“Ancient indulgence. Elevated!” At his core, Christopher Sayegh – a.k.a. The Herbal Chef – is a passionate science and biology student who turned to the chemistry of food, and herbs, to feed the intellectual side of his creations. A walking brand full of charisma and charm, Chris has pioneered Cannabis Infused Fine-Dining in an effort to elevate the perception of marijuana through mainstream media. These dinners include art, music, fine wine and top notch ingredients, simultaneously and effortlessly educating his audience while entertaining them at the same time.
Currently, Chris is producing gourmet edibles, frozen CBD and THC-infused dinners, as well as catered and private dinners. With the innovation of Chris’ frozen, infused meals, coupled with two shows he is starring in that are currently in production, Chris has already been able to solidify his space as the #1 cannabis infusion chef in the world.
With a seemingly endless supply of passion and drive, Chris has his sights set on leaving a positive impact on the world through his medium of choice, food. Having faced intense struggles to pursue this commendable dream, leaves him open to sharing his vision with the world that is The Herbal Chef.
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Read the Full Transcript
Joe: [00:00] Sittin’ here with Chris, Cured Collective listeners. The Herbal Chef. We’ve got some exciting stuff coming out in the next couple months in collaboration with Chris. Those of you that live in Denver were able to experience our last event, dinner party that Chris and his team knocked it out of the park on. Everybody was so, so into the food. I grabbed some in the beginning and then like an hour later, I turn around and was like I want to try everything one more time, and everybody was like it’s so good, it’s all gone. Everybody ate it all. It was a testament to some mad skills, dude. So, appreciate what you’re doing. Appreciate what you’ve been doing with us at Cured, and I’m excited to see everything that we can do together. You’ve got a lot of exciting stuff going on.
Chris: [00:49] Yeah, there’s like – it’s just ripe for the picking right now. And I’ve been in the industry for so long, and I’ve built such a name and brand that, you know, you can only do certain things if you’re in the right place at the right time with the right energy, and I feel that all of it has kind of culminated to now being in the right place at the right time with the right energy.
Joe: [01:10] Dude, it’s the truth. I think that’s really interesting is what we talked about the first time you came out to Colorado, and your story and mission, and kind of the – there’s resistance to marijuana and cannabis. And there has been for a long time, but there’s also been a massive misunderstanding, and misunderstanding around all plants, all plant medicine. What you’re doing as a chef, and traveling the world and teaching people, and cooking and normalizing things, which I think is really important, is a massive key to a very big movement that’s going on and awakening right now. I’m curious what that resistance has been like over the years, and what you’ve learned and what you’ve been able to share about your mission and understanding of plants, and everything the lives behind the mission of The Herbal Chef.
Chris: [02:05] You know, the mission of The Herbal Chef kind of got refined, as it always does, and as the company grew in notoriety and it grew in fame. But, at first, it was, how do I help the world? And that’s why I wanted to go be a doctor. I was in school studying microcell biology, on my way to go to medical school, and I have this experience with psilocybin, and it basically told me that I need to take control of my life, in so few words. What that meant to me was that I needed to take responsibility for everything in my life. Everything. And if I wasn’t responsible for all of my own decisions, then, ultimately, I couldn’t live the life I wanted to live. And if I was letting other people make decisions for me, if I was passively allowing things to happen, then I wouldn’t be fulfilled. At that moment, I chose to take direct control over everything. That way, when I lose, they’re my losses and I know that I need to fix something. When I win, I can take ownership of that and rejoice in it. That was kind of how it all started. It really just had this epiphany, hard core epiphany one day that I was one with all the universe and that I needed to jump into what I was here to do. And so, part of that was taking responsibility. So, I take a look at everything in my life and I’m like, what makes me happy? What makes the world happy? What can I contribute to society, how can I help others? Because, ultimately, that’s my goal, is to help. Whether you’re helping one person at a time or you’re helping thousands of people at a time, whatever it is, it’s a good thing to be helping. I think it just hit me like a ton of bricks, and I realized that cooking was a way to bring knowledge, was a way to bring ancient practices and wisdom, was a way to make people happy, and nourish your body. I was like, this is how I can help people get better.
Joe: [04:21] It’s the #1 need of every human being. Number one like, we need food, right? We need some water, we need some sunlight, and-
Chris: [04:31] That’s about it.
Joe: [04:32] And then you can live, right?
Chris: [04:33] Exactly.
Joe: [04:34] Did you – I can’t remember if I asked you this when you were in Colorado the first time – did you leave school?
