[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello friends and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio and with my co-hosts for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Get access to limited swag and exclusive content by becoming a Taste Radio VIP. It's easy for you to join that group of very important people. Just head to Taste Radio.com slash VIP and take one minute to sign up. Why do we have pizza in the studio, John Craven?
[00:00:42] John Craven: You know, I just like to have a snacking Pizza Party all times.
[00:00:46] Jacqui Brugliera: At 11 o'clock in the morning.
[00:00:48] John Craven: I love that. Or 8 o'clock in your case, Jack.
[00:00:49] Ray Latif: Yeah, that's true. Do you have a pizza in your studio over there?
[00:00:51] Jacqui Brugliera: I do not. I do not. But I'm always ready for pizza if you want to send some over.
[00:00:55] Ray Latif: I just keep it right here. Just always have pizza ready. That looks like a delicious Whole Foods 365 non-organic thin crust pizza.
[00:01:03] John Craven: Wow, so specific. This is a GoPuff delivered cauliflower margarita pizza that I just made upstairs.
[00:01:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Did they deliver it hot?
[00:01:11] John Craven: No, no, no. Yeah, they delivered it like this with no box. Just throw it through the window. It's just like, here's your grubby pizza. GoPuff competing with Domino's now. But the pizza is here so we can try the most, can I call it jokingly, the most controversial product of the week? Oh, gosh. Breitling pizza oil. And I'm saying that with sarcasm because Let's explain why there's been some controversy here.
[00:01:45] Ray Latif: Brightland pizza oil comes in a white squeeze bottles, 12 ounces, it's got a red label and a black cap.
[00:01:51] John Craven: Looks like moisturizer from here.
[00:01:53] Ray Latif: It sort of does. You know, there was one entrepreneur, one food entrepreneur, who thinks it looks like Graza olive oil. Oh. And that's the founder and CEO of Graza olive oil, that's Andrew Benin, who posted a bit of a diatribe on LinkedIn, calling Brightland out for ripping off, what he perceives as ripping off, his product. There was a lot of backlash to that post with entrepreneurs being like, you didn't create the squeeze bottle. It's been used in restaurants for many, many years. He got a talking to from a lot of folks. It actually became such a big story. Even the New York Times picked it up. They wrote an article about this, about, let's see, when was this, on April 28th. Over the weekend, yeah. Over the weekend. And it was called, this week's tiniest social media drama is about olive oil. Andrew eventually apologized and apologized Storm The founder of Brightland throughout this process. Brightland didn't say a thing. The founder didn't say a thing. I think they just let it play out. Taking the high road. Yeah. Very much so.
[00:02:57] John Craven: Taking the high road, but also just enjoying all the PR hits. Both sides, really.
[00:03:01] Ray Latif: Yeah, here we are talking about that.
[00:03:02] John Craven: Well, I don't think it was enjoyed, I guess, on the other side.
[00:03:07] Ray Latif: But yeah, it's- The other side being Garazda you're talking about?
[00:03:10] John Craven: No, Brightland. Oh, okay. But yeah, that was a strange, unfortunate thing that, look, I totally get the emotion of someone who has a product that they're really proud of, feeling super passionate about it, but it also is probably one of those things that when you're feeling really emotional and upset going onto social media, probably not the Best thing to do. So hopefully they'll all learn from it and move on. I mean, it's certainly got a lot of eyeballs on it. I mean, I had friends asking me if I knew these companies and had ever tried these products and if I had any. So it stoked interest. There you go. That was my point. That's why I was thinking everyone might be enjoying it. We should try some. Here, have a strange little slice of pizza here. We'll try this pizza.
[00:03:58] Ray Latif: I need some oil here.
[00:03:58] John Craven: Pass one over to Mike. OK. Yeah, I need some pizza oil. I'll take one. Pass one over to Jackie, too.
[00:04:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Here you go, Jackie.
