Cooking for Change: Chef Kurt Evans on Creativity, Community, and Justice
S7:E125

Cooking for Change: Chef Kurt Evans on Creativity, Community, and Justice

00;00;00;06 - 00;00;10;07
Rob Lee
Only a couple months down. I think I recognize it.

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Rob Lee
Welcome to the truth in this art. I am your host. Lovely. And I'm here in Philadelphia on location, location, location. And today, I have the privilege of being in conversation with activist, author, and notably chef. Please welcome chef Kurt Evans. Welcome to the podcast.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Thank you, man. Thank you for having me here today. I'm really excited to be here. And I top it out with you today.

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Rob Lee
Yes. You have an exclusive gift there. There's only the first one that's gone out.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Can I can I.

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Rob Lee
Can I please?

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Chef Kurt Evans
Yes, I know. I know how I was go. I was going to, like, Wait, take at home.

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Rob Lee
No, no, no.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Instagram like influencer. Like we talked about influencer driven.

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Rob Lee
It might be a couple of stickers in there, what have you, but.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Oh, stickers. I love.

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Rob Lee
Sticks. Yeah. Yeah, right on the. This is so ridiculous. The only one I have two of the other one. I've not given it. Did you sell these yourself? I did. Okay.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Because I'm just saying, like the still in on who? April, brah. Listen, this is going in a collection. This is go to the collection.

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Rob Lee
If someone told me, it's like, Why do you have aprons? I was like, Because I like chefs.

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Chef Kurt Evans
You know, this is this is fire. This is fire.

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Rob Lee
Too.

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Chef Kurt Evans
This is fire, though. This is aprons, though. Listen, I collect these like, jersey. It's like any time I do stuff like. So this is going in like like the with my I do food and wine. I do. James beard stuff and I do like competitions and all that. Like, oh, I did this fire case that I got to eat like, like literally I have like all my friends in and anything from event So like I just start like raving of I might even hit the fringe.

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Rob Lee
Like I hang up microphones or I don't I'm done with I'm just like I'm retiring as Mike.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, I like just, just walk out the movies with some sense of fire. You know, this this Mike is done.

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Rob Lee
It's like that bit when Jimi Hendrix burned the guitar. It's like, that's not the.

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Chef Kurt Evans
And that's what's not to love. And it's not enough. It is.

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Rob Lee
Mike So before we get too deep into the conversation, I want to open it up with something that either you're going to be terrified about, but you already said you got how 16 or you're going to have on deck. Give us the Kurt Evan story. Tell us the story. And like ultimately, you know how we get here. And I got some bullet points in there, but I at least want to start off with just a really general kind of elevator pitch story.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah. So Kurt Evan's born and raised and a Southwest Philly moved the West Philly Mill Creek projects, but, you know, did a lot of going back and forth between Southwest and West Philly with high school I mean, middle school, elementary school, all in Southwest. Then I get to high school marketing communications where. Yeah, high school was high school.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Got it. Got one of my first cooking jobs. My mother, she worked for Aramark for about a a day at that point, about like 18 years. You know, I work for Aramark, so she did a lot of certain accounts up. So as a kid I would go to go to go to her job with or on weekends and like, be in the kitchen like, like, like just doing stuff I shouldn't been doing.

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Chef Kurt Evans
But like going in there, making stuff from like little pizza thing. Like none of her bosses was there, so it was easy for her to bring me and then I'd be like in the kitchen playing around. So yeah, like cooking is just always been my thing. Like they're great when at taco making competition. Like, I mean, I want to tackle meat in competition, third grade.

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Chef Kurt Evans
So it was like and funny thing is, in third grade, that was the year I changed the spelling of my name. So this is. This is. This is this is this is this is a funny story. Like this is like I'm I'm saying I'm actually saying this somewhere on like, like I usually might tell somebody individually, but my my third grade teacher walks up to me.

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Chef Kurt Evans
I got like a good grade on the test. And she's like, That's the breaks. That's the breaks. And she hands me the paper and she's like, Brakes on the brakes on my plate. What are you talking about, man? She was like, Oh, she's like, she's like, it's a rapper named KURTIS Blow. It was named K. I was like, We're so named K yo, literally.

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Chef Kurt Evans
And she walked off. We started the day, changed my name, right? That like literally as soon as she walked off the bus go and you know you get the name the do paperwork.

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Rob Lee
You shift the alphabet real quick.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Really quickly. I was like, oh, you look like you look better. So then it was like now everybody, like they got to the point was like, do like people's got like reference key credit key and like, it just stuck with me. So like, like school.

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Rob Lee
Records I could.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Use to, like, look my name up in the school system since the third grade is misspelled with a case like the poem was. Got a K on it. Yeah. And then like governmentally is Curtis So so the first now we're not we're not going to find a lot of people is going to like know that now like I only do like people that cause people like me they're like, oh Curtis And then it'd be hilarious cause like when you don't do stuff, like people writing checks, I literally be like, You can't take that to the bank.

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Rob Lee
I mean, when, when people come back to me, when I'm getting like, funding and things of that nature, I have to use the full government. It's like my name, my name on here is part of my full name and I like, yeah, So what's the rest of your name? I was like, Oh, snap, boom. But one of the things I wanted to do was this Hannibal Buress bit, and he's like, I want to say Hannibal instead of Hannibal.

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Rob Lee
Yeah. And I wanted to put like an accent over the E and Robert Rivera. RIVERA Yeah. Then something in French.

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Chef Kurt Evans
In French, Yeah. Now, now, now you French. So yeah. So like, pretty much that's it. And like I said, cooking came very easy to me from growing up. My father, he grew up in the South and he moved to Connecticut. And when he moved to Connecticut, a pretty much I spent my summers up there and did a lot of country boy stuff like hunting, fishing and swimming.

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Chef Kurt Evans
So yeah, yes, by time like age 12, I could already like, like I like I was butchering deer fish when we caught it. So I was like, like that was like an that's like also like a prom aspect of being a chef chef's butchery. So it was like I was like butchering fish when I was like a kid.

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Chef Kurt Evans
So I was like as I got more into cooking and wanting to take it series, it came super.

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Rob Lee
Easy. So you're picking up those skills like, like as a way of bonding with family, whether it's like being in the kitchen or my mom doing the country boy stuff with your dad or what have you, and having some of that, you know, southern stuff kind of embedded in there. So, you know, you also read that you've honed some of your skills and just being in many of the kitchens here locally.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Yes.

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Rob Lee
So what would you say? You're like first professional job was like, tell me about that.

