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Eating Wild
Hosted by three hunting and fishing buddies with a lifetime of culinary experience between them, Outdoor Journal Radio's Eating Wild podcast brings folks from all walks of life to the boat, tree stand, and kitchen to tell the stories and answer the questions around the pursuit and preparation of wild fish and game.
Eating Wild
Episode 57: Wild Foraging with Nicholas Stark
Discover the secrets to perfect meal prep and the art of wild foraging in our latest episode!
Nicholas Stark joins us to share his deep expertise in fishing, foraging, and fine dining. We discuss the incredible value of hiring fishing guides and draw compelling parallels to the culinary world, where investing in experiences can elevate your skills and palate. Nicholas’s journey from top-tier restaurants to the wilds of Canada offers rich insights into the world of high-quality ingredients, including his ventures into the caviar business. His stories about wild mushroom foraging and the challenges of sourcing pristine ingredients in a chemically-sprayed environment provide both cautionary and inspiring notes.
To top it all off, we celebrate the hidden gems of local dining and share exhilarating tales of backcountry fishing with Nicholas. From navigating uncharted lakes with an aluminum boat to preparing pike with an unconventional batter recipe, every moment promises to captivate outdoor enthusiasts and food lovers alike. Tune in for an episode brimming with passion, adventure, and the joy of connecting with nature and gourmet experiences.
Follow Eating Wild on Instagram! To reach out to the boys, drop us a line at eatingwild@odjradio.com
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Speaker 2:These almost ready to eat salad kits help you buy more time and eat delicious local fresh ingredients for delicious flavors.
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Speaker 4:Maple Tahini Crunch. Add your own protein to the salad or balance your Friday night pizza out with it.
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Speaker 5:How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, Steve Nitzwicky, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people, share their stories of our trials, tribulations and inspirations, Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.
Speaker 6:Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.
Speaker 5:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be for more fishing than it was.
Speaker 7:Punching you so confidently, you said hey.
Speaker 5:Pat, have you ever eaten a drum? Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever the Eating Wild podcast.
Speaker 3:I am your host, antonio Smash Malecka. I am joined with my co-host today. We got the one, the only cue, the tune Showtime Jansen, showtime, christopher Jansen, how you doing today, brother.
Speaker 2:I'm doing excellent bud. You know summer's here, the warm weather is here. The rain stopped. I'm glad to see you, as always.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm glad to see you too, man, we got some news. We Top Dog has landed in Portugal. He talked to him this morning. The family went up, I think yesterday, and got some breaking news. It looks like we might have Top Dog on as a guest, believe it or not, from lisbon in the next few weeks. He's gonna get his feet, uh, settled when he lands in portugal. And he said he's going clam fishing. So he's gonna go fish for some clams and we're gonna talk about it wow, I gotta see footage of this.
Speaker 2:Uh, that'll be entertaining to see him out there clam fishing.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, man, we were talking and you know he hasn't been on the last few podcasts. He's bummed but he's been so stressed out trying to get his shop organized and you know he's off to Portugal, like he usually does in the summertime and with the family. And I said, as long as you got Wi-Fi brother, we're going to check in on you top dog. And he's long as you got Wi-Fi brother, we're going to check in on you, top dog. And he's like you got it. Man, as soon as I land I'm going clam fishing and we're going to talk about it, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Can't wait, looking forward to that. I don't even know what he looks like anymore. Him and Martins Is Martins in Portugal too, or what's he doing? Or is he too busy running a multi-millionaire company? He's a busy guy, man.
Speaker 3:Well, I got more news about Hookset Martins. Me and him did hit the water. We hit the water on Saturday. It was a quick fish. It wasn't our. I'm going to say I have nothing to brag about, to be honest. We went to our home waters again. How did? You do the way it is right now.
Speaker 3:Well, it was okay, it was okay. The problem is with Hookset. Right now we're so busy at work and he's just like he'll phone me and he'll be like you want to fish Saturday? We got a four hour window, let's go. And he was telling you too, he's got so much new gear that he's got to try out Like this is the guy who's got more gear than anybody, but fish is the least, yeah he just needs the time.
