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By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Evolution of bees: Their role in making Plant-based Honey

Traditionally bees have a massive role in producing honey. So, removing their support seems unrealistic, or does it? And sure, scientists can try to explain it. But can someone explain it in simple terms, in a way that a curious foodie could understand it?

Let’s find out in an exclusive interview with Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich.

Darko Mandich is a food entrepreneur in San Francisco. After spending almost a decade in the European honey industry as a business executive, Darko committed to reimagining the honey industry to become sustainable. Darko immigrated from Europe to California to launch Mellody, the world’s first plant-based honey brand. Darko is an advocate of saving the bees and wild pollinators.

Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich

Recently, I had a chance to talk with Darko.

From a science point of view, how are you creating plant-based honey products?

The process has to start with philosophy. When people think about science, engineering and process, what comes to their mind is what’s the science? What’s the engineering behind that? What’s the process of making something?

But I would argue that every process, every science starts with a philosophy in the first place. So for us, our philosophy was there’s honey made by the bees in the market, the real ones, that product quality-wise is amazing, but has negative baggage in terms of how it’s made. Next to that, there’s fake honey. There’s basically adulterated honey that’s made by people taking fraudulent activities and blending a little bit of real honey and a lot of rice syrup.

That’s done outside of the US by people trying not to get caught. The third group are vegan honey alternatives, made out of tapioca, dates, maple, pure sugar. These products are just not honey. Trying to impersonate honey, but it’s not honey. It’s a legit product. It’s in the market. People can buy it.

What was missing is the fourth group, which is the category that we pioneered.

Honey, the product that has the composition of real honey but that doesn’t have any rice syrups, nothing that doesn’t belong to honey. But, it’s not made by the bees and therefore by default is vegan and plant-based. So that was the category that we started, and we didn’t start it only for vegans. Obviously vegans are our early adopters. They love what we’re doing. I’m vegan myself. But I want this to be an inclusive company and brand, and therefore we launched this for everybody. For everybody who likes delicious and nutritious foods. By choosing this you’re basically voting for those little creatures to survive on this planet.

You asked me about the process.

You wanna make honey only from something that in nature that touches bees and honey, it’s very strict. Our team studied a lot of different honeys, the different anatomy of the bees, the science behind honey production. Bees land on a flower, they suck up nectar. And there’s a couple of things in a bee’s anatomy. We came up with this proprietary process where we interact with the plants, we take different parts of the plants.

What’s really exciting and cool is we can take the whole plant, break it into different ingredients, and take parts of the plant that maybe bees don’t have access to, like its roots. So we take different ingredients from different plants. We have more than 30 different plants in our product that we launched and we created this process that is basically mixing all those ingredients in a food facility in a regular culinary approach, and basically create a product that looks, tastes, and behaves like honey.

Is your honey currently available at Eleven Madison Home?

This is the product from a direct to consumer collaboration. We just launched with three Michelin star, Eleven Madison Park in New York City.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Yeah, the honey is currently available. The Specialty Tea and Honey Box launched for the Mother’s Day collection and Earth Month.

It’s a specially curated box of artisanal teas coming from different parts of the world with honey and also amazing, shortbread cookies. All plant-based, also made with our honey. That’s available right now

Sometime very soon a standalone jar [of honey] will also be available to Eleven Madison Home.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Tell us again what’s available, how to find it; and how to follow you and support you.

Yeah, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at MellodyFoods

In terms of purchasing, head to ElevenMadisonHome.com and you can purchase it there.

Saving the bees is learning more about them. Learning more about pollinators and you can do that on our social media.

And finally, if you’re equally passionate about bees and plants as we are, ask your favorite restaurant to reach out to us to offer Mellody in your favorite restaurant. It can be a vegan restaurant on non-vegan.

We are gonna work with all the restaurants that reach out to us where people ask to see our product offered, either on the menu, either within a meal, or just if you order a cup of tea and you want a side of Mellody.

DC gets inspired by 'Chocolate Epiphany' Honeymoon Chocolate Wants to Help you

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DC gets inspired by ‘Chocolate Epiphany’ Honeymoon Chocolate Wants to Help you

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Ever Get so Inspired you had a ‘Chocolate Epiphany? Honeymoon Chocolate Wants to Help you

Have you ever felt better after a good meal? The flavors that linger. The euphoria that captures your attention. You’re inspired. You can’t help but smile.

Today we’re talking with Honeymoon Chocolates’ Cam Loyet.

You use the phrase ‘Chocolate Epiphany’. What does it mean to you?

So up in Bloomington, Illinois, where Hayley and I met there’s a restaurant called the Epiphany Farms it’s farm to table. It’s expensive because you’re getting the highest quality meal. We were only college students. So we really couldn’t afford it, except for once a year. Every meal I had there, I had what seemed like this Epiphany with food where everything tasted better than any meal I’d had in the last 4 weeks. It was just incredible and we hope that you know our chocolate can do that for our customers.

It’s this experience where only a single bite can tide you over or a little bit goes a long way, because not only was the flavor so incredible, but it lasts 5 or 10 minutes, the flavor in your mouth just lingers.

That’s where “Chocolate Epiphany“ comes from being sweetened with honey. It doesn’t have to be sweetened with cane sugar.

Honey is as local as it gets and it’s as unrefined as it gets with the sweetener completely untouched, raw unfiltered honey.

A lot of our competitors use coconut, sugar, monk fruit or stevia, and those are all processed ingredients, one way or another. Even cane sugar is processed.