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Chef Kurt Evans
So first professional job, it was an air workshop, so it was Aramark. And and at that time I was literally going around opening accounts up. So it would be like Air Market Children's Hospital. So I'm sure this hospital was the number one pediatric pediatric hospital in the world. So you can go to chop and like work in any service department, whether it be like environmental service, security, the kitchen.

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Chef Kurt Evans
You probably make more at any of those departments than any other place in the city or the state, pretty much probably because they're like they're like one of the highest paid. But like if you're like a nurse or doctor for one, I believe they don't pay as much because like, there's no money in pediatrics. It's like if you work at CHOP, it's like going to Harvard.

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Chef Kurt Evans
But if you like, work in a service department, they pay you really well. So I went there, but I was working for Aramark and this is when I started learning business, as in my Aramark. Will coach you like Aramark go to like Charton, like, Yeah, we can get the job done for this. You got to pay them there and then they, they, they middle me in their money somehow.

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Chef Kurt Evans
So but yeah, I went to chop, I was doing that, I was like a girl cook there. And then I went to University of Penn College 1904 Commons and I was in the kitchen there cooking. And it was funny because we, we, they opened up a Aramark, still had like the Starbucks on campus. So I slid over there for like a month.

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Chef Kurt Evans
It was a barista and isolate the kids at Penn used to love me because I was sitting over there like I was given a large coffees. Anyway, like they ordered this, I was given that. I'm like, The name's Cameron and I'm like, You're Cameron. I got Cameron here are like, is like the key appeals get when you're.

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Rob Lee
A.

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Chef Kurt Evans
A-Rod. So yeah, I was, I was doing stuff like that. So like, they love me. They love me for that. Like little months that I was over there. But then it was like, oh, remember we got to get you back over the kitchen because, like, who? We need it. Like, they need help when you kids you like, that's I just just like how I did with food.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Like I could just I slid over and was barista for like a month literally like slid over and then is like that training is funny because Starbucks actually has a really good barista training program. Yeah. Like they really have really good program. But the other night, like, people look at it just like, Oh, this is just like some chain coffee.

00;09;30;18 - 00;09;42;21
Chef Kurt Evans
But they actually got a really good training program on like lattes and stuff like that. But a lot of people just don't. I just think that, you know, once you get a job is always that this is how they do it. I'm sure I do it.

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Rob Lee
I'm I'm a I'm a coffee snob. So right there when I look at places. And that's why I told you where I went earlier, because I'm like, all right, let me get something that feels like this is of the place and me have this feeling vibe, but it's not something that I want to run into a version of it back home, right?

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Rob Lee
And I tear it out by, are you a roaster or you just making coffee? And if it's that, classify them differently. So if you're a roaster, it's like you have this like sort of like approach. It's like, okay, this is how this is done. The temperature. Is this the style of coffee you have is this and so on.

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Rob Lee
And if you're using someone else's beans and doing your thing, I'm more looking at was the experience, was the environment, things like that. And would you say your cool that first thing right that you made it maybe your tacos I don't know but what was the first thing that you made? You're like, I made this for someone else and this like inform you like, all right, now I could actually really pursue this.

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Rob Lee
I could pursue being a chef and being in this sort of space is something I want to do with my life.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Yet I would I would honestly say it would be like when I was with my grandma, I would be my grandma. I mean, like she had the ultimate approval, Like it was like because it was always, I show you one time and then so you had to be attentive like, Oh shit, yeah, I got to get this in this one shot.

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Chef Kurt Evans
But then it'd be like if you fucking if she would like, do it like this, like she still give you some help, but it's like you're trying to get it in that one shot. You're trying to make sure it's done, and then it's like a it's like the the fact that you do it and then next thing you know, you going for the taste.

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Chef Kurt Evans
And she's like, Oh, this is good. And she's like, oh, yeah, this is it.

00;11;26;14 - 00;11;26;28
Rob Lee
We did it.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Like I did it. It was like that. And then like also it was it was that point is like cooking was just like I knew, I knew I want to do this, but then it was also I never went to culinary school. So my thing was I was I was working at jobs like Aramark. I have over easily over 1200 cookbooks eaten.

00;11;47;18 - 00;12;08;20
Chef Kurt Evans
So reading was just always my thing, getting the books, read them, understanding techniques. And one of my first jobs, they asked me to make a they was like, can you make it for BLOCK Yeah. And it was like, oh, shit, Yeah. All right, cool. I'll only read about these. So then it was just like, Cool. I start, I get down there, I start, I start making it, I start prepping it as I'm cooking it.

00;12;09;14 - 00;12;31;14
Chef Kurt Evans
Next thing I take it to the chef myself for about that. He takes it. He's like, he's like, Good, good, good. I was oh, that was another one of those moments like, Oh, I cool, I can do this. But it was just like then it just got to repetition is like, Oh, I had to make that verb like, like another thousand times like, so you just keep making it and like, that's like, that's the repetition and cooking.

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Chef Kurt Evans
It's like when you keep doing something a million times like, like sweet potato pie, like I've made them a million times plus. So it was like growing up doing it with my grandmother. It's like second nature is like, Don't you have to? Like, I could just look at the potatoes and then like, the oven, like, yeah, I know they need they need to be like, is this like, you know, it's just the repetition of it.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah. Like, are you.

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Rob Lee
An intuitive sort of cook based on that? Like I'll say, you know, you'll see certain things in the refrigerator like I would do. I have in.

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Chef Kurt Evans
Here.

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Rob Lee
What can I make, what can I put together here? And, you know, sometimes it feels like I put together a hash. I was like, That seems a little like cheating. That's kind of like you can make it well as well, that hash. But it's like you kind of put some things together, but like, how creative does that intuition, like, allow you to be?

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Chef Kurt Evans
It depends on where was it. So if it's like if I'm in a restaurant setting or something like a I don't get like the paid setting. Yeah, sure is. It clicks in a certain way. It could click at home. Yeah, but it's just like, not really. It's just like, you know, usually when I'm at home, it's like, because the world is, then I could be making dark.

00;13;42;10 - 00;13;49;13
Chef Kurt Evans
I could be making shelves like duck. I could be making, I could be making all types of fancy stuff. And I go home, eat Frosted Flakes.

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Rob Lee
Look, don't get me started. So, so, so. So let's talk about let's talk about this a little. Let's talk about, you know, Philadelphia, food, Philadelphia, that sort of thing. How how has like being here in Philadelphia, like, you know, we talk about culture or culture everyplace. How has Philadelphia late influenced your style creatively, personally, professionally?