[00:04:07] John Craven: So this stuff, it's good.
[00:04:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Jackie, take it.
[00:04:10] John Craven: Come on, Mike.
[00:04:11] Jacqui Brugliera: Thank you. Thank you for the virtual pizza.
[00:04:13] John Craven: It's pretty spicy by itself. It's like cold-pressed with jalapenos and herbs, I think is what it says. I'm going to use my Brebnet hand sanitizer.
[00:04:21] Ray Latif: Pass that bottle back here.
[00:04:23] John Craven: I'm going to lube my hands with Breitling pizza oil. I'm going to throw it, but it's open. Oh, jeez.
[00:04:28] Jacqui Brugliera: I think I love this. You know, when you get the little red pepper packets and you put that on your pizza, that was always my go-to.
[00:04:35] Ray Latif: As a marketer, do you think this is one of those cases where all PR is good PR or is this a really bad look for Graza?
[00:04:42] Jacqui Brugliera: I think right now it's a big deal, but I think over time will fade. I think it just really sparked a conversation that happens amongst a lot of founders, especially when they're getting started or they're growing, they're really protected of their baby. And I mean, they can be very protective of how they create the products, their original ideas, things like that. I don't know. I think it's just building a set of products that maybe consumers don't understand that olive oil can be in a squeeze bottle if they haven't worked in a kitchen or used it for culinary reasons.
[00:05:15] John Craven: Well, this also feels like a pretty different product. I mean, it's spicy olive oil. It's almost like Hot Honey is Hot Honey as Breitling pizza oil is to normal olive oil. I mean, this feels much more like a condiment than a culinary ingredient, and I know, like, Graza is also meant for sort of drizzling, but again, I mean, it's just a different product, so.
[00:05:37] Ray Latif: Mm-hmm. Totally different-looking package, too. Like, Graza's is a green bottle with sort of, I want to call it, I don't know, 60s-70s kind of aesthetic. Whereas this is just like a straightforward white bottle, which Brad Avery straightforward, Breitling pizza oil. The aesthetic for this looks like, you know, any town America pizza store.
[00:05:58] John Craven: Well, it's a white opaque bottle like the Breitling bottles, too. I mean, look, I think my analogy with Hot Honey, I mean, you do see Mike's Hot Honey on menus at pizza places. So this is sort of like, you know, I like sort of a nice alternative play on that. A lot of people were responding with copying as a form of flattery and I'm not really sure that's sort of like the thing that appeases an entrepreneur who's emotional. But this particular case, there's also a lot of haters on olive oil in plastic bottles in the first place. So to have another company joining the fray and making that into a premium product is probably not a bad thing in the long run. So I guess we'll see how that works out. I'm with Jackie on this one too. I think in terms of, you know, just for Breitling and Graza, people's memories are pretty short. I think if I asked you to say, what was the last time we had this kind of social media drama, it would take you a few minutes to conjure up what it was. And in the long run, what people are going to remember, if anything, is that Graza and Breitling have an oil that I could potentially put on my pizza.
[00:07:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, you know, and Andrew in his initial LinkedIn post said, well, friendly competition is always welcome. I do view this being Breitling pizza oil as a blatant disrespect, and I'm choosing to voice my discontent. Later on in another social media post, he had said, I was heated and I reacted poorly. And I've learned from the variety of comments that everyone has left today. Well, perhaps for the after party at BivNet Live Summer 2023, we'll have pizza on hand. And if we do have pizza on hand, hopefully we'll have some Breitling pizza oil. Speaking of that incredible event that's happening in New York City on June 14th and 15th, today... You missed Ray, just called it Unarch City. Today is the last day to register for BevNET Live and receive a discount. Last day for early registration, as it were. You can save up to $200 off your ticket if you register today, May 5th. If you don't, you're going to pay an extra $200 if you want to come. I don't know why you would wait. It doesn't make any sense, folks. Register today, save the money, take that $200, and have a nice dinner out in the town in New York City. That's what I would do. As we've mentioned in past episodes of Taste Radio, we're excited to see the fine folks from Applied Food Sciences at BevNET Live Summer 2023. Applied Food Sciences is the presenting sponsor for this episode of Taste Radio. They are the leader in innovation for functional organic ingredients in the natural products industry and built on the belief that quality is transparent from seed to label through organic farming, ethical sourcing, and sustainability. You will want to learn more. at AppliedFoods.com.