So we’re doing our best to create this experience through chocolate and communicate with our customers; and hopefully it becomes an epiphany in the process.

Honeymoon chocolate is a love story, a health story, a delicious flavor, story and an environmental story. What else can we add to that?

It’s definitely a love story, my girlfriend at the time, now my wife; we met at Illinois Wesleyan University, and started this crazy business of sweetening chocolate with local honey. Yes, we need chocolate with local honey. And it’s a bittersweet journey. We instantly found out all of the trials and tribulations of owning our own business.

Also the cocoa supply chain. It’s a lot like the diamond industry where there’s a lot of slave labor and a lot of issues with those who really do all the hard work and effort. There’s a lot of effect we can have as we scale.

Yeah, a love story. It;’ sweet. It’s romantic. That’s one of the main reasons why we named it Honeymoon Chocolates because it always has its place at romantic events.

We do our best to attract those who want to gift our product. A lot of our customers do gift our chocolate.

It’s environmental as well. It’s all compostable packaging. We have a goal of using only clean energy in the future, but again, it continues to be bitter sweet because chocolate is a very power hungry industry. It takes a lot of effort and energy to manufacture chocolate. It takes a lot of effort and energy just to get the cocoa here.

There’s a lot of effort in our industry to be transparent on the energy that is being used in the emissions and our goals to be a bit more transparent on that as well. But we do our best.

I never want our Honeymoon Chocolates wrapper to be out on the streets blowing in the wind without the ability to biodegrade or compost. So we go a little bit more a little bit above and beyond.

Visits Honeymoon Chocolates at: https://hmchocolates.com

On Instagram, at: www.instagram.com/honeymoonchocolates

On Facebook, at: https://www.facebook.com/honeymoonchocolates

DC Chocolate loves ‘Bean to Bar’ But do you understand it? Honeymoon Chocolates Cam Loyet explains it

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DC Chocolate loves ‘Bean to Bar’ But do you understand it? Honeymoon Chocolates Cam Loyet explains it

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Chocolate fans, Do You Understand ‘Bean to Bar’ ? Honeymoon Chocolates Cam Loyet explains it

Honeymoon Chocolates was founded in a dorm room back in 2016 making bean-to-bar craft chocolate sweetened solely with raw honey.

Years later, bean to bar is only getting more popular. But what does it actually mean? Do you know where to go? What to look for or ask for?

So we asked Cam Loyet from Honeymoon Chocolates

What does “Bean to Bar” Craft chocolate mean? Is it as simple as a one sentence answer? Or Is it more complicated?

It’s far more complicated. In itself, it’s a little bit selfish in my opinion. There’s a lot of benefit employing those who work in origin to also manufacture the chocolate. That’s something that we’d be interested in down the road. We just can’t afford it so right now we take all the effort, all the energy and time to do it here in St. Louis.

It’s a really fun process. But you do end up taking a lot of the credit where the credit isn’t necessarily due. A lot of the credits due for the fine cocoa farmers at origin.

Can you walk me through the basic concept?

So in our industry it’s wherever you receive the dry, unfermented cocoa beans. and you roast them. What you’re doing is crafting this flavor and you’re manufacturing a product that otherwise wouldn’t wouldn’t necessarily exist.

If you have the ability to roast [in-house] and you start [you’re own manufacturing process] ]there, you’re ‘bean to bar’.

It just gives a little bit more local sense to chocolate. Whenever you open up a bar, and you don’t know where it’s manufactured and how it’s manufactured, you lose a bit of that local sense. It becomes more of a global or nationwide feel.

l got it. So the beans come from somewhere else, they arrive under your roof and the manufacturing process happens under your roof. So beans come in and a bar comes out, but it all happens under the same roof.

Yes. And it’s traceable. That’s also very important.

So when I’m at a Whole Foods, or any high-end retail groceries, there are many craft chocolate bars. What am I looking for to know the difference?

I love the idea of when a consumer looks at a list of 9 bars, they instantly go ‘is it a dark, milk or or white. If it’s dark, what percentage do I like?’

It starts with, what percentage do they like? And then from there you go into this dialogue with the consumer when they try your product.

But it really does start with what the consumer likes. You can’t necessarily force an 85% bar onto a consumer that enjoys white chocolate.

But you look at the ingredients on them. There are some good makers that use Lecithin just because it makes the product easier to work with, but it does make it less of a clean label product. So you look at the clean label from nutrition.

You are gonna look and see if it’s single origin to check to see where the cocoa comes from. Just because it does highlight the farmers’ work a little bit more. There’s some big makers that combine origins because they have more of a fruity flavor versus a more chocolate-forward cocoa bean. So then they combine them. But I do find that it kind of does take away from the efforts that do happen earlier on in the supply chain.

Thank you, Cam.

Visits Honeymoon Chocolates at: https://hmchocolates.com

On Instagram, at: www.instagram.com/honeymoonchocolates

On Facebook, at: https://www.facebook.com/honeymoonchocolates

DC Foodies: Manhattan’s La Grande Boucherie Chef Maxime Kien Reveals the ‘Simple Secret’ to a Great Dish

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DC Foodies: Manhattan’s La Grande Boucherie Chef Maxime Kien Reveals the ‘Simple Secret’ to a Great Dish

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Manhattan’s La Grande Boucherie Chef Maxime Kien Reveals the ‘Simple Secret’ to a Great Dish

Chef Maxime Kien is the new Executive Chef of NYC’s The Group, responsible for La Grande Boucherie, Boucherie Union Square, Boucherie West Village, Petite Boucherie and more. And by the end of 2023, they’re launching even more restaurants.