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Chef Kurt Evans
Me, Philadelphia, You know, it's it's definitely influenced me because the amount of influx of like different cuisines that's here, like knowing different chefs, like a friend of mine, Christina martinez, her restaurant, South Philly Barbacoa, even over the pandemic and beginning phases, they bring their lamb in like so they they slaughter their lamb and it'd be about like 30, 40 lamb and slaughter all of them.

00;14;43;18 - 00;15;06;15
Chef Kurt Evans
So get there and just learn technique. Technique is always important. So you go places, you learn technique and like how to get to understand their culture, you know, where they come from, things other chef friends, you know, go like you hang with them, talk with them, but then also like their food. You understand their culture, you understand where you come from.

00;15;06;15 - 00;15;32;12
Chef Kurt Evans
So yeah, that then also like being a a black chef Philly influence that really well because I the opportunity to work for a to a black restaurant towards the Bynum brothers Robb and Ben Bynum who are like very influential to me I still talk like to this day even unless I left and went to work for another restaurant.

00;15;32;12 - 00;15;47;10
Chef Kurt Evans
But it was time for me to it was time for me to, like, actually break off because it was like when you're in somebody's house is like, you can't get bigger than I'm in their house. Yeah. So it was just like it was time for me to time for me to move on and go do my own thing.

00;15;47;10 - 00;16;10;20
Chef Kurt Evans
But, but yeah, they gave me like my first, like big shot in a real big restaurant as a black restaurant tours and black chef. And then also I'm big on, I'm big on respect and in generations because people I think that's that's what could go wrong. A lot of times it is no respect for the generation that came before these kids.

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Rob Lee
They have no respect.

00;16;11;16 - 00;16;35;12
Chef Kurt Evans
You know, And then it's like that and then it's like sometimes we be disrespectful when people say like like when when, you know, we see all this protests and stuff going on and like, X, we and our ancestors, I wish it's like really, really? Because it's like, really like, like I mean, our ancestors had so much so much like, stuff they go through a lot of stuff they went through.

00;16;35;12 - 00;16;57;18
Chef Kurt Evans
I feel like it's weakness just to go like, yeah, why they could do that, To be like they could have done it. Like it wasn't like they they were like, sweet. It's like they understood the mission. They understood what needed to be done. So it was just like so sometimes like, I think, like it's, it's really intergenerational was like a lot of different.

00;16;57;18 - 00;17;16;12
Chef Kurt Evans
We don't, we don't connect. So I was like, I'm always like, if someone's like, for me, I'm always like, humble to like respects to them or like, at least carry on like the legacy at work and other people have done. So yeah, that's and that's how I look at like cooking and activism and things like that as well.

00;17;16;12 - 00;17;37;00
Rob Lee
I think that's a that's a good place for us to kind of segway into some of the activism stuff, you know? So I'm reading about I'm, I, I'm reading about everybody Eats Philly. So let's let's talk about both of those Like let's talk start off with I'm I in mass and cars in mass incarceration dining series and your work around criminal justice and reform in America talk about that.

00;17;37;07 - 00;17;57;07
Chef Kurt Evans
All right so yeah so like so I was I was at a job, I was working at Lincoln Hospital and it was like I was really getting into cooking heavy. And one of the doctors at hospitals, like Doctor Bill is like, still go home. Yeah, my he was like, he's like, Yo, you been here for like six years.

00;17;57;19 - 00;18;13;29
Chef Kurt Evans
He's like, I'm following you. You know, you you said, you know, you want to be cooking. He's like, Yeah, you should really get the cooking. And because you don't wanna be here another six years talking about what you could have been like, Damn. I was like, Yo, yo, that was like, that hit me. Like, really? Right? You're right.

00;18;14;00 - 00;18;41;09
Chef Kurt Evans
I was like, you know, you right let it took them off guard my playing. I left there and a friend of mine, Alan Young, he had a restaurant called Route 23 and I took like my income tax boarding to his business and became partners and was 23. So Route 23, Route 23, just in year one day. And I had already read The New Jim Crow.

00;18;42;02 - 00;19;07;13
Chef Kurt Evans
And then at this time, like college, Browder story came out. So a lot of a lot of things was coming out at this time about mass incarceration. And one day we're like, and Route 23 and like four people, officers came in because everybody we hired formerly incarcerated. Yeah. So it was just like and these were people we knew, like our friends.

00;19;07;13 - 00;19;24;29
Chef Kurt Evans
It was like, Yo, I need a job. So I started talking to all about it and I was like, Oh, he's like, you know, we if we don't hired him, who will? And he was like, People don't understand with these what our people go through. He's like, Nobody's built that take on, take on take on our people but us, right?

00;19;24;29 - 00;19;34;29
Chef Kurt Evans
And from that moment I was like, yo, I want to do something that that uses my talent as a chef. Because, you know, at that point, like, chefs just want to put up.

00;19;35;10 - 00;19;35;20
Rob Lee
Cool.

00;19;35;20 - 00;19;58;17
Chef Kurt Evans
Food pictures on Instagram. So I was like, No, I want to make I wanted to do something using food as a way that I can talk about these issues. So previously, before I worked on my friend Christina martinez, her dinner series is called Right to Work for Undocumented Workers in Kitchens. So, you know, I put it up to afford a lot of my personal time.

00;19;58;17 - 00;20;21;12
Chef Kurt Evans
And today as I'm like helping them get that off the ground. So I was like, I would do the same thing with EMI dinners. I want to be able to use food as a vehicle to talk about mass incarceration. So we started dinners. We were bring policy makes actually the first dinner set the tone for everything and I kinda didn't even didn't even know what was gonna what it was going to be.

00;20;21;21 - 00;20;49;06
Chef Kurt Evans
So like at that time, Nina a march was on a tenant. Governor Sandra Reinhart A like couple other political figures in like city, not city council, but like people that were running for office came to the dinner and you know, here we were talking about gifts solutions, and then we met with a lot of more people that had been affected by mass incarceration, whether they were the perpetrator of a crime or a victim.

00;20;49;17 - 00;21;10;20
Chef Kurt Evans
And there's a lot of different is a lot of narratives and immediate as you put out about mass incarceration. And a lot of these people want to come and share their stories. And what I feel like food and storytelling is like two things that are like, you can't beat that. You know, you get you get you get a good meal, and then next thing you know, you're hearing someone's story and you're understanding.

00;21;10;28 - 00;21;35;10
Chef Kurt Evans
You're you're you're connecting. And you know, most importantly, all this is done with empathy. So it was like, everyone's here talking. I sit people, I make it uncomfortable as possible as well. Because then I noticed, like when I did go to those dinners, you meet these white, like voyeuristic people that just like that. I know for a fact when they laugh, they go to work the next day.