Chris: [04:38] Yeah.
Joe: [04:39] You did?
Chris: [04:40] So, I left prior to graduation. And, of course, to my mother’s dismay, and my whole family just… absolutely blindsided. I got a call from my mom everyday crying, like please don’t leave. It was so tough because I was like no, you don’t understand, I’m on my path. I’m doing what I came here to do, and she would just – foreign concept to very traditional Middle Eastern parents who both married Italians – so it was just ingrained that you get a really good job, and you get a house, you get a wife, and you have babies.
Joe: [05:21] Check the boxes.
Chris: [05:22] Yeah, exactly. I was like, I just need to do more. I need something that I can look back on and be proud of and that I know helped the world.
Joe: [05:33] Dude, that strikes such a massive chord with me. There was like – I had so much resistance to leaving Corporate America, and there was this voice in my head like, nope, nope, you’re supposed to do what you’re told. You’re supposed to follow the system, follow the path. So, I can understand what that resistance is like. Then, you dive into it and, like you’ve said, that was how many years ago now?
Chris: [05:55] That was back in 2011, 2012?
Joe: [06:02] So, as you’ve said with The Herbal Chef, it has evolved, and when you left school, you had ideas.
Chris: [06:11] Yeah. I wrote down, like I remember drawing up the menu and – for the cannabis restaurant – and I was so ambitious about that. I was like, “Give me 5 years, guys!” I look back and we’re in year 7, or like 6, and I’m like, fuck, I missed the deadline.
Joe: [06:29] You’re well on your way, man.
Chris: [06:31] But I’m the closest I’ve ever been, and that, I think, was the whole point of it. I had the idea, but then I didn’t realize how much work that I needed to put in to refine things. I think that is the main source of what I’ve learned, is that people tend to want things right away. People tend to want to be an expert right away. People tend to want to say that they’ve achieved some sort of level to garner respect, and to garner a good wage, and to garner a just overall respect of their field. And it’s like, man, when you really work at something, you realize who’s been around for 5 years, 10 years, and you realize the amount of respect you have to have for them because of how difficult it is to start your own business, or how difficult it is to bring something from zero to profit.
Joe: [07:29] Dude, yeah.
Chris: [07:31] Now, when working with people, it’s very hard to describe that to them if they don’t know that all this work has to go into the foundation in order for you to ever feel comfortable even asking for that respect.
Joe: [07:47] Yeah, 100%. Did you have prior – where’d you learn to cook?
Chris: [07:52] I cooked with family beforehand. I went into the culinary world completely green, basically. I worked in a pizzeria, cooked with my family, always cooked with friends and things like that. I cooked in college often, like every other day. Then, when I had this epiphany, my buddy that I was living with in college, or in our house of 6 guys, he was like my uncle and aunt, they visit this place often; it’s Melisse, it’s a 2 Michelin star restaurant in Santa Monica. I was like, I gotta do it. Like, whatever you can do, let me do it. I go in there and I’m like, I’m going to go to culinary school, I’m going to go do this, and the chef, Josiah, is like don’t fucking waste your money.
Joe: [08:40] Don’t go to school.
Chris: [08:41] He literally brought his whole staff out and was like, “How many of you went to culinary school,” and everybody raises their hand. And he’s like, “How many of you finished culinary school?” Two people leave their hand up. And he’s like, don’t fucking waste your money. Like, come in, see if you even like working in the kitchen. I came in after that, and I came in everyday, and I was blown away. It was like a symphony, it was beautiful. It was beautiful. They run an incredibly well-manicured kitchen. It was unbelievable. It was right out of my dreams.
Joe: [09:16] And that’s where you learned.
Chris: [09:17] And that’s where I learned. Yeah, there’s where I got like my base training.
Joe: [09:20] Yeah, and there’s – I mean, man… spending years in the engineering world, and being like, well, I don’t like, I didn’t use any of it – and I learned something else in Corporate America, like it’s interesting. It’s going to be interesting to see how education evolves, and schooling, and experience, and entrepreneurship. But there’s no real learning experience like actually just diving in and failing. That’s what I was going to ask you about, like what is a… what is something that if you could tell yourself of 5-6 years ago, when you were in the beginnings of all this, what’s something that you would have told yourself?