Speaker 2:He has all the mo, all the fishing lures, all the tackle. He just needs a free time. I hope he has a garage sale soon because, like I mean, he has no free time, he's got all these beautiful combos. I'm gonna stop by the hook, set martin's residence and I'm just gonna be. You know? Five bucks, you know everything. Five dollars, you know five bucks, you know everything. Five dollars you know what was that little Caesar's Five bucks, five bucks, five bucks. Well, that's what I'm going to do to his fishing gear.
Speaker 3:Well, he's got some of the best stuff. He had a new combo. He's into a new company I won't mention her name because we're going to reach out to them. They got to sponsor us company. I won't mention her name because we're going to reach out to them. They got to sponsor us. I'll be honest, he's got some really, really good gear.
Speaker 3:I got a couple largeys and pulled them out of the scabbage. We had a few strikes here and there, but then the weather turned. Man, the weather's been really weird up in the Kawartha Lake area. I want to talk to you about it because, first of all, we have a great episode lined up for everyone tuning in. We got a wonderful guest. Oh, we do. We've been dying to talk to you. But before I get to the guest, the weather. I have had the highest winds in the past two years on Lake Scugog, port Perry. Everyone knows that. That's where my home waters are, to a point where I've lost my pontoon boat twice. My neighbors have had to call me from snapping rope off the dock from a hundred miles away.
Speaker 2:Can you believe that man? That's crazy man and I've seen the ropes for our listeners. It's not like Smash is using, you know, like generic dollar store rope to put down his pontoon and it's really good stuff you're using and that's incredible man. How was what about the Triton? Is that okay?
Speaker 3:Triton was okay, it's up on the boat lift. And me and Dan we said you know what I got. To be honest, it was because of Hookset that I got the boat lift, because he was when we bought the Triton. He was like listen, man, he's like this is not the tracker that we used to have. It's going to stay in the water. You know he doesn't want it rubbing up against the dock constantly because the levels on Scugog are up and down.
Speaker 3:You know they got that controlled water system out in Lindsay and there has been times where the water levels are so low that those bumpers that I set when I leave I come back and they're off track and next thing, you know, the boat's just railing up against the dock. So with our new boat he was like you know, let's invest a bit of money. We've got the boat lift. I'm going to be honest, it didn't even move an inch from all that bad weather that we had and there was tornado warnings too a few weeks back and lost the pontoon. Thank God my neighbors called me up, took a video of it. They were laughing at me. They're like oh, there's the Muleka boat again floating away into the bay.
Speaker 3:And it ends up in somebody's backyard. But needless to say, did the rescue Me and Dan went up there on Saturday and boy did we ever tie that sucker down. It ain't moving. You're going to need a hurricane to move that bastard off the dock. But we had a good day. We had a. And it ain't moving. You're going to need a hurricane to move that bastard off the dock. But we had a good day. We had a good day, man. Any bad day, fishing is a good day, you know in life in general and especially with Dan being so busy.
Speaker 3:But listen, good news, he will be on our next few episodes. We are going to catch up with Hooks at Martin's. We're also going to catch up with Top Dog Pereira as he lands in Portugal. But great guest today, great guest You've been talking to certain gentlemen. Tell us a little bit about our guest coming up.
Speaker 2:So it is Mr Nicholas Stark and he is a chef, he is a forager, he supplies restaurants in Toronto. He does everything and the best thing is he's a fantastic fit. I'll let him tell the story, obviously, but he's a great fit for the podcast, for our listeners is because he does all those great things and he hunts and fish, so he's a poster boy of the eating wild. It's going to be a good one and he's a gentleman and I'm so glad he took the time. We connected through Instagram and it just shows you, man, the power of social media. Like, I mean, there's many guests that we've had through Instagram and people are reaching out. It's fantastic. But yeah, we're in for a good one. I can't wait to pick this guy's brain and I can't wait to hear you talk to him about kitchen stuff and the foraging and all that stuff yeah, yeah, I'm excited to talk to him too now.
Speaker 3:You got me checking out his instagram. You know we always like to do a little background check on our guests, see what's happening and you know I would say more current affairs with our guests. But also looking back at the history, when you go into people's social media pages and you and you're scrolling and you're looking at man, this guy's popped some huge fish yeah, and it doesn't look like he's fishing on a boat.