But today’s conversation is about bringing the most flavor out of a plate’s ingredients

Chef Maxime Kien explains:

To me, the simpler the food on the plate, the harder it is to make. The food we see in some restaurants right now is over-complicated.

Too many ingredients, too much mixing of flavors and sauce and garnishes. [Instead,] try to stay true to what you’re trying to achieve.

Executive Chef Maxime Kien

Let’s say you’re doing a scallop. Cook the scallop properly, season it properly, don’t try to hide the flavor of the scallop with something which is gonna be overpowering and then you’re gonna be left eating something and not being able to recognize what you have in front of you.

Not looking at it and saying, ”What is that?”

Everybody thinks cooking fish is easy. No, it’s actually really technical because the second you over-cook it, the fish is worse.

The key is being able to take something nice, season it properly, cook it properly and make it the star of the dish, with something that is going to complement it.

A nice sauce is as simple as that. That’s what we are trying to achieve here, not try to be too complicated.

La Grande Boucherie is the number one booked restaurant in New York City. I think we’re in the top five in the USA as far as the volume that we do.

There are some items, like I will not put a tomato salad on the menu in December, even if we can find them. I want to make sure that I follow the seasons and follow nature. So tomatoes will come for summer.

In spring, you’re gonna have spring pie and try to stay true to the roots and try to stay true to seasonal things.

I wouldn’t put whole vegetable bread in the midst of summer because that’s something that you serve as food with venison in fall and winter. Mushroom season is mushroom season. Don’t try to do things ’out of season’ because the product is not gonna be the best. So if the product is not good, I don’t want to serve it. I’d rather not put something on the menu rather than put something on the menu that’s not gonna be to our standard. I don’t wanna do that.

Tell us about the next steps of NYC’s The Group launching several restaurants throughout the United States

The company [The Group NYC] started about 11 years ago with the vision of Emil Stefkov, the owner. He opened the first restaurant and the company grew pretty quickly after that.

The company almost quadrupled its size within a few years. Then because of Covid, everything was touch and go. But now we have a few projects coming up. We have Miami, Washington DC and Chicago. We’re gonna add another eight restaurants to the portfolio. We’re gonna double the size of the company within a short amount of time.

Well, there’s a lot of moving parts between developing the kitchen and having a look at the plans — we need to do this, this is where the pantry needs to be here. You know, and they’re talking about many developments and research and the staffing. There’s so many components. It’s not only like ‘We’re gonna open the restaurant.’ There is so much work behind that. You’re looking at the location. You have to think back to seasonal and local [ingredients and menu].

It’s all different food scenes. Even if you have core items from the menu, because they’re your identity, you have to look at every single location as an almost separate entity and be able to say, ‘This dish might not work over there, but it’s gonna work right here.’ So develop all of that and being thoughtful about everything.

Manhattan NYC’s La Grande Boucherie Chef Maxime Kien Reveals inspiration from Past Generations of Chefs

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Manhattan NYC’s La Grande Boucherie Chef Maxime Kien Reveals inspiration from Past Generations of Chefs

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Manhattan NYC’s La Grande Boucherie Chef Maxime Kien Reveals inspiration from Past Generations of Chefs

Chef Maxime Kien is the new Executive Chef of NYC’s The Group, responsible for La Grande Boucherie, Boucherie Union Square, Boucherie West Village, Petite Boucherie and more. And by the end of 2023, they’re launching even more restaurants throughout the United States..

But today’s conversation is about how the past has inspired Chef Maxime Kien’s work.

Chef Maxime Kien has over twenty years of fine dining experience but it all started as a young boy growing up in his family’s kitchens.

You grew up in kitchens. Your grandparents loved to cook and your father was a chef. How did these experiences inspire you?

Well, my Dad was a professional Chef in the South of France. In Monaco, all my grandparents, both my grandmothers and my grandfathers were great cooks. One of my great-grandfathers was a professional cook in Paris at an open air market that was very famous in the early 1900s. There was a very famous French brasserie opened over there and the story behind that is that the gentleman that opened that place wanted to have a place where all the chefs [that worked there] could meet because there was the open air market that was right next to it.

So you had a mix of late night partiers that would go out and party and wanted a place to be able to go eat and drink all night long. Now you had a place for that.

All the people that worked until late at night wanted a place where they could go and eat something before they went home. And Chefs that had to go to the market very early, at four o’clock in the morning to pick up that day’s poultry, rabbits, quails and all the fresh fish coming from Britain on a daily routine. They would do that at four o’clock in the morning and afterwards they needed a place to go for breakfast.

It was open 24 hours a day. It was always a mix of people from show business, like singers and actors.

You would have Mick Jagger sitting at the bar. Next to him would be a Chef. Next to the Chef would be a 14 year old boy having an omelet for breakfast with a glass of red wine at six o’clock in the morning. So it’s always been a mix of everything.

Unfortunately, my Dad passed away when I was really young. I was six. But I guess I was drawn to cooking and that lifestyle. It’s chaotic. When you’re working in a kitchen, you never know what time you’ll get done. It might be quiet and you get home at night by 10 o’clock.

If you start to get busy, you might not be done until two o’clock in the morning. So it’s a mix of adrenaline and being busy and it’s tough and it’s grueling and it’s rewarding and it’s a mix of everything

How did growing up in kitchens with your family inspire you to run your own kitchen?