Chris: [10:02] I would’ve stressed the importance of patience. Because, again, we all want things quicker and we feel like we should be at certain places at certain points in our lives, and all of this is pressure coming in from a societal structure. So, none of it’s real, none of it’s mandatory, and none of it makes you a man or a woman any more than any other path. I think that if I could look back, I would tell myself to be more patient, that I don’t need to do thing irrationally right away, and that just because I’m feeling an emotion doesn’t mean that I need to act upon that emotion right away. Over time, I think that’s the biggest refinement that I’ve worked on in myself. It is one, staying more stoic; so, instead of reacting to things, I can have a more – wow, what’s the-
Joe: [11:03] A response?
Chris: [11:04] Yes, thank you.
Joe: [11:05] That’s what I try – like the reaction vs. response.
Chris: [11:08] Yeah.
Joe: [11:09] And I’ve had many a times, and it’s still a daily practice, is like every time something happens, you feel triggered, you feel emotions, something goes wrong, you can get frustrated, you can react. It’s constant work in saying that ok, well, I can think about this, I can understand how it feels, I can try and understand all perspectives, and then I can respond. It’s a real big difference than just reacting, and I would say, for me, that’s constant work. And especially owning a business, you’re going to get frustrated, shit’s going to go wrong, you’re going to make mistakes, and you’re going to be like, well, I wish I could’ve done that differently, but now I’ve learned from it and I’ll do it differently next time.
Chris: [11:44] Yeah. I mean, that’s a huge thing for me, because my whole life I was trained to react. Like, in sports, it was you have split seconds to make decisions and that’s what I’m used to. If I didn’t become this, it was going to be a professional athlete. So, it was like I, you know, my whole life just training to watch a fly ball, to watch a ground ball, to react to the instantaneous changes in players, ball, etc. Getting out of that world, going into a real world where I have zero power, zero knowledge, zero anything, like I can’t push people around to get my way, I can’t fucking swim move and tackle somebody. None of that works.
Joe: [12:27] You’re a new baby. It’s a new world.
Chris: [12:29] Right, right. So, going into that new world, it’s like, you gotta take the punches. You gotta slow down and you gotta listen to what other people say because you know nothing, and because you’re somewhere for 5 months doesn’t mean anything. It takes years to build things. I remember telling my mom, I was like, “Mom, I’m going to build a global company. Just watch.” And she’s sitting there like what did you turn into, you smoke weed, you dropped out of school, you – and so now, she’s like, oh my God, I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it.
Joe: [13:06] I want to talk about that worldwide experience and talk a little bit about what we’re creating together at Cured. Talk about inspirations, things you’ve learned while traveling to different parts of the world, understanding food in a different way and how some spices and flavors, and how there’s different ways to do it all over the world. What has been – I know you travel a lot now, and I witness that. Has it always been like that since the beginning of this, and how much of… what do you do when you go to a new place in the world to experience it, and how does each piece of that – you take that piece and continue along your journey with you?
Chris: [13:47] Juicy, juicy questions. Honestly, I really love, like, I built my company so that I could travel. I wanted this experience. Everything that’s happening in my life right now I deliberate set up. I wanted to have partnerships with as many companies that I really loved, and wanted to create a tribe of people, essentially. My whole philosophy on life is we’re energy, we’re moving through this fractalized version of reality where I have been you, you have been me, we all are one, etc. From a less metaphysical perspective, ultimately, you have only connection, like that’s all your left with at the end of life. I want to create connections with people that I feel have similar motives in helping and have similar mindsets of go get it, figure things out, and have the ability to execute on those. To me, those are incredible qualities in human beings. And then I wanted to travel. I wanted to see the world. I wanted to be uncomfortable. I wanted to – because in that uncomfort, you grow – and that’s what I really felt strongly about. I was like, I want to travel, I want to be uncomfortable, I want to see the world, I want to help people, I want to learn about different cuisines, I want to learn about plant medicine. At that time, I’m just fascinated by plant medicine and by ancient wisdom. When you look into all that stuff, you start to see a bigger world view of where certain medicines came from, where certain ideas came from, and a lot of it dives back into food, in the culture of eating.
Joe: [15:33] Tradition.
Chris: [15:34] Yeah. So, I couldn’t – our slogan is “Ancient Indulgence Elevated.” It’s that sort of ideology of taking the ancient wisdom and elevating it to something more modern. I think that the biggest thing that I learned while traveling is that we are so not different than anybody, like ever.
Joe: [15:59] Right? How wrong do we have that sometimes?
Chris: [16:01] That’s so crazy to me how we – like the media projects such an image on another culture and basically create it as if they’re a complete different species. In the U.S., yeah, exactly.