00;21;35;16 - 00;21;41;26
Chef Kurt Evans
You know what I did last night? I went to a dinner and it was black people there. They talked about their feelings for.

00;21;41;26 - 00;21;42;25
Rob Lee
People pat on the back.

00;21;43;02 - 00;21;47;29
Chef Kurt Evans
Pat on her back. So now I was like, I'm sitting next to my black. They got trauma.

00;21;48;14 - 00;21;49;21
Rob Lee
Isn't discourse opportunity.

00;21;49;21 - 00;21;56;28
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, Yeah. So it was like I was bringing husbands wives up. I know. You see, your wife is sitting over there. You sit over here.

00;21;57;24 - 00;22;02;00
Rob Lee
I can almost see it like. And as we switched courses, we will be switching seats now.

00;22;02;00 - 00;22;06;17
Chef Kurt Evans
It was crazy, you know. So you come in. It was one trip, though. Oh, yeah. No, no, no, no.

00;22;06;17 - 00;22;09;16
Rob Lee
Came together. Not good. Yeah. You here. You, you in upstate? Yeah.

00;22;09;16 - 00;22;21;13
Chef Kurt Evans
You right there. Yeah, yeah. Switch everybody up and then like, you know, make people uncomfortable as possible. I wanted people to be uncomfortable. I didn't want people to come and mean who is ready to talk about, you know.

00;22;21;21 - 00;22;23;13
Rob Lee
Let's just talk about the theory of prison.

00;22;23;13 - 00;22;53;08
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So it was like people were uncomfortable, was really, really important and. Yeah, but it's been it's turned out really well. I've been doing them for the past six years now, so actually I'm moved into a new phase of them this year where it's called Stories of Resilience. Yeah. And we've in every dinner always had someone that has been formerly incarcerated, hosted dinner pretty much come tell your story, tell you what they've been through in their life.

00;22;53;19 - 00;23;31;21
Chef Kurt Evans
And at that point, we were raising money for bail funds both through bars and other nonprofits that deal with things that have to do with mass incarceration. My friend Ryan Hancock, he he founded the organization called Pulse Philadelphia Lawyers Social Equality. He's his nonprofit has been a beneficiary of the immediate as raised money for several other organizations. But this time I wanted to put money in individuals hands that are telling our stories, because also a lot of the work that they're that the work that they do, it doesn't come with a financial taste.

00;23;31;21 - 00;23;55;13
Chef Kurt Evans
We're not to say that they're looking for, but a lot of these people are putting a lot of I want to say, what is it emotional labor into this because a lot of people that so Daniel drinks. He was a juvenile lifer. I know I don't misquote I think about 28 years. He's not only for nice town, Daniel.

00;23;56;19 - 00;24;24;01
Chef Kurt Evans
He founded a nonprofit called Grown his I mean, a co-founder or I. I came out of jail a year after him and now he's like executive director in the nonprofit. So it's like they're constantly, constantly and forth to Philly, Harrisburg. We got a lot of gun violence going on the city. They're out here, you know, out here from corners, providing resources, going places.

00;24;24;10 - 00;24;42;28
Chef Kurt Evans
They're constantly fighting for their comrades. That's back inside of prisons. So it is like it's a lot of work that come with emotional attachment to it. So like by telling your story, I wanted to be able to have this dinner, get your story out, and then also bring people that may have resources. And the money that we raised tonight is given to them.

00;24;43;01 - 00;24;50;08
Chef Kurt Evans
Like imagine Islamic. I make no money off of my dinner. All of the money is raised and pretty much passed on. Yeah.

00;24;50;16 - 00;25;12;06
Rob Lee
We have this this thing here and thank you for for breaking it down and sharing that with us because it's important work and new regulation is an applause to you for doing this, that sort of work, because we have this thing where someone's like forgotten people and we have this idea, you know, like social media goes like, you can block somebody, you going to follow someone, You try to do that in real life.

00;25;12;16 - 00;25;32;03
Rob Lee
It's like, oh, these are disposable peoples. Like, no, their story has merit. Let's have an understanding of it, because these sorts of things being like whether someone's a victim, whether someone is a person that has done some things or what have you, we all have some. It's not too many steps to get to someone who's in part of that whole cycle.

00;25;32;27 - 00;25;51;14
Rob Lee
And yeah, I think I think it's important to be able to. And I think one of the things you said that was really interesting is this notion of like storytelling and food. It's it's a language like you were talking on earlier when you were kind of exchanging culture of like, this is how you guys prepare food is how you guys are going about this.

00;25;51;25 - 00;26;12;02
Rob Lee
That's kind of what happens in those EMI dinners, I would imagine. Yeah. And bringing in people who in having this notion of being uncomfortable because I had talked to a stranger, talked to someone you've never met, someone that you may not have anything in common with. You might learn something. You might now have a new understanding of what goes into some of these experiences.

00;26;13;11 - 00;26;36;10
Rob Lee
You know, you being up here maybe in Baltimore, one of the things I try to get to in doing this, this podcast is people do this hard, stop sort of thing. It's violent, move on and it's like, well, what they did to the violence was systemic. Things are sitting there with opportunities. Have these people not getting, you know, why that desperation that's there why can't they find a job?

00;26;36;10 - 00;26;56;15
Rob Lee
What are these different things that go into it instead of having the approved upon narrative that's coming from someone who has politicized it or whatever, I rather hear from the person. What is their story? What have you experienced? Because oftentimes they may not have had a chance to share that story. Yeah, So let's see. Let's see. Let's see.

00;26;58;09 - 00;27;02;24
Rob Lee
So if you can be a chef, I want to shift into the chef thing again. If you couldn't be a chef, right.

00;27;03;15 - 00;27;04;16
Chef Kurt Evans
What would.

00;27;04;16 - 00;27;14;04
Rob Lee
You go? Are you passionate enough about it? You could say, You know what? This could be the other career. This could be my career. If I wasn't in the food industry, if I was in the hospitality industry.

00;27;14;04 - 00;27;17;21
Chef Kurt Evans
I would I would want to be a hunter. A border professional for.

00;27;18;09 - 00;27;19;23
Rob Lee
That was unexpected.

00;27;20;06 - 00;27;21;03
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, that's what I wonder.

00;27;21;10 - 00;27;25;13
Rob Lee
I thought it was, say, maybe, you know, social work, maybe, you know, for me, not going to be a bold on her.

00;27;25;21 - 00;27;26;04
Chef Kurt Evans
Born.

00;27;27;06 - 00;27;28;06
Rob Lee
Again is everyday going.

00;27;29;21 - 00;27;29;27
Chef Kurt Evans
Oh.