Every chef is different. The way I run my kitchen is different from the way that other chefs I’ve worked with run theirs. It’s like a recipe. Everyone can interpret it differently. You take bits and pieces from a recipe to take the same dish and make it your own.

Someone’s management style is the same way. I’ve worked for some chefs who were very good at managing people, but in the kitchen they were not as great. And some of them were geniuses at creating dishes, but they were not the best at managing people. So you have to create your own style.

You graduated culinary school when you were very young. Would you still recommend school or encourage new chefs to learn hands-on in a kitchen?

The hard part about school versus hands-on is being able to understand exactly what [a new chef] is trying to achieve. Meaning that when I went to culinary school back in the 1980s, you wanted to graduate and get a diploma. After that, you wanted to be able to get your foot inside the door of a three Michelin star restaurant, a very famous place because you knew the chef was someone you were gonna be able to learn from.

And that [experience] was gonna take you to the next chef, that was gonna take you to the next chef, and so on. Because it’s a close-knit community, like a family. All the big chefs know each other. So when you’re ready to make your next move, the Chef [at your current kitchen] would come and ask, ‘Where do you want to go next?’ He’ll make a call and help you get that next job.

Now, unfortunately, the way some TV cooking shows happen, they give a vision of what it is to be a chef that is completely different from the truth.

So now you have cooks that go to very famous, very expensive culinary schools and they spend a huge amount of money to graduate. Then after two years of education, they expect to find a position of Executive Chef, making six figures and wearing Egyptian cotton jackets with their name on them.

But they don’t have the basics. They’re trying to run before they can walk. The biggest difference with my generation is, we went through all the processes, we didn’t try to rush the steps before you actually tried to be a chef.

You had to be a good line cook before you tried to become Chef de Partie and then [become] a good Chef de Partie before you become a Sous Chef, and then [become] a good Sous Chef, before you become an executive chef. So that’s the main difference.

Almost like an army style, you have to graduate through the ranks.

New chefs try to go too fast. Take your time. Find a chef you can learn from. New York is very lucky for that because you’ve got so many great chefs.

Daniel Boulud and all these great chefs brought the New York Culinary to the next level. Daniel Boulud has been here for 30 years now.

So go work for them, write everything down, taste everything, take pictures!

When I started, we didn’t have cell phones to take pictures, so it was whatever you could remember and whatever you could write down. Now we’ve reached a point where you can take a video of a chef doing a dish and afterwards you can write down notes.

I would say the biggest advice to the cooks right now: find a chef, find your niche, go work for him for two years, three years, four years. Write everything down, taste everything, ask questions, and then learn as much as you can.

Don’t think about being called “Chef” right away. Don’t think about making a ton of money. Learn as much as you can then, then after that, start to think about your next step. But take your time.

If you have the financial ability to be able to afford culinary school, do it, but it can be pricey. You don’t need to go to a very expensive, very famous one; but go to get some good basic training in a culinary school.

Then after that, go see a chef and say, “I just want to learn. I want to work for you. You’re the best in the business in your town.” It can be in New York. It can also be in Chicago or anywhere else. Just say, “I want to learn. I want to work for you.”

DC loves more coffee and cocktails! Jordan’s Skinny Mixes Reveals Tasty New Flavors

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DC loves more coffee and cocktails! Jordan’s Skinny Mixes Reveals Tasty New Flavors

By Joe Wehinger — 1 year ago

Yum! Jordan’s Skinny Mixes Reveals Tasty New Flavors in Exclusive Interview for ExpoWest 2023

Say yes if you love coffee. Say yes again if you love cocktails. Say yes a third time if you love ‘em, but wanna be healthier and save some money.

If you said yes to *any* of the above, you’re going to want to listen, because we just had twenty minutes with the woman who makes all those things happen for you.

This week at ExpoWest 2023 Jordan’s Skinny Mixes has a lot to share!

Jordan’s Skinny Mixes Margaritas

Their Naturally Sweetened line of margarita mixes is made with real lime juice and sweetened with agave and contains 75 % less sugar and calories than other leading brands. The four margarita mixes flavors are Classic, Peach, Spicy, and Strawberry Key Lime, and they do not contain any artificial sweeteners, flavors, or colors.

Jordan’s Skinny Mixes natural line of skinny syrups is available in 4 guilt-free flavors, including Vanilla Bean, Salted Caramel, Cinnamon Dolce, and Chocolate Mocha

Their natural line of skinny syrups is available in 4 guilt-free flavors, including Vanilla Bean, Salted Caramel, Cinnamon Dolce, and Chocolate Mocha, for your coffee, tea, protein shakes, baking, or just about anything.

Jordan’s Skinny Mixes was founded in 2009 by female entrepreneur Jordan Engelhardt. The beverage brand was created with the simple desire to enjoy a margarita that wasn’t loaded with sugar and empty calories. Now with over 100 products, this female-led team is on a mission to craft beverages that cut the sugar and keep the fun from coffee ‘til cocktails.

Skinny Mixes can now be found in over 13,000 specialty retail locations across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe, including Target stores, Skinnymixes.com, and Amazon.

Jordan Engelhardt is an impressive person, so when I had the chance to meet up and have a conversation, it was an easy yes.

Just to give us some background, what were you up to before launching back in 2009?