Joe: [16:15] Different locations in the U.S. But even moreso on the other side of the world. The first time I traveled to Abu Dhabi, to the Middle East, I would say I had a preconceived idea in my head of what it was going to be like. I sat down, I got off the plane, I got together with some friends that we had been mentoring at Lockheed Martin, actually, and sat down and were like, you’re my brother on the other side of the world. We’ve got it so wrong on the other side of the world. It happens everywhere. But it’s crazy. We are all… we are all of the human race and we’re on this planet, the spinning ball hurtling through space.
Chris: [16:55] Exactly. Let me let you in on a secret. Not you in particular, but you to the greater Cured community, nobody wants to worry about if their kids are going to get hurt at school. Nobody wants to worry about if their spouse is going to be ok going to the grocery store. Nobody. Nobody wants to cause that, and nobody wants to be the victim of that. So, all of the anger, violence, etc. is fabricated. There’s a very small amount of human beings that want to cause destruction.
Joe: [17:30] It’s the truth.
Chris: [17:31] Yeah.
Joe: [17:32] It’s the truth.
Chris: [17:33] Everything else to me is a lie, and I tend to go to places where, you know, I’m told not to go, and so, it’s one of those things where I’m like, I can move throughout cities without problems because one, I don’t instigate any problems, and two, I don’t put myself in situations that are going to be or have the potential for harm. I think that’s kind of – if you’re out in the middle of a rough part of Detroit, or you’re out in the middle of Iraq at late at night and you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing, chances are you’re going to find what you came for. Trouble.
Joe: [18:10] You’re always going to find what you’re looking for. It’s the truth. What you are asking for consciously or, unfortunately a lot of times, unconsciously.
Chris: [18:19] Yeah, absolutely.
Joe: [18:20] It’s the truth, man. It’s so interesting that this journey of life and when you reached out to us and we started talking, and then T.O. was telling me about everything that you were doing, and understanding The Herbal Chef on a mass, and the media and all of the potential of the world that you were doing, and all the exciting stuff that you’re doing here in L.A., which I’m sure will come out at some time. We don’t have dive into now on the podcast because I’m not sure what you can and can’t share. But that’s what’s been so exciting about what we’re doing together to be able to say… ok, if we dumb it down a lot, we’re releasing a product together, two products together. One is an immune boosting product, and another is a recovery product. And that’s a very simply concept, right? But there’s a lot of passion and collaboration and understood impact that both companies are trying to create, and as they come together and have the same vision of helping people making our day-to-day lives a little better. Eating, taking, using things that we’re supposed to use as human beings, that are coming from nature, it’s all for, in the big picture, the greater good of people.
Chris: [19:38] Absolutely.
Joe: [19:41] And that’s where, when you dumb everything down, and you have the media telling you certain things, and you have society and stigmas and everything we run into here in the U.S., and my childhood, yours, around cannabis, we don’t see that. We just look way over it, but it’s way down there below.
Chris: [20:01] And still very prevalent. Just as if none of think about racism, at least in my circles, our circles. It still exists. There’s still people that feel a certain way in the same way that there’s prejudice against cannabis in many industries still.
Joe: [20:18] What’s that like traveling everywhere?
Chris: [20:20] So, it’s very, very different. One thing that I try and bring back with me from every trip, like tangibly, is a tile, because I’d like to eventually create a bathtub or a shower with the different tiles. So, that’s my collectible, in case you ever travel somewhere and you find a nice tile.
Joe: [20:42] Yeah, ok! We will always be thinking about you, Chris. I love it.
Chris: [20:50] But essentially, cannabis is widely used. When I went to the Middle East, that was probably the biggest shocker. When I went to Jordan, and when I went to Israel, and when I went to Lebanon, and it was widely used.
Joe: [21:06] Really?
Chris: [21:07] Yeah, by people my age, a little bit older, like in between the ages of 21 and 35.
Joe: [21:13] I mean, a lot of strains are born in-
Chris: [21:18] In the Middle East, because that’s where it grew. It’s a very hot – so it can grow in very hot temperatures, and they’re super resilient plants. It’s not the best, but they are there, and I mean, they grow on the side of the road. It’s just-
Joe: [21:30] It’s crazy.
Chris: [21:31] Yeah. Hemp plants grow everywhere in the Middle East. But that’s what surprised me the most, is that most of the people around this age range are using cannabis, but they’re using the worst cannabis. They don’t access to anything of quality. It’s all hashish and pretty rough bud.