[00:08:47] John Craven: I'm happy that there are sponsors and I think they're great. I think they're a great resource for the industry and just great members of the community. Thanks for doing this.
[00:08:56] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mentioned the after party at BevNET Live and Brian and Jackson will be there. And again, you know, these networking opportunities don't come every day. And, you know, having the opportunity to pick experts brains on formulation, package design, finance, things like that. Those are the folks that are going to be there at the after party. And let's say you do have a problem with formulation and you can't find a way to fix it. you don't like the sweetener you're using, you want to talk to folks like Brian and Jackson about how to fix it, how to make it better tasting, how to get consumers not to just like your product, but to love it.
[00:09:29] Mike Schneider: Vibrant Ingredients is the natural ingredient partner powering food and beverage innovation, delivering flavor, function, and protection through a science-backed portfolio. Vibrant delivers purpose-driven solutions that help brands create extraordinary experiences. Discover what's possible with Vibrant today. Visit VibrantIngredients.com
[00:09:57] Ray Latif: I'm surprised I'm not more jet lagged. Maybe I am because I keep screwing up and you won't hear it because our editing team is that awesome. But I got back from San Diego on Friday after a very quick trip, less than 72 hours, but it was an amazing, incredible experience because I got to emcee the third annual Naturally San Diego Pitch Slam. Just a phenomenal event. Jackie, you were there with a bunch of the folks from the WCB, the West Coast Branch.
[00:10:22] Jacqui Brugliera: It was amazing. I mean, the crowd was rowdy, like they were ready to come up on stage and give you a hug and a high five. It was awesome.
[00:10:29] Ray Latif: Yeah, so when I did get up on stage and introduced the first contestant, that's Wynn Austin from Wynn's Kitchen. I mean, I wasn't expecting like, I was like, oh, let's hear a round of applause. And it was just like, it sounded like, I don't know, Michael Jordan just came up on stage or something like that. It was really amazing. And then when she departed the stage, it was just as loud. So, a fantastic event. Six brands representing food, beverage, personal, and household consumer products were represented at the show, at the event. As I mentioned, Wynn's Kitchen was one. Cien Chiles was another. Cien Chiles was the runner-up.
[00:11:10] John Craven: That sounds great.
[00:11:11] Ray Latif: Yeah, fantastic brand. A maker of chili sauces. They come in four varieties. The one I'm holding in my hand is the Thai Bird. Rich, bold, and fiery is how they describe it. The winner of the competition, a brand called Root & Splendor, which makes 100% natural, non-toxic, and eco-friendly cleaning products and detergents. Is that a cardboard bottle? It is a cardboard bottle. It's pretty cool. Yeah, there you go. Take a look at it. Rationale, which is a fantastic non-alcoholic beer brand based in San Diego. Another brand called Brixy, which makes natural bars of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. And then, of course, Eye Amaranth, which makes chips and other kinds of salty snacks based on the amaranth root, which, you know, I am embarrassed to say I didn't get a chance to try these. Do you want to try these?
[00:12:02] John Craven: I like those.
[00:12:03] Ray Latif: Yeah, I tried them.
[00:12:04] John Craven: Those are super.
[00:12:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, they're tasty. I had the spicy variety and it was really good.
[00:12:09] John Craven: And they these are also so they've taken You've had lime tostitos, right? And you just can't stop eating them? Because they're kind of like crack. These are a lime flavor, and they're better for you.