Speaker 2:Sometimes he's no I can't wait to ask him about that. It doesn't seem, um, with his stark north um instagram handle. He does have some fishing on there, but I think some of this stuff he, he keeps to himself you know what I mean kind of like our friend, uh, mr, uh, mr, best fisherman in the mma. He, uh, kovacek, yeah, he keeps his spots and I don't blame these guys. You could be like Sean Dugan. Yeah, I love the guy and he's always wanted to show his fish on his Instagram, but he always takes the black mark in the background, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I love it, the background? Oh yeah, so he'll. He'll draw like in black marker on his pictures, like you know, photo editor, and I'll have like trees in the back. That's all hand drawn, so you don't see his backdrop and I, I get it. You got to do that nowadays, man, you everyone.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's how they make a living too. Some of these guys right siege and I get it. I, I think, I think, we, we can. We can almost say that we've been out with many guides this year, which is awesome, because we talked about this on our last episode. You know, take the time and spend a bit of dough and it's just going to make you a better fisherman. And picking these guys' brains, oh yeah, but also learning the spots you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Let's be honest, like going out with guides sometimes is is key because you get to learn a bunch of new spots and I think I think that's could be um troublesome for some guides out there. If they're, if it's their home waters and guys are, you know they'll come out.
Speaker 2:You always hear the stories about guys sneaking their little gps navionics in their pocket marking spots, right yeah, it's getting like like James Bond out there on the water because with the technology now like you could be out going with these guides or with I don't know these little chips you have in waypoints and I don't know. Man, just figure, find the spots out for yourself. I love it. I love fishing with guides. I never really did it much before sean and uh, but I do love it and the best thing I it's one thing they take you to spots is cool, but is this to pick their brain? Why are they taking you to these spots like what's the reason? What time of day? And I know a lot of guides don't fish while they're um chartering, and I get that right.
Speaker 2:You want to put your customers on fish, but I like it every now and then when they pick up a rod for a half an hour, you know, and they always never want to. They always like, no, no, I'm here for you. But what I love is when they pick up a rod for a half hour. I love seeing the technique, because you can only especially us, not bars. You can tell us one thing. It goes in one ear and out the other, but seeing them like simon barth, for example, when he was working um the walleye in deeper water and he had a whole momentum of how he would uh bring it in. You could see him do it. But uh, yeah, I'm going a little bit off topic, I just get excited talking about that. But yeah, I definitely uh invest some money into a guy, not just for the spots but to see the techniques and why they're fishing certain areas.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know another thing too, siege, along the same lines, but I'm going to change it up for the kitchen. You know we talk about paying some extra dough to. You know, go out with a professional per se, or go out with somebody who knows the waters, the local waters. How about this, ej? How about people spending some extra money to eat? Well, and I'm only saying this because you know our next guest coming up, nicholas Stark. I know he's got quite the background when it comes to being in the kitchen. I can't wait to ask him about where he started and where his roots are.
Speaker 3:But when you look at the pictures that this guy's posting, with the caviar and all this stuff, I see fine dining all over it. Oh yeah, there's two different types of chefs out there, siege. There's the guys that will stand in front of a barbecue and put out the best brisket or the best smoked meat you've ever had in your life. But then there's the guys that can create masterpieces with a pair of tweezers, and I feel, like you know, nicholas has a bit of both in him. You know, like you know, I really can't wait. But listen to our listeners out there, treat yourself, go out for some nice, fine dining once in a while. Take your missus, take your kids, you know, find a nice local mom pa shop. You know we talked about the schnitzel, that schnitzel stop that we ran into while we were on the Corathra Lakes and you know something like that Siege, like you know it's like a hidden gem. Go out there, spend a bit of dough. Yeah, you're going to find some of the best food in the world in Ontario, would you agree?
Speaker 2:with me, man. Yeah, I love what you're saying with that and not only do you have to do fine dining. I know people's budgets now is tough, but I like I love what you're saying on that is local, like. I'm in London, ontario, and I'm surrounded by franchises and my family and I we look for not to knock these places like the Boston pizzas and the Kelsey's and all that stuff. We look for like family-run places. You know the food's not all like you know all those other stuff is this copy and paste? You know, look for it. We just found a fantastic Mexican restaurant in London and and it's a family run and I love what you're saying on that, though it's just it hits different. You know what I mean. It does.
Speaker 2:Absolutely does. And that snitchel shack we went to in Lindsay. I've never experienced something like that. Most people would drive by that place and they'd be like oof, I don't know, and I'm not knocking the looks of the, the cosmetics of the place at all, but it people would probably just go buy it right and they wouldn't give it a second chance.