Back in 2009 I was a recent college graduate working in real estate as an appraiser. I launched this product [Jordan’s Skinny Mixes] right when the recession was basically at its peak. It had just started and the market crashed pretty heavily in Florida where I was living at the time.

So I found myself without work, and this idea that I felt pretty strongly about.

What are some of the biggest changes you’ve navigated in the industry over those 10 years?

Oh, there’s been a lot. The world has evolved much more to natural products, which is why we’re here at Expo West as we just have launched our new natural line so this is pretty big for us.

Also, the customization of flavors over the years have just gotten more and more prevalent.

Millennials, and the population in general, really like the variety of flavors, and being able to customize everything. And then Covid really drove at-home consumption of coffee. So I think all of those trends over the last 10 years have really helped drive this company’s growth.

When Covid forced everyone to stay home, did that become a “lucky opportunity” for the business and boost at-home coffee drinking?

It was certainly fortunate in some ways, but in many other ways [not as much]. We were selling to many grocery accounts. We’re selling to a lot of specialty stores which had no choice but to close their doors. So we lost quite a bit of distribution during that time, but were able to make up for it online [with website e-commerce]. So [with market] penetration and trying to drive consumer growth, in that capacity, yes, it was fortunate. But it was also a little bit scary [for us], like many other businesses at the same time.

What is the biggest misconception in general about skinny mixes?

People don’t necessarily understand the versatility of our syrup and how you can not only use it for coffee, but you can use it for baking and protein shakes, and just anything.

Flavored syrups are great for iced teas. You can simply just add a dash to water and transform your water.

Once we got the samples this week, the amount of random things we’ve tried [the skinny mixes] with just to see how it’d go.

I love it! It’s part of the fun and part of the great relationship we have with our consumers. They

have so much fun experimenting and making these recipes, and then including us on that.

So [experimenting with the syrups on different foods] just became a benefit over the years. It’s certainly something we think about now.

We have this really amazing closed Facebook group that has really active members. It’s called “Skinny mixes. Share your recipe”. You can see the amount of creativity that our users come up with and then they share their recipes.

One person put it with sweet potatoes, they used it on egg sandwiches. Interesting wild things that you would never think about.

Can you share a little bit about the inspiration behind the line and how you develop the flavors?

Yes, of course. We have a great relationship with our consumers, and they asked for it. When they ask, we listen. We do a lot of innovation. We launch a lot of flavors.

So that’s where it came from and it’s really done. We’ve gotten into Target with this line. We take a lot of pride in listening to what our customers want, and this is what they wanted

What’s the development process like for these flavors?

We have several partnerships with different food labs and beverage labs. We start by verbally explaining to them what we’re looking for. We have a big panel at our company and we just do a lot of tasting. It often takes quite a bit of time because we take a lot of pride in making sure it tastes exactly what we were visualizing.

We can come up with anything from “Mermaid” to “Unicorn”. The different food labs across the country are amazing and they make it happen.

It’s a slow, methodical approach. Then we have a larger tasting panel and we keep going until we find just the right mix.

That’s incredible. What’s the timeline from concept to finished product?

It varies widely. It could take a couple of months or it could take over a year. Probably on average, about 4 to 6 months.

Do you ever try to create flavors and they don’t end up working out?

Oh, it happens all the time, especially in the beginning. We’re innovating constantly. Trends change fairly quickly. We’ve been fortunate with a robust website where we can test things quite easily and pivot.

Are there any teases as to what flavors might be next?

Well at the show we’re launching our naturally sweetened flavors. French vanilla, caramel, peppermint, mocha and pumpkin spice. Maybe some new seasonal offerings after that. We’re constantly innovating, constantly looking at new categories.

Switching over to coffee, what inspired you to launch coffee syrups?

12 years ago the company started with cocktail mixes. With the popularity of Starbucks and people going through the drive through and having what they thought was guilt-free drinks but was not necessarily guilt free.

They didn’t realize how many calories they are consuming with their Frappuccino or their latte.

It immediately seemed like another way to really help people not have such a sugar laden beverage every single day.

That’s why the coffee syrup was developed. Since cocktail mixes are so seasonal, coffee syrup is something that consumers consume daily. So it was a natural extension for the product line with the coffee syrup

You have some new coffee flavors launching as well

Listening to the trends and looking at the popularity of the most popular flavors just through our [tasting] panel. and you know, just having a great team that’s out and about, and looking at menus, and using some common sense, if you will, and reading up on trends, it’s then a 3 prong process.

You’re getting a lot of positive attention at ExpoWest. What in your opinion, makes for a successful trade show?

Taking the step to take the risk to be there and have your branding there; and be open to meeting consumers and buyers in the trade. We try to make it fun. So we serve cocktails, and we’re going to be serving espresso Martinis today. Yesterday we served Margaritas, and we had a speakeasy happy hour. It helps people really understand the brand, and come by and see us. I think that’s most important, really put your brand out there and your brand’s personality and just have fun with it.

Can you talk a little bit about the mission behind Jordan’s Skinny Mixes?

Our mission summarized is crafting beverages that cut the sugar and keep the fun for a healthier, more flavorful lifestyle and to make everyday moments simply sweeter.

What is your biggest call to action for the audience?

I’d love the consumers to experiment at home. I’d love for them to make their latte at home. Make that morning coffee at home. So many people will say it’s going to be a better experience.

Try our products. You’re going to save calories. You’re going to save time. You’re going to save money.