Joe: [21:53] The ditch weed that our parents talked about. That’s interesting, the globalization of the cannabis industry and import/outport and all of that is going to be really interesting. I know it’s already, like Canada, they’re just cannabis crazy right now from what I can see.
Chris: [22:08] But they’re not even organized. I mean, they federally legalized something and they’re still like, I don’t know what we’re going to do about onsite consumption, I don’t know what we’re going to do about edibles, I don’t know what we’re going to do about beverages, I don’t what we’re going to do about having it in food. What are we doing with smoke lounges?
Joe: [22:22] What’s the latest here? Because I lived here for a little while. Obviously, Colorado is – I think Colorado’s done a pretty good job, to be honest. But what’s going on here, because years ago when I lived here, it was super interesting around the licensing. Shit, there were battles in San Diego for a couple licenses that one of – a license that my buddy has that he was trying to sell 3 years ago, and just yesterday told me that he is in the process of selling it – but like the zoning and the regulation, and the actual compliance and the way that the industry’s supposed to operate. Here is really interesting because it went from the Wild West to now let’s make this an industry that can actually succeed, so we’re going to have to put some type of a structure to it. But implementing those rules is really – rules or how it’s supposed to happen – has been interesting to watch when I was here. What’s going on in California now?
Chris: [23:18] It’s definitely more refined now. With that said, it’s still up in the air. I mean, there’s still a lot of like gray space or gray area functioning companies. Then, there’s the licensed companies that have no idea what they’re doing, with no funding, but they have a license. Then, there’s the companies that have all this money and are buying up licenses and don’t have any idea what they’re going to do with it yet. So, it’s still this weird, exploded view of the engine that’s going to be the cannabis industry. You’re having some parts that function really well, like you have Eaze that’s doing a delivery system that is pretty well ran, right? Then, you have dispensaries that are beautiful, that are very simply well-ran. And same thing with cultivations and distributions. But you’re still getting all your hiccups in the distribution because all the seed-to-sale tracking and all the things that they’ve implemented throw big hurdles for all these companies. So, what you’re getting right now is a lot of small companies can’t fight the monetary uphill battle right now.
Joe: [24:31] That’s unfortunate.
Chris: [24:32] So, you’re seeing a lot of companies drop off or sell. Then, you’re seeing a lot of big companies come in, and then they’re basically trying to buy up authenticity. So, as a consumer in the cannabis industry, you want to support your local farmers, you want to support the people who were here first, you want to support people who are doing things right, understand that cannabis is a conscious female entity that is coming in through the plant, and that this is a chance for spiritual growth, it’s a chance for body healing, it’s a chance for spiritual healing. All of this is present in a consumer’s mind, so when they see 2 Chainz on something, or they see Martha Stewart – with no connection to cannabis whatsoever – they realize that it’s just putting a face to sell product, and everyone’s boycotting it. Think about Ignite, right? I think Dan Bilzerian is going to make a lot of money.
Joe: [25:32] He will, for sure.
Chris: [25:33] And I don’t think he’s wrong for doing what he’s doing, because that’s one path to live life, right? But he’s only sold $3.9 million after spending $12 million on marketing.
Joe: [25:45] Really? Wow!
Chris: [25:47] All that money. Really, think about it. No one’s really supporting that type of behavior, and it’s going to compete with the real culture of cannabis. There’s an underground battle in L.A. right now because L.A. is where the next cannabis companies, like the world renown, or the global companies the brands are coming out of.
Joe: [26:13] Actual brands.
Chris: [26:14] Exactly. Out of Los Angeles, that’s what’s defining the next sort of tier of brand.
Joe: [26:23] It’s… everything’s going in the right direction, and I’m really excited to watch everything that happens. Let’s spend some time talking about the products that you created for Cured.
Chris: [26:33] Yeah.
Joe: [26:34] Which one do you want to start on?
Chris: [26:36] I like Immunity. Let’s start with Immunity. I mean, essentially, it’s a brainchild of – ok, I do all this traveling. I get sick more often than I have been because if I do not get enough – I’m a man who, like, I work very hard, but I also need 8 hours of sleep. I won’t compromise on it. I just get too tired and I don’t function well, and I’m not – I’ve just done it enough to where I’m like, you know what? I’d rather just get an extra hour of sleep. Then, I can feel better and I can go about my business vs. forcing myself to get 5-6 hours of sleep and then waking up tired, half-assing things in the morning, or my workout, whatever it is. So, I was like, if I’m going to be traveling a lot, and I usually get sick on these trips, or I get more prone.