Speaker 3:But give these places a second chance oh man, one of the best sandwiches I'll sell stay to this day.
Speaker 3:Siege one of the best sandwiches I've ever had, now on the lines of best sandwich I've ever had. I put out there Siege before we get to Nicholas. I put something out there and I called out to the listeners the first person to send you a DM of a homemade schnitzel sandwich using wild game, incorporating wild game, I don't care what it was. I'm going to send them an exclusive one of a kind. I mean, our inventory is low right now. We got news we're going to talk about after we get Nicholas on, because he's waiting backstage for us right now as we speak. But I need you to tell me and tell the listeners who won the smash schnitzel picture for the win an exclusive knife that that we are going to send to this person. I seen the picture it was. It was something that I'm going to tell you right now. I wouldn't have been able to create myself me my big mouth putting it out there. This guy just blew me away.
Speaker 2:Tell us about it, so yeah it was in within, I want to say, 24 hours of the episode. Man and I had a lot of people texting and asking you know about the ingredients, uh, what you're looking for, and uh, I did have pictures. Come in after this lucky winner. But unfortunately, this lucky guy well, I shouldn't say unfortunately this guy is steven horst. It goes by stevenhorst82 on instagram and he made a smash schnitzel sandwich. He this is what it consists of ready for this, venison schnitzel, mushroom and onion gravy, lots of melted gouda cheese and duck fat fried egg, because every schnitzel needs an egg on top. He said and oh my lord, I reposted it on stories. But this, this sandwich, needs not just to be a story post, it's going, it's going right on our main page. And, steve, he knocked it out of the park. And I'm not surprised. You know what did Nate Diaz say when he beat Conor McGregor? I'm not surprised.
Speaker 8:Do you know what I mean? Not surprised.
Speaker 2:You said, you weren't surprised.
Speaker 3:You weren't surprised, you told me. You said you know what Smash? We got a winner. You sent me the picture, you sent me what the description was and I looked at that and I was like holy shit, yeah, this guy knocked it out of. Not only did he get to, he made, he must have made it the next day. Yeah, um, because they, like you said the, the picture started coming in later, but this was a masterpiece, brother, yeah masterpiece and I'm not knocking anyone else to send pictures in.
Speaker 2:They all look fantastic. They all look so good. It's just, Steve, was he jumped man? The benefits of listening to Eating Wild podcast. You never know what kind of secret little gem we're going to have in the podcast. But again, congrats, Steve, and I know you are going to love this Eating Wild filet knife. We've worked on it a long time back and forth with Mike and it is a beaut, Steve, and I know you are going to love this eating wild fillet knife.
Speaker 3:We've worked on it a long time, back and forth with Mike, and it is a beaut. It is, oh my God, it's a beauty. And, just for the listeners, we're going to go to break very shortly Again. We don't want to keep Nicholas waiting too long backstage. But you mentioned Mike from Kukushkin. We have reached out to Mike for him to be a guest on a show. Hopefully, uh, after you hear this one, our, our following one will be with Mike. He's busy as hell right now, so hopefully we can get him on because I really, really want him to explain to the listeners how much went into creating, um, this eating wild filletife.
Speaker 3:We got two versions of it. We got a smaller version for your pan fish. We got a longer version for your bigger fish. German steel Eating Wild logo engraved into the blade, along with the kakushkin Comes with a beautiful carrying case and cover. I can't even get into it because I want to save it for Mike. But listen, steve, I really appreciate you taking that challenge and serious, as serious as you did, and I can't wait for you to get your hands on one of these fillet knives. And listen, man, keep fishing, keep hunting and keep eating and you know we feel like Oprah these days. We're just giving stuff away, siege, and I really appreciate that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a beaut. Thanks again, and thanks to everyone that entered it. It was just a last minute thing and yeah, so keep. I think this might be a reoccurring thing. This might be. You know, every now and then we'll put a challenge out and we'll a food challenge for our listeners to come up with, and we always have prizes. Like Antonio said, we are the male versions of Oprah Winfrey Everyone gets a car.
Speaker 3:Everyone gets a car. Well, listen, we're going to be right back after these short messages from our friends and our sponsors and when we come back, we'll be joined by the one and only Nicholas Stark. Stay tuned.