Shop Jordan’s Skinny Mixes products online and view recipes at https://www.skinnymixes.com/

Check out Jordan’s Skinny Mixes latest and greatest recipes by following on Instagram – @skinnymixes, Facebook- @skinnymixes, TikTok – TikTok , and Pinterest – @skinnymixes

DC Foodies: Curious about Plant-Based Honey Taste? Mellody's Darko Mandich reveals the Surprise

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DC Foodies Top the list: Curious about Plant-Based Honey Taste? Mellody’s Darko Mandich reveals the Surprise

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

DC Foodies top the list — curious about Plant-Based Honey taste, Mellody’s Darko Mandich reveals the surprise.

DC Foodies are a different type. Hungry and always eager to try something new. Known for its adventurous foodies and curious eaters. Plenty of people are already in line to try plant-based honey, but what does it actually taste like?

People might worry there’s a “laboratory” flavor? Has it lost its texture? Vibrancy? Is there a “diet” feel to it?

Exclusive Interview with Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich.

Darko Mandich is a food entrepreneur in San Francisco. After spending almost a decade in the European honey industry as a business executive, Darko committed to reimagining the honey industry to become sustainable. Darko immigrated from Europe to California to launch Mellody, the world’s first plant-based honey brand. Darko is an advocate of saving the bees and wild pollinators.

Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich

Recently, I had a chance to talk with Darko for nearly an hour.

Let’s talk about the honey. What’s the taste profile?

There are three aspects of products that people care about. Number one by far is taste. Number two is price, and number three is nutrition.

In terms of the taste, what we’re really after is the best tasting honeys that are made by bees.

The taste has to match rare honeys that you would find in parts of Europe; France, Italy. Very high quality Acacia honey, specifically.

If we talk about New Zealand, Australia, that’s Manuka honey; and we’re matching that.

So no compromise there.

Moving to the price, I grew up in poverty and I really want to make sure that everybody has access to this product at some point. But it’ll take us some time. So right now it’s premium quality, but it’s also premium price.

In terms of nutrition, we wanna do better than honey coming from bees. How? First and foremost, honey made by the bees contains a certain bacteria that’s called Clostridium. With our product, without the bees [there’s no Clostridium] bacteria.

I’m really proud to say that our product is allergen free; and that for people with allergies to honey and pollen, this is gonna be neutral.

Finally in terms of super ingredients or superfoods, our honey has more than what’s usually found in some of the honey types made by the bees.

The sugar profile is the same, the calorie content is the same, but the twist is there’s a little bit more of certain powerful active compounds that come from the plants.

That’s absolutely incredible. It’s enhanced honey. Is there a better word?

I like to call it a plant-based honey. And that category of plant-based honey is already elevated to the level of being enhanced compared to bee-made honey.

I’m really happy that Melody is starting this category. We are the world’s first plant-based honey.

There’s exactly one same sentence that we get to hear across 5,000 people that were involved in tasting this before it hit the market.

That sentence is: It’s honey.

People taste it, they’re amazed with it, and they say, “Oh my God, it’s honey.”

There are certain plant-based products that have their heart in best place in terms of mission and impact, but are just not delivering on [flavor] expectations. We just want to make sure that people across different categories of nutrition say that this is honey and that they love it.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Is the honey currently available at Eleven Madison Home?

Yeah, the honey is currently available. The Specialty Tea and Honey Box launched for the Mother’s Day collection and Earth Month.

It’s a specially curated box of artisanal teas coming from different parts of the world with honey and also amazing, shortbread cookies. All plant-based, also made with our honey. That’s available right now

Sometime very soon a standalone jar [of honey] will also be available to Eleven Madison Home.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Tell us again what’s available, how to find it; and how to follow you and support you.

Yeah, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at MellodyFoods

In terms of purchasing, head to ElevenMadisonHome.com and you can purchase it there.

Saving the bees is learning more about them. Learning more about pollinators and you can do that on our social media.

And finally, if you’re equally passionate about bees and plants as we are, ask your favorite restaurant to reach out to us to offer Mellody in your favorite restaurant. It can be a vegan restaurant on non-vegan.

We are gonna work with all the restaurants that reach out to us where people ask to see our product offered, either on the menu, either within a meal, or just if you order a cup of tea and you want a side of Mellody.

DC Geek Culture: Chris Gore’s “Attack Of the Doc!” Premieres for Your April 21

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Fast, Fun, (all the) Feels – 90 mins of Geek Culture, Chris Gore’s ‘Attack of the Doc’ available April 24

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Fast, Fun, (all the) Feels – 90 mins of Geek Culture, Chris Gore’s Attack of the Doc Available April 24

Today I sat down with Chris Gore, the writer / director / producer of “Attack of the Doc!” to talk about the huge effort of editing a generation of content down to a tight 90 minutes.

“Attack of the Doc!” is written, directed & produced by Chris Gore.

Chris Gore, the writer / director / producer of “Attack of the Doc!”

This deep dive documentary features pop icons including Wil Wheaton, John Cena, Joel McHale, Peter Jackson, Kumail Nanjiani, Whitney Cummings, Danny Pudi, and many more!

Attack of the Show! was unique, way ahead of its time and was a milestone that had a huge impact on geek culture. Available for streaming and more as of April 24, 2023.

Your documentary ‘Attack of the Doc’ is such a detailed story. You have so much content to work from. How hard was it to edit it down to a tight 96 minutes?