Joe: [27:27] You’re around so many people.
Chris: [27:30] Exactly.
Joe: [27:31] Planes are actually disgusting.
Chris: [27:32] Yes, they are! They’re literally just putting back in the air that people are coughing.
Joe: [27:35] Recirculating all that bullshit.
Chris: [27:39] So, I was like, I need something that I can take with me, and I have all these fucking, you know – what are they called – the Airborne, Emergen-C, and I was like, you know, I bet I can make a product that one, tastes better, and two, has a more well-rounded profile than what I’m just putting into my water bottle, or the powder and chewing it.
Joe: [28:04] And has some nutrition to it too. There’s no nutrition to those.
Chris: [28:06] Exactly. I was like, I bet you I can get a good profile on something. So, I started to kind of play around with it and was like, you know, if I made a line of squeezable packets, I think one, I can carry 10, 15 of them with me, and then, two, I can have like – I think it just belongs in the market right now because people are looking for things that are quick, easy, and I know many travelers, many hikers, many backpackers and the like, entrepreneurs, anybody that’s really on the go that I’ve talked to has a need for something like this.
Joe: [28:45] 100%.
Chris: [28:46] You know, they can’t be the only ones either.
Joe: [28:50] There’s very poor examples of it out there right now. There’s like the GU’s that people have, like the endurance things, but there’s nothing consciously curated to actually be what you’re creating. It really stands out.
Chris: [29:02] Yeah. It’s utilizing plant medicine as well, utilizing reishi, utilizing cayenne, utilizing turmeric, utilizing ginseng, utilizing – like ginseng, turmeric, and cannabis are 3 of the 50 sanctioned Chinese medicines that they’ve been using since they started.
Joe: [29:24] Since forever!
Chris: [29:25] Literally. The first book that they ever created on Chinese medicine was called The Great Herbal. Then, the second book was called The Herbal. And then 2,500 years later, The Herbal Chef.
Joe: [29:38] There you go.
Chris: [29:39] So, that’s – I just learned that a couple months ago, and I thought it was fascinating. Like, there’s no way. This is divine.
Joe: [29:47] There’s the piece of the puzzle. It’s all coming together. It’s… well, one thing – T.O. said freeze those. So, when those products do come out, they’re meant to be on the go, but freezing them as well – he’s like, it’s like a popsicle.
Chris: [30:04] Oh, yeah. It’s a tasty one.
Joe: [30:06] Super stoked about that product to come out and, as you said, it’s the ingredients that came together, it’s simple. It’s simple, which is like, that’s another big thing. There’s so much bullshit in so much of our food, and… sometimes people just don’t question it, or aren’t – not intelligent enough – but, I should say, aware enough to even understand how to ask a question about certain ingredients.
Chris: [30:35] Or like what dyes are in our food, or just all the little things. Like, I just wanted something. I’m not vegan, and I’m not vegetarian, but I want things that all people can eat that tastes good. I never understood in my mind why people are scared to cook vegan, or scared to eat vegan, or like – I don’t understand that concept at all because there’s so many incredible vegetables that you can literally cook with vegetables far more in capacity, taste, texture, than you ever could with meat. The possibilities are literally endless, and I wanted something that everybody can eat. Something that it didn’t matter what allergen you had, it was fine, it’s all good. That leads into the Recovery bar as well, which is I just want things that fuel my body rather than like when I cook for people, I’m always conscious about what I’m putting into their bodies. So, I want to take that same approach with myself now. Because it’s like, ok, I’ll throw whatever I can in my mouth so I can feed these people a 10 course tasting menu, while I’m eating ramen that has msg and sodium galore in the back because I have 5 minutes to eat.
Joe: [31:46] Yeah. You have, as an entrepreneur, and – it’s funny, I haven’t even really thought about that – yes, you are cooking, you’re around the food all the time, but you are getting your job done to feed people.
Chris: [32:02] Yeah. And I’m tasting. It’s not eating. I’m not eating the lamb, I’m tasting a small bite to make sure it’s cooked right, or I’m tasting the sauces around it and I know that it’s cooked right. I can plate it knowing that it’s going to come together exactly how I want.
Joe: [32:16] So, the Recovery bar. This is another – so, first of all, we talked about the Immunity, and there’s actually, we didn’t even say it, there’s the CBD in there as well. That’s obviously, as The Herbal Chef, but it’s a packed powerhouse.