Speaker 1:You might save 30 seconds by skipping the side, but we can save you hours of meal prep with our art solids.
Speaker 2:These almost ready to eat salad kits help you buy more time and eat delicious local fresh ingredients.
Speaker 3:For delicious flavours. Art is always cooking up fresh ideas and crafting chef-inspired recipes because we like to keep you inspired and satisfied Matcha, broccoli, crunch Honey, yuzu Coleslaw, zesty Kale, caesar and Maple Tahini.
Speaker 4:Crunch, add your own protein to the salad or balance your Friday night pizza out with it.
Speaker 1:Art also keeps the environment front of mind and supports local farms and producers, making every meal both a feel-good and a win-win. Visit makeartca art with an E to learn more.
Speaker 6:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, Angelo and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 3:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch. Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
Speaker 5:We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, All the other guys would go golfing Me, and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists, to chefs.
Speaker 6:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:Welcome back to the Eating Wild podcast. I'm your host, antonio Smash-Moleka. Alongside Showtime, johnson and Siege, we finally got our guest joining us live. We've been talking about this gentleman on the pre-show, nicholas Stark, who is a chef and wild food supplier in Toronto, ontario. Nicholas, thank you for joining the Eating Wild podcast today. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:I love the name. By the way, it reminds me of Nicholas Stark featuring. It sounds like you're an action hero on Hollywood or something. It's a great name, you know. It got me out of a ticket once.
Speaker 7:Oh, okay Are you Iron man?
Speaker 2:Yes, I like that. That's awesome man, that's really cool. That's crazy man.
Speaker 3:Well, listen, Nicholas. Thanks for taking the time, for you know, sitting down with the Eating Wild podcast, we got to ask you, man, like your title, Chef and Wild Food Supplier. That's quite the name tag, brother. Can we start off with Nicholas Stark, the history behind Nicholas Stark and how you became a chef in the industry today?
Speaker 7:Yeah, absolutely. So. I began my journey in culinary arts basically at Canoe. That was like my first job and that's like where I was like very first exposed to tons of like really awesome local ingredients and lots of wild ingredients that I had like never seen before. And that's where I first made a connection with the forager. That was like supplying the restaurant and basically I like begged them to take me out and I ended up going out for a weekend at their cottage. Her name was the mushroom lady. I don't know if she's still operational, but she's amazing, wow. And basically I went out and that was like my first taste of like uh, foraging, um, at least for like mushrooms and other things, like uh, familiarly like we had like picked like watercress and some other stuff but like mushrooms. That was like my first foray into uh, into it and um, I've been hooked ever since.
Speaker 3:Wow, wow. So when you say the mushroom lady, was this somebody who was just strictly foraging mushrooms in Ontario or was this somebody who was, like, growing, had the operation, like you know, and supplying restaurants with mushrooms?
Speaker 7:So she was doing like a bunch of restaurants inside and she also like buy whole foods for a little while restaurants and she also worked at Five Old Foods for a little while. But she was like a small scale forager but she did like some plants and mushrooms and she was really knowledgeable. So it was really cool to like spend my first little bit with her because she was very, very particular about me learning all the names and like understanding what I was actually thinking.
Speaker 3:Of course, man, and I think Siege me and you talk about it all the time and like understanding what I was actually thinking. Of course, man, and that, and I think, siege, we mean you talk about it all the time. We talk about it with Top Dog and Hookset. We see at our hunt camp so many different types of mushrooms and it's always the question we have, like who's out there to be our mentor and guide us to like, what are these mushrooms? How do you even you know, how do you process them? How do you know they're safe? How do you know you're not going to kill yourself? You know what I mean, siege.
Speaker 2:Exactly. With our luck, we'll take, we'll pick the wrong mushrooms and you know. Next thing, you know we're seeing leprechauns or something. You know. We definitely don't have the education on that and it sounds like Nicholas, the lady you went with. That's very valuable to know exactly what you're harvesting and foraging because, like for us, we're clueless. But there's so many it seems like there's so many different types of mushrooms out there and, yeah, like, how do you like what would be the main mushroom you tried to forage?