00;27;31;14 - 00;27;33;12
Rob Lee
Okay I'm here for it is a funny.

00;27;33;12 - 00;27;43;23
Chef Kurt Evans
Thing is I just realized like it was like be classified as a sport now because fighters for like under armor like that you can get a contract under armor. Okay?

00;27;43;29 - 00;27;45;15
Rob Lee
I mean, come on, come on. I'm out of my mouth.

00;27;45;20 - 00;28;03;25
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like. It's like, wow. Like you could be on or like you could be like. Like, like that whole experience. Just like being out in the nature. Yeah, it is not so much of like, okay, another thing like Hunter, I don't want to be just like, I don't want to be a troll. I never want to, like.

00;28;04;15 - 00;28;05;17
Rob Lee
Just do it for the scorn of it.

00;28;05;17 - 00;28;16;01
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, do it for sport of actually, like, because then it's like kind of crazy because then it's like, I'm a hunter. The whole point is like, because I can't get away from food. Like, I would like pretty much.

00;28;16;06 - 00;28;17;14
Rob Lee
To break this deer down, break it.

00;28;17;14 - 00;28;20;23
Chef Kurt Evans
Down. And then I, like, serve people, like, in need.

00;28;20;23 - 00;28;21;24
Rob Lee
Is this venison, bro?

00;28;21;27 - 00;28;27;24
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, like been. And then it's like, what I learned is people that people are, like, really food insecure don't go fuck good.

00;28;28;05 - 00;28;31;01
Rob Lee
It's like, Yo, what kind of taco is this? Yeah, I bet.

00;28;31;01 - 00;28;34;18
Chef Kurt Evans
All right. But it is grounded, right, Grant?

00;28;34;22 - 00;28;39;06
Rob Lee
Yeah, Yeah, I guess. But mean, there's a lot to do it.

00;28;39;26 - 00;28;40;10
Chef Kurt Evans
How you get.

00;28;40;11 - 00;28;41;16
Rob Lee
Sloppiness A lot when I.

00;28;41;29 - 00;28;43;00
Chef Kurt Evans
Eat as a lateral.

00;28;43;26 - 00;29;02;07
Rob Lee
As that one thing I. I remember there was one time I, my partner, she, she was out there, they were going to like some super pretentious place and she traded a sandwich for like a really funny quote, like, you know, it's like certain there's a guy he was like, outside of what have you. And he was just like, hungry.

00;29;02;07 - 00;29;17;07
Rob Lee
And she had like, this sandwich that ultimately was going to her son. And she was like, I should give it to him. And I was like, You do what you do. Like, you know, come in here. There's some movie happening because, you know, it's just So he spoke to her, so he she gave him a sandwich and he was like, Man, he's looking at this guy across the street.

00;29;17;07 - 00;29;30;14
Rob Lee
He's like, Yeah, thank you, man, for doing that. I'm looking at this guy and his, you know, pants are hanging off his butt. I don't know why, You know, usually, you know, I wouldn't be advertising like he is or have, you know, this guy's advertising. Somebody might go in his in his pocket, if you will. And I was like, wow, wow.

00;29;30;14 - 00;29;47;07
Rob Lee
I was like, that's the quote. I was like, Wow. I was like, that has that quote, that idea that he presented there, that that stream of logic is stayed with us and food was part of it. You know what I mean? Like, we learned this from exchanging food. This guy could have just been like, thanks and kept it going.

00;29;47;07 - 00;30;03;08
Rob Lee
Yeah, but he's like, Nah, I need to chime in. Here's something that's going to stick with you. And it stuck with us for like two years. That that's a bit now that we kind of use in conversation that someone's going to go in and make they may take your belongings out of your wallet. I don't know. So let's talk about schools.

00;30;03;27 - 00;30;27;15
Rob Lee
How do you when you when you encounter an obstacle. Right. And I'd imagine, like in working with some of the work that you're doing in terms of activism, people are talking about obstacles, obstacles within their lives, obstacles that have really when you talk to somebody that's like, Yo, I've been away for almost three decades, that's a big obstacle when it comes to when you're out, you're, you know, trying to adjust to what life is now.

00;30;27;15 - 00;30;47;24
Rob Lee
I look at that time travel a bit when it's like, yeah, I want in in 2005 and it's like this. The trends have changed a lot. You cannot where you do you to take how it's done. So how do you approach obstacles in you know, like in your life or in like maybe imparting knowledge upon the person? How do you look at obstacles?

00;30;47;24 - 00;31;14;10
Chef Kurt Evans
I look at obstacles as like especially certain like a lot of obstacles, like, aren't like they're not like a they're not like new obstacles, like they've been around before. So it's like always like, I like, I like looking at history like, like, you know, you got to be a student of like, life as well. Understanding like what what came before you, how this may play out after you.

00;31;14;19 - 00;31;33;12
Chef Kurt Evans
Like, I think another thing were obstacles is instead of just like taking it head on, you know sometimes you got to like, take a look back, then take a step back, got to see the whole picture. Yeah. Because then maybe like the obstacles, like you run your head forward and then, like, it's like this wall right here, but you're only seeing it by like ten by ten.

00;31;33;26 - 00;31;37;13
Chef Kurt Evans
But if you take another step back further, you might just be able to walk around the wall.

00;31;38;01 - 00;31;46;19
Rob Lee
It's like the it's like the iceberg kind of analogy, right where you look at you like I see all of it. Let me go after this. You know, like, oh, I didn't look at it long enough.

00;31;46;19 - 00;32;01;20
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, you didn't look at it long enough or far enough. Yeah. So I think that's how I like I like to, like, look at any situation. I'm never not too much of a hothead person where it gets to the point where was like, I got to make a decision or something. Now I look at time differently, like people.

00;32;01;28 - 00;32;30;05
Chef Kurt Evans
People, you know, maybe because it's like, maybe is that is the time that we're in was like, man, I'm might be 40. I glad to be 50. I got to do this before this. I got to do this. And it's like, it's like if happens, it happens, you know. But I think when people like you put it on a like for your version is like you put it puts you on a pedestal.

00;32;30;05 - 00;32;39;07
Chef Kurt Evans
I think you put it on a pedestal, you kind of like you lose focus or actually like the actual goal of like actually getting it done.

00;32;39;10 - 00;32;43;14
Rob Lee
Because whenever you get the thing done, whatever the thing might be, it's not what you think it is.

00;32;43;14 - 00;32;44;15
Chef Kurt Evans
It's not what you think it is.