Chris: [32:32] Yeah, and there’s a ton of Vitamin B. It has all your major Vitamin B complexes, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and it has adaptogens, CBD, and it has – it’s just jam packed.
Joe: [32:46] Yeah, it is.
Chris: [32:48] My goal is to, ‘cause we do these meals for patients, and my goal is to have this be part of a regimen for people that are going through ailments as well so that you can, you know, this is just part of your daily intake for what you need.
Joe: [33:05] Yeah, get all your bases covered. That’s the thing that I was talking about on a podcast – damn it, we’ve done so many podcasts while I’ve been here. It was today. But getting all your bases covered through food, water, movement. Then, when there are other things you still want to attack, like – obviously, we’re going to supplement our life with supplements – but like the majority of the things that we need we can get through food, whole food.
Chris: [33:37] Absolutely.
Joe: [33:38] We can get everything through whole food. Sometimes we’re going to have deficiencies in our body that we need a little bit more Vitamin D, so let me find something that’s packed with Vitamin D or let me take 5000IU of a capsule. Sure, that’s always going to happen. But that’s the beautiful piece of it, the whole ingredients that are going into both of these. The Recovery bar has, we said reishi, we said – did you even say cacao.
Chris: [34:02] No, not yet.
Joe: [34:03] Ok. So, what all’s in the Recovery bar?
Chris: [34:06] So, there’s two different mushrooms that we use in the Recovery. There’s the reishi, and it’s really meant to cover more macronutrients, so it’s high in fat and it’s high in protein. Because we want people after recovery, or after a workout, after a strenuous activity, after whatever activity you’re doing and you want a pick me up, to help you, you know, in any of those forms, you can down this bar and know that it’s completely guilt-free. None of these contain sugar. Sorry, they do contain natural sugar, only from the fruits.
Joe: [34:45] Right, right. No added sugar.
Chris: [34:47] Exactly. So, Immunity has just honey and the sugar from mango.
Joe: [34:54] That shit’s so good.
Chris: [34:55] Then, Recovery, it’s just the cacao and it’s just the hemp butter. So, and the hemp butter’s extremely potent with protein.
Joe: [35:04] Dude, what the fuck! That shit’s so good.
Chris: [35:06] Yeah, it’s unbelievable.
Joe: [35:08] That shit’s so good. The first time I tried that I was like, where, how is this, what is this? Tell me more.
Chris: [35:14] Where do I get more?
Joe: [35:17] Yeah, so super excited about those, and that’s – let’s talk about the form factor of those. That’s basically just an on-the-go bar. Great for you as well. I need these things in my life and I’m going to create them. That’s how it works!
Chris: [35:32] And I feel that other people want them too.
Joe: [35:34] 100% because we’re all doing – well, not all – but especially entrepreneurs, the people that are on the go, always moving in motion, but let’s be real, there’s always a time when you need something a little bit easier. If you’re at home and you go in your cabinet and you want a nice, nutritious snack, like great, grab that. It’s going to used at all times of the day and for all purposes. There’s a very specific use, but it’s not ruling it out.
Chris: [35:59] Right. I mean, the way that I look at is, I could call that a brownie, and you taste that, and it tastes really delicious. That was a whole, in my mind, it was taste first. But, I’m also going to sneakily put in there everything that you need for some daily vitamins and micronutrients. That was kind of the thought behind both of them, was like, how do I make this fun that people want to eat, but then taste really good, but is also going to help them. Because ultimately, if it doesn’t taste good, you’re not going to eat it. I’m the first proponent of that. Even though I’m staring at something and I know this is good for me and I should eat this, and I’m like, but it’s just awful.
Joe: [36:45] It’s true!
Chris: [36:46] So, I have to force myself. It’s like a conversation. I don’t want to have a conversation when I’m trying to eat a snack. I want to just eat the snack. You know what I mean?
Joe: [36:53] Yeah.
Chris: [36:54] So, that was the whole reason behind it. I want something that’s going to help people recover. I am friends with so many athletes. The athletic world is very close to my heart. All my friends still coach from high school. I’m friends with a few people from the Rams, and NBA players, etc. MLB players, NHL players, and, of course, I just felt like if they can have something that has CBD that is helping them recover, and then on top of that providing them nutrients, then it’s a win-win for everybody.
Joe: [37:31] Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. All human beings need that nutrition. These are… look forward to seeing these products everywhere. That’s the goal.
