on Instagram @produceparties. Shoot me a message, say hey. I'm excited to chat.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, well I'm excited for the pumpkin produce party.
Sarah Teich:
Hell, yes. October 27th.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, we're going to make it happen. Last thing for the show is we're asking all of our guests to record a one-minute voicemail at The Future of Food mailbox just talking to yourself 10 years from now. You've reached the mailbox of The Future of Food is You podcast. Please leave a message after the beep.
Sarah Teich:
Hi, future Sarah. How are you? Have you eaten anything yummy today? Are you still feeling happy and sad and a mix of a lot of emotions in one day knowing that it's me in the future? You definitely are. I hope that you still work in food and that produce parties still exist in some way, even if it's just a group chat with your friends who have gardens and get together to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You also better have a garden that's a non-negotiable. I just want to tell you right now that life in your mid-20s feels weird, but it's also really beautiful.
There's so many beautiful things happening in your career and with your friends, and I hope that the past 10 years have given you even more peace; peace with what you do, peace with where your life is, peace with the work that you do, and you're just continuing to learn how to ride the rollercoaster that is life just a little bit better. I also hope you still stock the fridge with some of your faves: good green olives, pickles. Kewpie mayo, jam and good sourdough, and I hope there's a few new favorites along the way maybe something that would surprise Sarah now. I bet life has thrown some curve balls both in work and personal life. I hope you're dodging them all with grace while still being you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Sarah, thank you so much for joining us on the show today. You can follow Sarah and her exciting work @ProduceParties and @OysterSunday on Instagram. Hyped about celebrating produce? Join Sarah and other foodie friends at the upcoming produce party on October 27th in Brooklyn. The theme is pumpkin, so come with a dish or two. I'm already thinking about what pumpkin sweet treat I'm going to make. There'll also be amazing treats from Ffupss, Raaka Chocolate, and Mai Vino Wine. Tickets are $35, and you can purchase them @ProduceParties on Instagram.
Eager for more IRL food activities? Don't miss the second annual Cooks & Books Festival taking place November 5th and 6th at Ace Hotel Brooklyn. I'm going to be there along with team Cherry Bombe and can't wait to see you there. Visit cherrybombe.com for more. Thank you to Cypress Grove Goat Cheese for supporting The Future of Food is You mini-series. If you enjoyed today's special episode, I'll be back next Thursday with another amazing guest. The Future of Food Is You and Radio Cherry Bombe are a production of Cherry Bombe Magazine. Thanks to the team at City Vox Studios, executive producer, Kerry Diamond, managing editor, Catherine Baker and assistant producers, Jenna Sadhu and Krista White. Catch you on the future flip.