[00:12:20] Ray Latif: I handed Mike the chips. I'm going to hand John Craven the churritos. These are the habanero and Himalayan salt. What the hell is a churrito? I'm sure it says it on the back of the package.
[00:12:31] John Craven: Okay, so it's like a little mini thing that looks like a churro. Jackie. Am I right? We're crazy.
[00:12:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Being in my neck of the woods, being in San Diego is really cool to see some of these brands that I might've even picked up in Whole Foods. Cause they're just locally distributed right now. Um, CN Chili's being one of them and they're in my fridge and seeing them on the, on the stage meeting Maria, the founder, she's just. An amazing personality brings so much energy. This is really great to connect with. The industry, I even met friends of friends, which was really cool. I met Sydney Chason, founder and CEO of Chason Dreams Farm, which is a friend of a friend in San Diego. So just connecting the dots and getting even more connected Storm The San Diego community.
[00:13:16] Ray Latif: Absolutely. Meeting Maria of Cien Chiles was really an experience. She is just an amazing person, an incredible personality. She came up on stage, true story, and the first five seconds that she was on stage, she sang opera. And it was beautiful opera. And she said that she sang it because it helps relieve her nerves from being on stage. And yeah, I almost started crying because it was so good.
[00:13:40] Jacqui Brugliera: And then she celebrated quitting her 9-to-5, so I mean, another reason to cry.
[00:13:43] Ray Latif: Another roar from the crowd. That's Sien Chili's? Yeah. Nice. It's awesome.
[00:13:49] John Craven: Great stuff. These amaranth churritos. Whoa, it's so spicy.
[00:13:57] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:13:58] John Craven: It says on the back this these will blow your mind. I mean, blow your palate off to here. It's I like it.
[00:14:04] Ray Latif: Truly an outstanding event. Thanks so much. The incredible leadership team at NSD at Naturally San Diego, Adam Hurdle, Jess Wendell, Ari Raz, Kirsten Riley and so many more amazing people that do such great work for the CPG community in San Diego. If you are from San Diego, and haven't joined as a member or haven't met these folks, I highly recommend you do. It is just an incredible organization. Now, I went to San Diego and Mike went to New York City. And when Mike went to New York City, apparently he went crazy. I don't know about that. I did, I did go to a rave though. Yes. You went to an event put on by the fine folks at OmSom. What was that all about?
[00:14:49] John Craven: It was the launch of their extra saucy noodles, which are extra saucy and that's E-X-X-X-T-R-A saucy. And they put on a rave in Bushwick at a warehouse, and it was them. It was loud and proud. They had all these performances. They had shibari dancers, aerialists, pole dancers. There was an extraordinary drag performance during it. And the more I think about it, it's like, Kim Pham is like the Trent Reznor of, of CPG and Aum Saum is kind of like Nine Inch Nails. They're just, they're doing their thing their way and hits with the people who it's supposed to hit with and everyone else is in awe. Kim gave this extraordinary speech and like, if you could read the IRL comments section, everybody was just like, oh my gosh, this is. This is exactly what we need to hear. And, and she's such a great speaker and so charismatic. And I was just, first of all, I was just touched to be invited. And it was a, it was a really fun time. Yeah. And the noodles are, are just, they're so good. You can have these Asian noodles in four minutes. And of course it's like a multicultural noodles, just like they're just like their sauces. And you just have to try these noodles. I don't want to overhype them, but I don't think you can. They're that good.
[00:16:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Where'd you get the bucket hat?
[00:16:11] John Craven: You were supposed to go loud and proud, so of course I wore vintage Arsenal. I wore my JVC Lightning Ray. You like that one?
[00:16:18] Ray Latif: Oh, I can see.
[00:16:19] John Craven: I'm looking at the photo right now. Cool. And then my bruised banana bucket hat that is a bucket hat that my daughter made for me, which many people want to know where I got it. She was thrilled by that.