Chris: [37:41] Yeah. You know, I just… so right now, we’re working up a 50th anniversary with the Westin Hotels and creating an herb café that is providing all their – because they’re big into fitness, they’re big into wellness, they’re big into all the Zen moments that life has to offer.
Joe: [38:04] Taking care of yourself.
Chris: [38:05] Exactly. So, they want a plant medicine-based menu to be applicable to their guests. Available to their guests. We’ve been working on that, so we’re going to be doing their 50th anniversary party.
Joe: [38:21] That’s dope.
Chris: [38:22] I think that this would be something really amazing to just imagine you go into your suite and you have Recovery and Immunity there.
Joe: [38:32] That’s what we all need.
Chris: [38:33] These type of things, I think it’s going to be so well in hotels, and do so well in the medical industry, and do so well in just people that just want something helpful to their body that tastes good.
Joe: [38:48] Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I want to spend a little bit of time allowing you to talk about anything else about The Herbal Chef, and places you’re going, things you’re doing, how people can learn more about it, what you’re most excited about, so people can learn more about this fucking beast.
Chris: [39:08] So, I’m really excited about the restaurant. That is going to be my main focus, my main squeeze, my just like, everything that I’ve learned over the years coming into culmination in a dining and mind-expansive experience. I’m really excited for that. We’re looking at Q2 2020 opening.
Joe: [39:36] That’ll be here before we know it.
Chris: [39:37] Yeah, dude. I feel like this year’s already done and I’m like, I could’ve sworn it was just January. Could’ve sworn.
Joe: [39:46] Not sure what day it is. We’re in September.
Chris: [39:50] That is true. Truthfully, I only pay attention to the numbers of the days, or like the number of the calendar.
Joe: [39:57] That’s all you need.
Chris: [39:58] Because it just starts to get lost on me. And I don’t work a typical 9-5, so Saturdays are no different than Mondays, and it’s all just convoluted. There’s no Monday through Friday work, and 9-5. It’s none of that, so literally, the days blend and all of that. I’m sure you’re the same.
Joe: [40:23] Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what way’s up, what way’s down. But it’s all worth it, man.
Chris: [40:28] Part of the fun.
Joe: [40:29] Yeah, it is, for sure. Yeah, fun. It definitely is fun. Sometimes I fucking don’t know what I’m doing, but that’s the fun of it, because we’re going to figure it out. We have a solid mission here. Where can people go to learn more about The Herbal Chef? Where’s the best place to find more information and stay up to date on anything that’s going on, including the restaurant?
Chris: [40:54] Instagram is probably the best, the most updated of all of the medias. Then, second to that would be the website, theherbalchef.com.
Joe: [41:04] And you got a book coming out. You just got endless stuff.
Chris: [41:08] Yeah, dude. The book, the TV show.
Joe: [41:10] Talk about the TV show. Can you talk about the TV show? If not, we can – it’s coming.
Chris: [41:16] Yeah, exactly. That’s pretty much all I can say, is there’s a TV show coming, and then there’s multiple ones that I’ve produced. Oh, one of them just dropped yesterday that you can actually go watch. Me and Waka Flocka-
Joe: [41:29] I saw you posting something about that on Instagram and little while ago.
Chris: [41:32] That just dropped on Netflix. Then, there’s another one that’s about to come out in the UK for another show.
Joe: [41:40] Worldwide brand. Worldwide, man. Fuck yeah, man.
Chris: [41:44] Worldwide.
Joe: [41:46] We’re going real big.
Chris: [41:49] Yeah, I think, like the other thing we’re real excited about too, is we just landed a beautiful licensing contract in South Africa for a lounge. So, we’re going to be taking over the menu and design, and we’re going to be putting in a lounge in South Africa for the members there, and delivering really great cannabis, and delivering a really great experience for them as well. You’re going to start to see The Herbal Chef in media, and then you’re going to start to see Herb is all of like, lounges, restaurants, boutique hotels, etc.
Joe: [42:25] It’s a beautiful thing. Stoked to be doing this with you, dude.
Chris: [42:28] Likewise, man.
Joe: [49:29] Thanks for your time here today and everything that you’re doing to help the industry as a whole, but then, just human beings and this human experience for all of us. Appreciate it, man.
Chris: [42:38] Yeah, likewise. I’m glad to be a part of it, and I’m excited for what’s to come, and I’m excited for how hard our teams worked to collectively bring something good to the world.
Joe: [42:49] Yeah, man. Appreciate it, brother.