Speaker 7:So like I think like the best way to kind of approach it is to like go very slowly, really take your time and like feel like 1000 percent confident before you ever commit to eating anything out of the wild. So different people will take different approaches to that. You can go the more scientific method where you're doing score prints and like figuring things out that way. Or you can also like go through like mentorship and start to understand. You know, like certain things that people can show you and teach you about, like very specific characteristics about individual mushrooms, and then you can kind of like, um, if someone was just going to be starting in foraging, I would say like focus on learning. Like a really simple mushroom that has like very few lookalikes, like, for example, a chanterelle mushroom, okay, uh, where that entire genus has like a very, very, very distinctive characteristic, which is it has all scales, and basically once you identify that and really clearly know how to identify that, you can really easily identify most of that family.
Speaker 3:Right, and a chanterelle mushroom, nicholas. I mean they're not cheap, especially if I'm purchasing from my supplier, but the flavor, I mean, is incredible and I find that and this is just a question for you in general like, let's use a Chanterelle mushroom, for example. How do you put a price tag on this? Is this something that is because it's very rare and you can only get them at a certain time of year, something that is because it's very rare and you can only get them at a certain time of year? Or is it something where there's just not enough of it to have the volume that's accessible for restaurants or chefs like myself? Because Chancho mushrooms I don't know what the shelf is on them if you're constantly buying them, but I do know that they're not a cheap mushroom to purchase.
Speaker 7:Yeah, they're definitely. They're like kind of mid-range. As far as, like the wild mushrooms are concerned, Like they can go, you know there are certain wild mushrooms that are extremely expensive and others that are much cheaper, but chanterelles in general it really depends on where they're from, because chanterelles flavor is really determined on a symbiotic bacteria that actually pairs with it. So all Chanterelles are not created equal. Specifically like, the Saskatchewan Chanterelles are extremely famous because they have like an extremely strong apricot smell to them. But the ones from northern Ontario are extremely similar and I think they're like some of the best chanterelles on the planet, and that's like due to the bacteria that forms a symbiotic relationship with the chanterelle. So it's actually like all the chanterelles are not clearly equal. Even though they may look similar, they don't all taste the same and texturally they're going to be different. Wow, that's incredible man. They look similar, they don't all taste the same and texturally they're going to be different.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's incredible man. So you start this voyage with the mushroom lady, she's showing you the ropes and you just automatically develop this passion for foraging. And I just want to touch base with you on this subject Because I know again, being a chef myself and we do have, you know, we got the garden going in the backyard, but it's not the same. There's nothing like going out into the wild. And you know, having the knowledge first of all, I think, is the most important. But I can see how you can get hooked on it, because the reward is just, you know the benefit of it, and we'll touch base on hunting and fishing as on it, because the reward is just, you know the benefit of it, and we'll touch base on hunting and fishing as well, because the reward all the obviously, even with that, is the harvest. But when we get into the foraging of fresh produce and mushrooms and stuff like that, you must have this unbelievable passion for it.
Speaker 3:And what time of year and what do you look for when you're starting? Like, I know there's different seasons for different things, but you know I'll give you an example. So when it's coming to early May, my blood starts boiling because I know crappy seasons around the corner and I'm ready to go out there and I'm ready to pop. When is it the time that Nicholas is like okay, right now, this is what we're going to be looking for, this is what's coming first and the fever starts right away.
Speaker 7:Well, it's definitely that like first like melting of the snow for sure, Cause, like you know, after like a super long winter and you've had like such limited options from Ontario getting out there for the first time and like harvesting, like wild leeks and things like that are some of my very favorites Just because it kind of like breaks that like winter spell when you just like reinvigoration of like yes, this is an amazing place to live and it's not just always covered in snow, I get it, man.
Speaker 3:And then leeks, the leeks. Now do you mostly do your foraging up north or do you do any local in the city I know obviously up north you probably have a lot more opportunity up there. But I do know people here that sell to me as well, that will you know, especially fiddleheads. They're grown in abundance around here abundance around here.
Speaker 7:Yeah, so I forage in a huge range. We do most of our stuff in Ontario, but we do do New Brunswick, nova Scotia, prince Edward Island and Newfoundland as well. So, but predominantly we're, we're, we're going between like Cochrane and Toronto, and then also like Red Lake as well. So we'll go very, very far.
Speaker 3:Red Lake. You mentioned Red Lake. Is that in the Halliburton area?
Speaker 7:No, that's six hours north of Thunder.