[00:16:32] Ray Latif: Okay. Well, we have about a thousand different products here on our respective tables. But we always start with everything that's here in the office in Newton and almost never start with Jackie in San Diego, which is the pulsating heart of innovation in America. So what do you got there, Jackie?
[00:16:49] Jacqui Brugliera: I got something interesting for us. So I've talked about this kind of ingredient in the past, but it's kind of popping up more and more on social media.
[00:16:57] John Craven: I know what this is.
[00:17:00] Jacqui Brugliera: It's CMOS.
[00:17:02] John Craven: Oh, there it is.
[00:17:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Nice and gooey. But yeah, so I found this CMOS at a farmer's market in ocean beach. They are selling online. Uh, it's called Samadhi Moss and I'm just seeing just more functional ingredients added Storm The CMOS as well as some better branding. Um, this one has blue magic included in it. So E3 live blue magic. But if you look on TikTok, there's definitely some polarizing opinions about the functional ingredient. Some people say it literally cures all and it has a million functional qualities while others are like, beware. There's just not enough education about sourcing and the functional properties. But for now I am trying it. This one does a really great job. Samadhi Moss on their social media, educating people about what to ask as far as questions with sourcing of sea moss and what you should be looking for in the ingredient, especially as people are stumbling upon it more and more. But if you look at it, if I don't know if. You have any of you tried CMOS? Not yet. All right. So, if you look at consistency. Oh, God. It's so slimy. Very slimy. Very slimy. But you can either get like one a day or you put it in a smoothie.
[00:18:19] John Craven: This is where we're like, nice knowing you, Jackie.
[00:18:23] Jacqui Brugliera: And yeah, it just slides right down the throat.
[00:18:27] John Craven: What's it taste like?
[00:18:29] Jacqui Brugliera: This one, it tastes kind of earthy, like kind of seaweedy a Little Saints, minerally. It's not the tastiest, but there's other flavors that has a Little Saints of sweetener that helps with the taste if you want to take it straight up.
[00:18:41] John Craven: It kind of looks like a scented candle.
[00:18:44] Jacqui Brugliera: It does in the mason jar. Yeah, sure does.
[00:18:47] Ray Latif: Do you take a spoonful every morning?
[00:18:49] Jacqui Brugliera: I have been, yes. So I'm giving it a go. I want to try for myself to see if I see any benefits because there is just too much information. It's like functional ingredient overload. So I'm trying it myself. Hey, pull down your turtleneck a Little Saints. You got Gil's girl in there? That's actually what happens when you eat sea moss.
[00:19:07] John Craven: Aqua Jackie. You're just volunteering to be like a Human Petri dish. I like this. Not enough research on your functional ingredient? Jackie'll try it.
[00:19:17] Jacqui Brugliera: Lab tested. And I have something to wash it down. Jeez. So I have, um, black and bold cold brew coffee. This is their latest flavor sweet. And it says sweet, but when you look on the back, it actually has zero sugars and it's very low calorie, only 13 calories. And it's available in target and on target.com. It uses allulose. So I know that's like popping up as a more popular sweetener has a Little Saints like undetected aftertaste and things like that. But. It's pretty good. I enjoy it. It's just slightly sweet, slightly sweet. It's really good. Slightly.
[00:19:55] Ray Latif: Slightly sweet is better than really, really sweet, especially, I think, not, I mean, for me anyway, I'm speaking very much about me. As you get older, slightly sweet is definitely preferable to really sweet.
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[00:20:58] John Craven: I got some really, some slightly sweet here. Before we get into that Mezcal, let's just crack it. Oh, yeah.
[00:21:05] Ray Latif: Okay, good. He did not spray it all over the microphone, folks.
[00:21:07] John Craven: I didn't spray it. It did go a little, went up my nose, but this is the new Wyze Sparkling Wize Tea Apple.
[00:21:14] Ray Latif: W-I-Z-E is the name of the brand, is how you spell the brand.