Truthfully it’s brilliantly edited by my co-producer on it, Bobby Schwartz, the lead editor. There was a team of editors: Anthony Ray Bench, Philip Eubanks, Glenn Brown, who helped out.

We gathered hundreds of hours of footage, spent a year building a library, because we started shooting in March of 2020. And then the pandemic occurred, so I pivoted.

Originally we sat some people down and did some interviews on camera and realized we’re not gonna be able to do this with the pandemic.

So we spent that year of the pandemic building a library of every topic, every host, every person on camera. It gave us the tools to [outline the] topics.

Then I did interviews over live streams and I built an archival documentary that would put you in the world at the time. I wanted it to never kind of break. The only breaking to present day is [when] I bookend the movie, and then Zach Selwyn is like the Greek chorus.

But, I wanted to give it that feel. So for the editors, it was such a challenge. We’d break them into [segments]. So the birth of G4, how do we tell that story? Well, we cut it down to 30 minutes. How do we get that down to three minutes?

So we’re trying to tell 20 years of the history of the beginnings of G4 TV, the launch of ‘Attack of the Show,’ the end of ‘Attack of the Show’, and then the rebirth and where that went.

So that’s 20 years in 90 minutes, and it was always ‘We’re not gonna go over 90 minutes.’

Anything that we cut, we can put stuff on the Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray will be a collectible.

But I wanted to tell this story in a quick 90 minutes, as a love letter to the show, geek culture and remind people of this era.

But that editing, God. It was just a constant thing. Bobby Schwartz knocked outta the park.

‘Attack of the Doc’ available April 24

“Attack of the Doc!” is written, directed & produced by Chris Gore, produced & edited by Bobby Schwartz, co-produced by Walter Areas, with additional co-editing by Anthony Ray Bench and Phillip H. Eubanks, and with an original score composed by Austin Smith. This deep dive documentary features pop icons including Wil Wheaton, John Cena, Joel McHale, Peter Jackson, Kumail Nanjiani, Whitney Cummings, Danny Pudi, Eric Andre, Jerry Stiller, Joe Rogan, Jimmy Fallen, Kel Mitchell, Anne Meara, Stan Lee, Sara Jean Underwood, Carrie Keagan, Riley Steele, Tom Green, Anthony Daniels, Michael Winslow, Joey Kern, Joan Rivers, Chris Hardwick, Robert Kirkman, Greg Nicotero, Jessica Chobot, Tony Hawk, and Alison Haislip, among others as we search for the truth.

“Attack of the Show! was unique, way ahead of its time and was a milestone that had a huge impact on geek culture. Its core audience is one of the most coveted around the globe. I think viewers of the original show will be down for learning the history of the network and the show which helped usher in the age of nerd culture. Frankly, G4TV and Attack of the Show! are responsible for making it cool to be a nerd,” states Gore. “And at the end of the day, I hope the documentary entertains fans and reminds them of a time when a TV show could be dangerous and provide some laughs without fear of being canceled. Everyone who worked on the documentary is a super fan, so this movie was made by fans for fans.”

Attack of the Doc! Synopsis

Before the rise of big tech, social media and Marvel movies, Attack of the Show! chronicled nerd culture’s unlikely acceptance as mainstream. G4TV’s flagship show launched the careers of hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira and was beloved by fans – a unique celebration of geek culture before it was cool. Diving into colossal cream pies, wearing fat suits for comedy and putting internet servers where the sun don’t shine – anything could happen on an episode of Attack of the Show! It’s been years since the show went off the air and one question has lingered: what really happened to G4TV and Attack of the Show? Enter Attack Of The Doc! — the new film written and directed by Chris Gore, promises to answer one of pop culture’s longest running mysteries.

Available as of Apirl 24 and watch the trailer here.

Follow the documentary and its journey available on Video on Demand and TVOD/Digital platforms on April 24th, 2023, which is the 21st Anniversary of the launch of G4TV.

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DC Geek Culture: Chris Gore’s “Attack Of the Doc!” Premieres for Your April 24

By Contributor — 1 year ago

Chris Gore’s “Attack Of the Doc!” Comes To Audiences Across North America Timed to G4TV’s 21st Anniversary

Prolific author, film critic, founder of Film Threat, regular on-air personality for G4TV’s “Attack of the Show,” and beloved comic con staple, Chris Gore makes his directorial debut with “Attack of the Doc!” “Attack of the Doc!” addresses all the questions left unanswered by the cancellation of G4TV and Attack of the Show!

The show’s hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira

Host Olivia Munn

Perfectly timed to the 21st anniversary of G4TV this year. G4TV’s Attack of the Show! was a birthplace for nerd culture on broadcast TV and where audiences watched the careers of the show’s hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira begin their ascent.

Host Kevin Pereira

“Attack of the Doc!” world premières April 21st

Oscar winner and filmmaking legend James Cameron appeared on the show

“Attack of the Doc!” will world première on April 21st offering Q&A’s with Goreat the Frida Cinema in Southern California, and will be available through Indie Rights for audiences across all TVOD/Digital platforms and Video On Demand throughout North America on April 24^th, 2023, which is the 21^st Anniversary of the launch of G4TV.

“Attack of the Doc!” writer, director, producer, and geek culture legend Chris Gore

“Attack of the Doc!” is written, directed & produced by Chris Gore, produced & edited by Bobby Schwartz, co-produced by Walter Areas, with additional co-editing by Anthony Ray Bench and Phillip H. Eubanks, and with an original score composed by Austin Smith.