00;32;44;15 - 00;33;07;19
Rob Lee
You're like, Wow, this is so great. Why do you feel hollow, though? Exactly. Why do you feel unhappy? And something I cause I'm a big e-book guy, right? I was listening to this book on the way up here because, you know, like, when I make use of my time and get off TikTok and just do whatever I do, and it was one thing that the dude was getting across, he was like, you know, some people will think that they need to drive.

00;33;07;19 - 00;33;26;19
Rob Lee
That is money or oil or great jewels or what have you. He's like, No, you drop it. It looks he's like, be more intentional. He's like, Don't look at love. Is this one idea? Look at it as something broader. And that's something that there's almost in a an infinite like way to get love.

00;33;26;28 - 00;33;27;09
Chef Kurt Evans
You know.

00;33;27;09 - 00;33;48;26
Rob Lee
You can meet different people in exchange that could be tier one and then you can be in a romantic situation. It could be tier two, three and four. But, you know, going after money is like, okay, I got this now what's the next milestone? I got my first million anonymous second, then even third, and you just kind of keep going after it versus it feeling like, oh, these interactions, people matter.

00;33;49;03 - 00;34;09;23
Chef Kurt Evans
Social capital matters. I love social capital, though your social capital can take you places that money can't. So like I said, people people view things as a way of they have to like like I said, I have friends that have oh, man, you know, about like the dinners and it's like, oh, it make I don't make money off to dinners like I have.

00;34;10;03 - 00;34;33;28
Chef Kurt Evans
I have clients that they have a lot of money that I cook for and they they they they'll they'll pay for dinner then allow me to make someone else money. Like they'll say, hey, how much does it cost for you to do one of these centers, like at a venue cause this food cost about that and like, you know, getting stuff printed up, maybe this amount of money, you know, like, sure, here are people for dinners, fancy people for dinners.

00;34;33;28 - 00;34;51;20
Chef Kurt Evans
Now I get to make money for other people. But before when I first started, it was never about the money because I was taking my own money, doing the dinners I didn't need. Like and then like I said, but it comes when you when you when you're doing working at chasing the money. All of this stuff comes when you're chasing money.

00;34;51;20 - 00;34;59;09
Chef Kurt Evans
And money is the object is never going to it's never going to get right. I tell people all the time, like money is on the back end. You never.

00;34;59;09 - 00;34;59;19
Rob Lee
Full.

00;34;59;20 - 00;35;19;14
Chef Kurt Evans
Year, the money is on the back. And I literally say, Yeah, I'm doing this just because this is mine. Attention, this is my passion, it's what I want to do. But literally I'll wake up the email next week somewhat like, Hey man, we got a $30,000 catering, you know? And it's like, where did this come from? But it comes from the the intentional work that you put in.

00;35;19;21 - 00;35;28;28
Chef Kurt Evans
But when you when you put money as that, like you and then when you put money as a certain place, you miss out on opportunities. Yeah. As well too.

00;35;28;28 - 00;35;49;26
Rob Lee
So I look at sometimes when people come to me, you know, I was talking with the gentleman before we came in here about like what this is and what this is. And you have, you know, people say, oh, well, you know, this isn't a documentary, this isn't art, this isn't this is isn't that? And then the people that are saying the opposite, there's like, oh, this is a this is entertainment, but it's not art.

00;35;50;06 - 00;36;08;22
Rob Lee
And then the entertainment people say, this is an entertainment, this is art, and you're doing this back and forth. And at the end of the day, you're just doing it like, I'm just doing these conversations and they have this other side of people, Oh, why do you scale that yet? How are you monetizing it? It's like me having the conversation is the monetization of me.

00;36;09;04 - 00;36;22;24
Rob Lee
That's the thing that has a more value and it's like, you know, we literally just met, you know, you didn't know me from anything like who's this random guy to hit you on LinkedIn? And then you shut down. So he's like, Oh no, this is legit. And this is a thing.

00;36;22;27 - 00;36;24;05
Chef Kurt Evans
Because you get a bunch of random people.

00;36;24;07 - 00;36;25;10
Rob Lee
Your son, you're.

00;36;25;10 - 00;36;33;17
Chef Kurt Evans
Late then I don't. LinkedIn has become like Facebook slash business. Like it's so fake. Only like that.

00;36;33;17 - 00;36;35;25
Rob Lee
People are people are more receptive though, to talk. Yeah.

00;36;36;08 - 00;36;46;23
Chef Kurt Evans
But it's just like you cracks me up on LinkedIn. Somebody put a post up right then, like just go to the comments and it's like, Congratulations, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, Yo, shut up. Like it.

00;36;46;29 - 00;36;51;06
Rob Lee
Or remember, the thing with the titles is like, I'm a food evangelist. Shut up, shut up.

00;36;51;15 - 00;37;10;15
Chef Kurt Evans
That is like everybody doing that. And it's like, that's one thing that I like. I really get a kick out of it. I love doing it. I don't even like I don't even like I don't really like titles, Like, I did this, I did this exercise where it was like I did I had a little stint in your or like I was living up there because I was the guy.

00;37;10;26 - 00;37;35;07
Chef Kurt Evans
I was the executive director for a nonprofit called Drive Change, and we were teaching formerly incarcerated youth, ages 18 to 25 culinary skills, like I was teaching kids. That was like coming directly out of Rikers. And it related like because the Kalief Browder story, like, I really, like, really took that like, took those kids like personal because was like, I remember hearing a story about how he spent on Rikers and I talked to like, these kids.

00;37;35;17 - 00;37;52;26
Chef Kurt Evans
So literally we had an event and it was like we all had name tags, but it was just like, Put your name on it. Don't put your title just to see how people treat you stuff and like people, people like, I'm the director. People like people want to get to know you like, Oh, you did the right thing.

00;37;53;01 - 00;38;11;11
Chef Kurt Evans
And it's just like you just get to know people. Like, like the funny thing is, I've met so many people in my life that are like, really, like, important people, but I've met them just by, like, conversation, like having conversations, regular conversations and like, oh, snap. Then it's, you know, you did that and, you know.

00;38;11;11 - 00;38;22;03
Rob Lee
I'll say this, and then that's pretty much the wrap up, the real questions. I got so rapid fire one So when I throw your way but I'll throw this out there that falls into that vein. I was going to an event right.

00;38;22;03 - 00;38;22;18
Chef Kurt Evans
Where.

00;38;23;03 - 00;38;39;04
Rob Lee
Me and a group of my peers were being acknowledged for a certain accolade within Baltimore, and just random person was in the line thinking that I'm like given up tickets. Like I'm the person that's taking the ticket. And I did have my like winner badge on it.

00;38;39;19 - 00;38;40;04
Chef Kurt Evans
And.