[00:21:17] John Craven: Wise is a brand from Canada, like, you know, other cool brands that we know, like, oh, I don't know, Midday Squares, Nusanti, Newbies, things like that. So Wise is this sparkling iced tea that's only four grams of sugar, and the apple just is, it's really apple-y, it's nice. Yeah, I like it. Good. I could drink this all day. Yeah. He's holding up my Mezcal sampling.
[00:21:41] Ray Latif: Well, the last time Mike opened up a can of something by his microphone, he did spray it all over that microphone. I still don't know if we had to replace that one.
[00:21:49] John Craven: Yeah, Ray almost opened up a can of Whoop-Ass.
[00:21:51] Ray Latif: It was actually Nate, who's our studio director and Minister of Photographic Arts, who's not so pleased about that. But yeah, it was a can of Little Saints and Negroni Spritz, and I have now in my hand Little Saints's new mezcal. It's called Saint Mezcal. It's a non-alcoholic spirit infused with Palo Santo and lion's mane. Is Palo Santo a mushroom, Jackie? What is that?
[00:22:19] Jacqui Brugliera: No, it's a wood.
[00:22:20] Ray Latif: Oh, it's a wood. Interesting.
[00:22:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, usually people burn it, like incense. It's like cleansing.
[00:22:25] John Craven: There was a dogfish head. Still is. It's like motor oil.
[00:22:30] Ray Latif: It comes in this 750 milliliter clear bottle. It's a beautiful looking bottle. It very much looks like a spirit or mezcal. It does say best served over ice, but we're going to take shots of this. And I actually have in my hand batch number one, bottle number 19. Wow.
[00:22:47] John Craven: John, if you'd said that it was Little Saints, I might have gone a little faster. I apologize.
[00:22:52] Ray Latif: Okay. I won't forgive you. Don't worry. Well, yeah, I teased this when we had the Negroni Spritz on the show, but we're gonna open this up right now.
[00:23:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Pizza and Mezcal, where are we?
[00:23:04] John Craven: I've got my, oh, it's a Shire City. Yes.
[00:23:08] Ray Latif: Pour one out for Shire City.
[00:23:09] John Craven: I know, RIP.
[00:23:12] Ray Latif: Oh, Jesus. Spilled it all over John, sorry.
[00:23:16] John Craven: Pizza juice. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
[00:23:18] Jacqui Brugliera: Mezcal.
[00:23:18] John Craven: Yes, yes, yes.
[00:23:20] Ray Latif: Okay, so Mike has a shot glass. All right, this is... I'm drinking out of an old man mug.
[00:23:25] John Craven: Okay, so it smells... Herbal-y. Herbal-y? Get some smoke? Yeah, there's some smoke and some herbs. It's not unlike my scones in the nose.
[00:23:35] SPEAKER_??: Okay.
[00:23:35] Ray Latif: That's great. I'm really enjoying that.
[00:23:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Does it have a bite? It does have a bite.
[00:23:39] John Craven: It's got a Little Debbie. I mean, this stuff is great. I think it's ... They always ... I mean, it's a really original flavor. I would not by itself get this as a Mezcal replacement, but it's ... Like the smokiness to it, the rest of it, no. It's got the smokiness and a little agave flavor that you get in Mezcal. Yeah, but there's another flavor to it. It's peppermint. What is it? Capsaicin.
[00:24:04] Ray Latif: Peppermint.
[00:24:04] John Craven: Capsaicin. It's got like a peppermint aftertaste to it. Yeah, I mean, there's a nice burn to it from that, obviously.
[00:24:11] Ray Latif: So it's got monk fruit, which I think is the flavor that you're getting, Mike, but it also has capsaicin. Just reading from a note from the folks at Little Saints, they said it was really important Storm The company
[00:24:21] John Craven: Are you just saying capsaicin over and over because it's your only $10 word?