This deep dive documentary features pop icons including Wil Wheaton, John Cena, Joel McHale, Peter Jackson, Kumail Nanjiani, Whitney Cummings, Danny Pudi, Eric Andre, Jerry Stiller, Joe Rogan, Jimmy Fallen, Kel Mitchell, Anne Meara, Stan Lee, Sara Jean Underwood, Carrie Keagan, Riley Steele, Tom Green, Anthony Daniels, Michael Winslow, Joey Kern, Joan Rivers, Chris Hardwick, Robert Kirkman, Greg Nicotero, Jessica Chobot, Tony Hawk, and Alison Haislip, among others as we search for the truth.

“Attack of the Show! was unique, way ahead of its time and was a milestone that had a huge impact on geek culture. Its core audience is one of the most coveted around the globe. I think viewers of the original show will be down for learning the history of the network and the show which helped usher in the age of nerd culture. Frankly, G4TV and Attack of the Show! are responsible for making it cool to be a nerd,” states Gore. “And at the end of the day, I hope the documentary entertains fans and reminds them of a time when a TV show could be dangerous and provide some laughs without fear of being canceled. Everyone who worked on the documentary is a super fan, so this movie was made by fans for fans.”

Attack of the Doc! Synopsis

Before the rise of big tech, social media and Marvel movies, Attack of the Show! chronicled nerd culture’s unlikely acceptance as mainstream. G4TV’s flagship show launched the careers of hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira and was beloved by fans – a unique celebration of geek culture before it was cool. Diving into colossal cream pies, wearing fat suits for comedy and putting internet servers where the sun don’t shine – anything could happen on an episode of Attack of the Show! It’s been years since the show went off the air and one question has lingered: what really happened to G4TV and Attack of the Show? Enter Attack Of The Doc! — the new film written and directed by Chris Gore, promises to answer one of pop culture’s longest running mysteries.

Tickets available here for the April 21^st premiere, and watch the trailer here.

Follow the documentary and its journey available on Video on Demand and TVOD/Digital platforms on April 24th, 2023, which is the 21^st Anniversary of the launch of G4TV.

DC Foodies want to know, what does Plant-based Honey Pair Well With?

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DC Foodies want to know, what Foods and Drinks does Plant-based Honey Pair Well With?

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

DC Foodies want to know, what does Plant-based Honey Pair Well With?

You keep reading about plant-based honey. The environmental story, the nutrition. But how does it taste? What can you pair it with? Let’s find out in an exclusive interview with Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich.

Darko Mandich is a food entrepreneur in San Francisco. After spending almost a decade in the European honey industry as a business executive, Darko committed to reimagining the honey industry to become sustainable. Darko immigrated from Europe to California to launch Mellody, the world’s first plant-based honey brand. Darko is an advocate of saving the bees and wild pollinators.

Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich

Recently, I had a chance to talk with Darko.

You said you are a foodie. What are some incredible food pairings that you recommend with this honey?

When I like to talk about food, I always like to join food and beverage.

What does Plant-based Honey Pair Well With?

I’ll start with beverages first. I think this honey is perfect for mocktails and cocktails. It gives just enough of sweetness that someone is looking for in their alcoholic cocktail or non-alcoholic cocktail.

Will Plant-based Honey pair well With baklava

In terms of food, I would split it into savory and sweet. Sweet applications are my favorite, I just have a sweet tooth. My favorite dessert is Baklava because it comes from the part of the world where I come from. My wife, who’s a home chef, [used our honey to make] baklava and it was amazing.

We did an amazing collaboration with an upscale Italian plant-based restaurant in San Francisco Baia. They created this amazing, vegan panna cotta with our honey on top. It was culinary mastery developed by Chef Joshua Yap, who started working with Chef Matthew Kenny, who is also a well-known, plant-based chef.

Will plant-based honey pair well with a burger

In terms of savory applications, that opens a whole new world of opportunities. How we interact with stuff like pizza and honey, burgers and honey. Obviously honey and vinaigrette and olive oil, used as a dressing for salads, honey mustard, just name it.

What’s next for Mellody? What are the next steps out there for you?

Getting into as many restaurants as possible in this country. People are inquiring about the standalone product [separate from the speciality box] get it very soon at Eleven Madison Home.

Working on getting this product to as many people as possible, and just to invite everybody to participate in this mission of creating the sustainable future of honey.

I’m just excited about every tiny step in this journey until melody becomes the word for honey.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Is the honey currently available at Eleven Madison Home?

Yeah, the honey is currently available. The Specialty Tea and Honey Box launched for the Mother’s Day collection and Earth Month.

It’s a specially curated box of artisanal teas coming from different parts of the world with honey and also amazing, shortbread cookies. All plant-based, also made with our honey. That’s available right now

Sometime very soon a standalone jar [of honey] will also be available to Eleven Madison Home.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Tell us again what’s available, how to find it; and how to follow you and support you.

Yeah, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at MellodyFoods

In terms of purchasing, head to ElevenMadisonHome.com and you can purchase it there.

Saving the bees is learning more about them. Learning more about pollinators and you can do that on our social media.

And finally, if you’re equally passionate about bees and plants as we are, ask your favorite restaurant to reach out to us to offer Mellody in your favorite restaurant. It can be a vegan restaurant on non-vegan.

We are gonna work with all the restaurants that reach out to us where people ask to see our product offered, either on the menu, either within a meal, or just if you order a cup of tea and you want a side of Mellody.