Chefs as Leaders in the Community - What is a Chef with Clark Barlowe

This is a Chefs Without Restaurants mini episode on what it means to be a chef with Clark Barlowe, I actually want to start the show by talking about what it means to you to be a chef, you know, Chef means a lot of things to a lot of different people. You know, quite often we think of someone who works in a restaurant, but what does it mean to you to be a chef.

So for me, chefs have always been sort of that enigmatic figure, I sort of came up in the restaurant industry, back in the early 2000s, when chef culture was a little bit different than what it is today. But over the course of my career chef really became to me becoming more of a leader, more so than anything else, and not only leading teams and restaurants, or pop up kitchens, or what have you. But really being a leader in the community, and trying to make some real changes, not just in our food policy, but some real social changes as well. And I mean, the things that we can do as chefs aren't just limited to food, and the people that we interact with, through our food, we can do so many other things. I mean, I've lobbied state legislatures to change food laws. I've also got some real big ideas about how we can use our platform as chefs to make some real social changes around the unhoused issue that we're facing all across the country.

You know, we're gonna get more into the whole forging and stuff. But do you see foraging, eating wild food, composting, that kind of stuff? Do you see that as a big tie into what's really important in the food industry?

Absolutely. And when we talk about what's important in the food industry, there's so many different things that are important. But sustainability between food or people is one of the most important things that we can think about. And I think people getting that connection to where their food is coming from, is so incredibly important. And the easiest way to do that is to teach people how to find their own food.

I hope you enjoyed today's mini episode with Clark Barlowe. We had a great full conversation. But as many of you know, I like to do some of these mini episodes specifically around the topic of what it means to be a chef. So much of our conversation will be focusing on foraging wild foods, how to prepare some of them, we've been talking about snail farming, which I think is really interesting. So be on the lookout for that episode. And if you want to connect with me, go to Instagram, find me at Chefs Without Restaurants, and go to chefs without restaurants.org To get more information on our culinary organization dedicated to helping food entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses. And please stick around for a word from this week's sponsor, the United States personal chef Association. Over the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill those dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap. Central to all of that is the United States personal chef Association, representing nearly 1000 chefs around the US and Canada. USPCA provides a strategic backbone to those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It's a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal. USPTA provides training to become a personal chef through our preparatory membership. Looking to showcase your products or services to our chefs and their clients. partnership opportunities are available. Call Angela today at 1-800-995-2138 extension 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info. Go to chefs without restaurants.org To find our Facebook group, mailing list and shift database. The community's free to join. You'll get gig opportunities, advice on building and growing your business and you'll never miss an episode of our podcast. Have a great week.