[00:24:25] Ray Latif: That St. Mescal gives the burn and bite of alcohol to make the experience the most similar to drinking alcohol in terms of the way it hits your tongue and throat. They achieve this bite and burn by using capsaicin flavor derived from hot peppers. Gotcha.
[00:24:37] John Craven: That makes sense. That's cool. pretty interesting burn that they've made there. I like that. It's a nice burn. It's not unlike alcohol, but it also lingers a lot longer than alcohol. It's still lingering.
[00:24:48] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like eating spicy food.
[00:24:50] Ray Latif: They also said that this is the only spirit producer, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, using a pure Palo Santo extract as an ingredient, which is also kind of interesting. Can I have some more of this? I'm just going to chug from the bottle.
[00:25:03] John Craven: I dare say this is innovative.
[00:25:04] Ray Latif: Oh, it's definitely innovative.
[00:25:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, definitely. Never seen anything like that.
[00:25:08] John Craven: Yeah. You've got to taste this, Jackie.
[00:25:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:25:10] Ray Latif: It's really good. I mean, you know, the second sip is even better than the first because I feel like your palate already has, yeah, it has some of the buildup from the mezcal already on there.
[00:25:20] Jacqui Brugliera: I do love Mezcal. I love Palo Santo. All these words are calling to me.
[00:25:26] Ray Latif: These are good words. Now to pair with the spice from Little Saints Mezcal or Saint Mezcal, maybe you could have some of this Chuza that I brought back from San Diego. generously donated Storm The cause by Daniel Schwartz, who is the founder and CEO of Chooza and a loyal listener of Taste Radio. Daniel is an awesome dude and a great founder who makes a killer product. I gave John the spicy pineapple. Mike, do you want the spicy mango? So tasty. I love this stuff.
[00:25:56] John Craven: This also, by the way, makes a really great cocktail garnish. Oh yeah we should have used that with the same as maybe we will maybe we'll have that at lunch with our pizza and our our oil pizza and oil and if you don't like that brought this new Cheech and Chong's.
[00:26:13] For Free: I mean, I gave you a pause for that reaction, I guess.
[00:26:19] John Craven: So this is a cannabis product. I mean, did anyone guess that or what? Yeah, we all knew. You can just see from the can. Yeah, this is one of these Delta 9 cannabis products. Cheech and Chong put their name on Delta 9. Interesting. Well, you know, they want the unregulated, I guess, selling Minnesota thing that everyone's going for right now. I have not tried this, but yeah, I figured, you know, we should show the Cheech and Chong's. There's a couple of different flavors of these, so. Oh God, I feel like I'm gonna be the lab rat because Jackie's in San Diego.
[00:26:55] Jacqui Brugliera: I know, I can't take one for the team for you.
[00:26:57] John Craven: We can probably get some sent to you too, don't worry.
[00:27:01] Ray Latif: It's a cool looking can for sure. It does not look like a cannabis beverage, that's the only concerning concern.
[00:27:06] John Craven: I mean, it says Cheech and Chong on it.
[00:27:08] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, I guess if you're like... I guess if people don't know though.
[00:27:12] John Craven: I don't know, isn't that still sort of a cannabis joke though?
[00:27:14] Ray Latif: No, but I mean, it doesn't have that... a sort of safety, what do they call those?
[00:27:21] John Craven: Yeah, that's all the Delta 9 products are like that.
[00:27:25] Ray Latif: It doesn't have the safety tab? Correct. Is that okay?
[00:27:29] John Craven: That's how they're sold. They also don't have the cannabis warning thing on it. This is a crazy rabbit hole that we maybe shouldn't go down right now. Okay, that's probably a good idea. Yeah, that other one that we had. Yeah, that doesn't have the cat. Do you guys remember that Louie Louie one that was at the Snack Shot thing? Yeah. Same deal. There's a ton of these coming out.
[00:27:49] Ray Latif: Did I drink the Louie Louie one? No, I didn't.