00;38;40;06 - 00;38;46;07
Rob Lee
My girl, I loses her brain for a minute. She was just like, Hola, what you think he was? And I was like her.

00;38;46;13 - 00;38;47;14
Chef Kurt Evans
I was like, this is I was.

00;38;47;14 - 00;39;06;16
Rob Lee
Like, she's not wrong. But also, like, this is wild to your point, without having, like, this thing to do, know that you're someone that matters. It's like, why? Based on like, which one is it? Is it the blackness or what part is it that I'm somehow subservient to you? And it's like, it's really odd, is really odd or what have you.

00;39;06;16 - 00;39;19;02
Rob Lee
But there are other instances where you may just have a random conversation, you know, which seems like like you talked about LinkedIn a moment ago. People don't have those anymore. You just have a regular conversation like, Oh, this is weird, right?

00;39;19;02 - 00;39;20;29
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, I know. I've gone to like.

00;39;20;29 - 00;39;29;21
Rob Lee
Gallery openings and I was just sitting there with somebody that turned out to be like a major art dealer, and I was like, Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, I was just talking to him about how this whole thing sucked.

00;39;30;02 - 00;39;30;10
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah.

00;39;30;13 - 00;39;34;27
Rob Lee
And they were like, Yeah, it does. And some someone else in the background say.

00;39;35;01 - 00;39;36;10
Chef Kurt Evans
You don't have any idea who that is.

00;39;36;10 - 00;39;42;17
Rob Lee
That person is super important. Well, I just talk to him for like 30 minutes. How did you get that conversation? I just asked. I just talked to something.

00;39;42;29 - 00;40;01;14
Chef Kurt Evans
And like. Like you said, the thing on LinkedIn is people go on LinkedIn to find people. So I was like, Hey, you want to do something with Nike? Now you go with Nike, you go on like LinkedIn, you take Nike thing, you find like the executive director of this. So people just go on LinkedIn to follow people just because of.

00;40;01;14 - 00;40;01;23
Rob Lee
Because of.

00;40;02;04 - 00;40;10;24
Chef Kurt Evans
The enroll. Like, Oh, I can get him in this way when he's like, you probably could get in and talk to somebody else under Do for people and they just by having a conversation, yeah, talk.

00;40;10;24 - 00;40;32;22
Rob Lee
To the people that are more to your level. And you know, I have this thing of who's a decision maker who can actually give me that sort of space because, you know, sometimes you might go a little too high, might make that weird swing like I'm talking to the president, but you might want to talk to like someone that's in like, like marketing or someone that's in, like, you know, oratorio role that can kind of give you what you want.

00;40;32;22 - 00;40;49;03
Rob Lee
Because sometimes that person is at the really tight top of a spire. It's like they may not be the guy who answers for what you're looking for and he may be a terrible interview. They might be really good from my perspective. They might be really good at their job, but they're terrible on might be. So it's just like you talk to the person who's going to.

00;40;49;09 - 00;40;50;03
Chef Kurt Evans
Talk the person's good.

00;40;50;18 - 00;40;57;03
Rob Lee
So what did you with some rapid fire questions? You know, you said you got some fresh buyers for. So I'm going to start off with this.

00;40;58;00 - 00;40;58;08
Chef Kurt Evans
Okay.

00;40;58;20 - 00;41;05;22
Rob Lee
What does hospitality mean to you in like three words or less? What does hospitality mean to you?

00;41;05;22 - 00;41;22;25
Chef Kurt Evans
The service, compassion and that's it. Okay, that's it for me. I didn't want to stretch it serves in is because I find it funny. Like, that's.

00;41;22;25 - 00;41;30;16
Rob Lee
The thing that people forgotten the hospitality thing where you look for jobs, right, and see people say front of house, back of house was like right there. It's telling you is hospitality.

00;41;30;21 - 00;41;32;24
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah.

00;41;32;24 - 00;41;37;21
Rob Lee
You mentioned your 1200 plus cookbook, your property plus books rather out of that.

00;41;37;29 - 00;41;40;07
Chef Kurt Evans
That's just cookbooks. I got way more books exclusive.

00;41;40;14 - 00;41;48;05
Rob Lee
So just cookbooks. Yeah. What if there was Lord forbid, if there was like, a fire? What is the one cookbook that you're like, I need to see this.

00;41;48;20 - 00;42;20;03
Chef Kurt Evans
It means too many chiefs, not enough Indians. Okay, So he's. He's he's he's. He's Indian and he is. He's like, at least out in the UK and he has his restaurant is called set beans with rooms a two star Michelin restaurant. But he's just like full fucking do but it's like he's like his the book is actually like a coffee table, like out book and pretty much take it out out to like the, the graphics, everything I like.

00;42;20;05 - 00;42;30;25
Chef Kurt Evans
I had this on one of our cookbooks and it ain't even about like recipes. I don't read recipes I don't fuck about using. I usually be like trying to understand people's philosophy.

00;42;30;25 - 00;42;32;16
Rob Lee
Yeah, it was the this, the thinking that goes into it.

00;42;32;17 - 00;42;57;22
Chef Kurt Evans
Was the thinking that goes into it because the thinking and like if I see something, it's like, Oh, how did you do that technique? Like what was the thought process behind that technique? But other than that, it's just like, now is this to the point where, like, I'm actually a collector now, so it's like I'm buying books seventies, eighties, early 1900s, but it has to be like a first edition, second or third edition, or has to be like a limited print from an edition.

00;42;57;27 - 00;42;59;13
Chef Kurt Evans
So yeah, I think that.

00;43;00;20 - 00;43;15;13
Rob Lee
So I got two more for you. Name an unusual role Pizza top name an unusual topping you've put on a pizza because I saw pizza in your background so I want to want to ask about that. Yeah I'm like something you consider unusual.

00;43;15;13 - 00;43;17;26
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah. I can't really. I just.

00;43;17;26 - 00;43;18;02
Rob Lee
Because.

00;43;18;25 - 00;43;51;17
Chef Kurt Evans
Nothing's really nothing was really out of the box for me. I feel like. I feel as though certain things, if you can put sardines, I mean, anchovies on a pizza, not too much is out of the box for. For me. Really? Because a meat, a seafood pizza, pretty much. But just the way there is with like, sauce, like cheese and actually like doing certain things, it pretty much was just like a cheese was baked on it first and then the vodka sauce, and then it was like crab shrimp.

00;43;51;24 - 00;44;00;29
Chef Kurt Evans
And then it was grated parmesan cheese on top. So but other than that, like, nothing's really off limits. Nothing's off limits.