[00:27:51] John Craven: It was at Snack Shot? Yeah. That would be epic if you drank it. I'd like to see that.
[00:27:58] Ray Latif: I don't think that's such a good idea.
[00:28:00] John Craven: You didn't drink it.
[00:28:01] Jacqui Brugliera: I drank it at Snack Shot. It was good. And? Snack, uh, Louie Louie was great. Yeah, it was like a really nice mellow high. Tasted good.
[00:28:10] Ray Latif: What do you got there, Ray? Now we're about to eat lunch, so I don't know if you guys want to down these right now. I definitely want to have a brownie bar before lunch. Let's do it. This is, it's relatively new from Nature's Bakery. It's their new double chocolate brownie made with whole grains, dates, and cocoa. I'll hand one to Mr. Craven.
[00:28:27] John Craven: I mean, I really like their fruit-filled bars, so filled with chocolate.
[00:28:33] Ray Latif: Yes. More brownie? It's a really tasty brownie. It's very moist. I've already had some of these. Dairy-free, nut-free, soft-baked. So this is whole grains, dates, and cocoa. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. But it actually, so I love when Better For You brands come out with a brownie that actually tastes like a brownie versus those that are like, oh yeah, it's a brownie and it's really dry and it tastes like, I don't know, coconut oil.
[00:28:56] John Craven: I mean, because a brownie this size for 170 calories is pretty hard to achieve. Let's see. This also has, you know those old school, were they Little Debbie brownies?
[00:29:05] Ray Latif: Yes.
[00:29:06] John Craven: It has the same consistency and flavor as that, but it's actually made with real ingredients.
[00:29:12] Ray Latif: Totally. It feels like a throwback kind of brownie from when you grew up, but it's clearly better for you.
[00:29:19] John Craven: It is giving Little Debbie vibes. It tastes better though. Little Debbie always had that weird sort of twist at the end. I hated it. Chemicals? Yeah, the chemicals.
[00:29:31] Ray Latif: The old twist, that's how they get ya.
[00:29:33] John Craven: I hated their chocolate coverings and the white chocolate coverings. Little Debbie, I don't have good memories of Little Debbie. I don't know, you were probably a kid who liked Tootsie Rolls.
[00:29:44] Jacqui Brugliera: No way bro, oh my god. Shots fired.
[00:29:50] Ray Latif: Shots fired, sorry.
[00:29:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Shots fired.
[00:29:54] Ray Latif: I mentioned Wynn's Kitchen earlier in the show. They were a finalist in the Naturally San Diego Pitch Slam. I didn't really talk to you too much about the two products that they have. They have a satay, which is an Asian chili sauce, and they have a peanut sauce. We actually featured Wynn's Kitchen in a previous episode of Elevator Talk with, of course, Wynn Austin. Mike, I'm going to hand you the satay. Yes, please. You can read all about it. I have the peanut sauce in my hand.
[00:30:16] John Craven: Just by holding their products, are you winning?
[00:30:18] Ray Latif: I am winning. And Wynn's Kitchen did win the audience vote. And $1,000 in cash from Naturally San. Are there fans called winners? Ooh, I like that. And it's spelled W-Y-N-N. Wynn's Kitchen. Like the casino? Yes, like the casino.
[00:30:36] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, really tasty stuff. I also love that she just really focuses on quality ingredients and simplicity and keeping everything clean.
[00:30:45] John Craven: This looks like the sriracha garlic sauce. So, so good. I want to try this. Maybe I'll have some with lunch. If that's okay, Ray. Stolen.
[00:30:58] Ray Latif: Like, what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine. Or actually, I don't know. Maybe it's more like, maybe it's more like, What's mine is Mike's and what's Mike's is Mike's. So, I don't know. It's a dark hole. Yes, indeed it is. That brings us Storm The end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is BevNetTasteRadio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:32:06] For Free: you