00;44;00;29 - 00;44;13;04
Rob Lee
I'm going to put you on to my my go to pizza. I haven't had it in a while, but my go to toppings, it's ridiculous. It's, you know, extra cheap, you know, fat, spinach, broccoli and gorgonzola.

00;44;13;22 - 00;44;19;13
Chef Kurt Evans
Not as hot. I would do some grapes. Oh, really? Okay, straight sweetness. Cut it up.

00;44;20;01 - 00;44;21;04
Rob Lee
The whole A Whole Foods.

00;44;21;04 - 00;44;25;16
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah. Now, that might be so crazy about grapes. Might be weird. Top of a piece.

00;44;25;25 - 00;44;34;22
Rob Lee
I see. Instead of the grapes. Because the sweetness thing. You've got a point because there's some funky gorgonzola. Yeah, I would try to look for a way to get, like, a reduce, like blueberry. I'm just being a nerd. I'm being a nerd now.

00;44;34;26 - 00;44;37;15
Chef Kurt Evans
She's an out. This is this is what I do.

00;44;37;19 - 00;44;40;22
Rob Lee
Reduced like blueberry, sort of like I'm put or something on there.

00;44;40;29 - 00;45;03;12
Chef Kurt Evans
So, so so it was funny. So I did put like so the pineapple pizza thing. Oh. So what I, what I tell people is when people were doing pineapple on pizza, what they do is they'll just take fresh pineapple or canned pineapple and put it on pizza. They put it in a oven, it's going to extrude too much.

00;45;03;18 - 00;45;24;02
Chef Kurt Evans
So you got to change the the the the the DNA of the pineapple, pretty much. You got to do something to food, pizza. So what I was doing was caramelizing it, so I would caramelize it. But it also since we don't I don't eat pork and bacon, it renews a lot of fat. So caramelize it in the beef, bacon, fat.

00;45;24;13 - 00;45;28;08
Chef Kurt Evans
And once that the sweetness and then put it on the pizza.

00;45;28;29 - 00;45;29;13
Rob Lee
Unifies.

00;45;29;13 - 00;45;52;02
Chef Kurt Evans
It. It was a it was a better it was way better finish than just putting raw pineapples on it because once you do that is it also goes from like it could be cold or a certain temperature depending on how they stored it. Pineapples. And if you're just especially if you're taking a pineapples out of a vein on top of the thing, you're dressing it up, the pineapples will be cool.

00;45;52;13 - 00;46;09;13
Chef Kurt Evans
So if you're putting cold pineapples on it and then you put it in the piece and it brings up temperature, it's just weird, is a weird texture. And then the pineapple actually probably has to be cooked to a certain amount of degrees just to get like the choking is that like that little flavor out of it? So pretty much that's, that's my only thing.

00;46;09;13 - 00;46;14;18
Chef Kurt Evans
What, pineapple on a piece that you've really got to, like change the DNA of it before you put it on the pizza. Look.

00;46;15;08 - 00;46;33;22
Rob Lee
That makes sense to me. Last question I got for you. You mentioned earlier that you might you might have a, you know, bowl of cereal. You might be like, go with the Frosted Flakes and so on a super long day, which I have one today. Well, not a super long day. What is that lazy meal that you're putting together for yourself?

00;46;34;08 - 00;46;37;02
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, well, not what I'm saying. I'm lazy. It is like.

00;46;38;14 - 00;46;39;07
Rob Lee
Where's that Robin?

00;46;40;06 - 00;47;02;23
Chef Kurt Evans
It Listen, I was about to say ramen, and then it would literally be like you just put an egg in there. Put the egg in order just some time, crack it. Bam, that's it. And then are. It's kind of lazy, but it's not as lazy. If I have Taco like stuff around, like I will make like a quick like, like lexicon taco.

00;47;02;23 - 00;47;16;25
Chef Kurt Evans
Like, like, like, like if like, if I had like a, like, if I had a plate or something from, like a, like a soul food spot. I got some collard greens leftover. I take the collard greens off of it, I'll bring like if I had some pieces of chicken, I'll bring like I'll make a whole taco.

00;47;17;02 - 00;47;18;14
Rob Lee
Like making a sole taco. Yeah.

00;47;18;15 - 00;47;37;22
Chef Kurt Evans
So taco in. That'd be it. But like if there's and if I'm too tired of all of that, if it is some cereal, I'm eating cereal like this. That's usually like a that's usually like the go to especially if it's too late. But a banana where I've been like training is around the clock, so it's just like that.

00;47;38;13 - 00;47;47;21
Chef Kurt Evans
But if I had to like cereal might be like, I'm doing things like Frosted Flakes, Fruity Pebbles.

00;47;47;21 - 00;47;59;26
Rob Lee
That's what I'm an old man when it comes to cereal. Like, where is that? What is it? Where does that translate the brand flakes, You know, like, I'm like, where is these unsalted on sugared Wheaties.

00;48;00;22 - 00;48;01;23
Chef Kurt Evans
Cheerios.

00;48;01;23 - 00;48;05;22
Rob Lee
Sun? No, honey, not give me the regular ones. Oh, honey, they're a bit much. Yeah.

00;48;05;23 - 00;48;08;16
Chef Kurt Evans
No, they're got to be to go with cereals that that.

00;48;08;16 - 00;48;08;26
Rob Lee
You.

00;48;09;17 - 00;48;18;16
Chef Kurt Evans
Saw. My brother used to actually put like sugar of like your brother's on like, like, yo, you got the diabetes now you got cool out me.

00;48;19;02 - 00;48;31;14
Rob Lee
So, so, so with it, I want to thank you for being on this podcast. We going to wrap up here. I want to thank you for being as podcast and I want to invite and encourage you to tell the folks where to check out you, your website and, you know, see all the good work that you're doing.

00;48;31;14 - 00;48;56;25
Chef Kurt Evans
Yeah, So give me up on Instagram. Kirkuk's my website is a WW that chef Kirkuk WSJ.com. And like I said, we cater we do like social events. Everybody eats, we do like food, give backs and drives. And I'm in the process of authoring a cookbook called Platter Food. So follow me for more on it.

00;48;58;04 - 00;49;20;26
Rob Lee
Well, there you have it, folks. I want to again thank Chef Kirk Evans for coming on, Kurt Evans for coming on. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there is activism. Chefs just really don't people doing things in your networks, you got to look for.

Creators and Guests

Rob Lee
Host
Rob Lee
The Truth In This Art is an interview series featuring artists, entrepreneurs and tastemakers in & around Baltimore.
Kurt Evans
Guest
Kurt Evans
a Philly-based chef and artist-activist who is also a social entrepreneur