Speaker 3:Bay, holy Moses, oh boy, okay, I was way off. I fished a lake called Red Lake in the Halliburton days and I'm like, wait a second, I know that lake. So you're foraging all over Ontario, all over Canada and it's incredible because I don't even think people understand, siege, the amount that this earth gives back to us because nobody has the knowledge or nobody has the passion like Nicholas does. And listen, there are people out there. We had a wonderful chef, doris, who came and joined me in the kitchen, siege, who at the time she couldn't forge anything because the weather was just too wet at the time when she came to visit. But you know, I think we need more people out there that need to develop this sort of passion, because you know it's out there and I think that you know, nicholas, can you make a career out of this? Can you make enough profit where you go and do what you love to do and survive as well as a business?
Speaker 7:I think that it's very possible for someone living in Northern Ontario. If you're living in Toronto, it's extremely difficult to support yourself. Uh, the foraging and, like me being a chef, is that like what kind of like really incentivized my passion and getting into this? Is that like having access to the like most incredible seasonal ingredients when they're like available? And I think that's something that's like really lost in a lot of like north american culture in general. We're just used to having everything all the time and like kind of waiting for like some of those super seasonal items that are like very ephemeral and like disappear within a week and are so special. It's like some of the most amazing stuff. That really like invigorates that passion within me.
Speaker 2:So are you still? Are you still in the kitchen, nicholas? Like, uh, like, um, I think I, when I talked to you on the phone, were you in Europe before Canada.
Speaker 7:I did spend a little bit of time in Europe. I am in the kitchen just not very often. I do a little bit of private work, but that's pretty much the all in all of it.
Speaker 2:And then, if any of our listeners your Instagram is dark north, if any of our listeners your Instagram is darknorth and I see that you actually it looks like you package products, like you have products available. Are they available to the general public or are you just privately selling these to chefs around the Toronto area At the moment they're just available to commercial clients, but we are launching a direct-to-consumer platform.
Speaker 7:That's in the area.
Speaker 3:Ooh.
Speaker 7:I can't wait for that.
Speaker 3:That's going to be amazing, yeah, so what kind of stuff, like Nicholas, can we? First of all, people. Can they go directly to you on Instagram and DM you and get some of your product?
Speaker 7:Yeah, we always try to accommodate when we can Like. The thing with a lot of wild products is that they're super seasonal and some of them are extremely temperamental. So we always try our best to supply as much as we possibly can. But there there's always a lot of issues with wild supply, like logistics and like getting things out of like really remote areas and all kinds of things. So we try our best, but but yeah, it's always possible.
Speaker 2:Restaurants in the Toronto area must love you having you as a supplier, because when I'm at restaurants a lot of time and it's great because they're putting it out there and they're like locally sourced you know these mushrooms or these ingredients, so you're almost that guy, you're the locally sourced kind of guy fueling these restaurants. I definitely try.
Speaker 7:I wish I could get to more of them but yeah, we try our best to service as many restaurants as we can and we take great pride in like providing like a very special product.
Speaker 2:One thing that really caught my eye and Tone I sent you the video is you dabble in the caviar business.
Speaker 7:I do, that's. You know we have a very long winter and sadly I can't forage during most of the winter. So you know we import caviar and truffles and mushrooms from other basically domains when we're in the office.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's amazing the videos for our listeners. You've got to go on Stark North. This guy puts together these videos and these little like you kind of see the behind the scenes of the packaging and when they're filling the cans of caviar and it's an art to it. Now I'm not even a huge caviar guy and now I am. It's crazy, man you got me sold with those clips.
Speaker 3:It's awesome and I wanted to ask you I'm glad you brought that up Siege the caviar what species of fish usually are you using when you are collecting the eggs?
Speaker 7:So, like, black caviar comes from sturgeon, okay, um, and that's uh. There's a number of different sturgeon that produce caviar and are cultivated around the world. There's only one wild production, that's uh, from basically, um, eastern canada. It's coming from brunswick, okay, but that's actually the only legal wild production. Everything else is cultivated and basically the two main species of sturgeon, it's a more Kaluga hybrid, so it's like a hybridized sturgeon. They're basically crossbred, right. And then the other sturgeon that we focus on is Osetra. Wow, wow, jesus.
Speaker 3:It might be a stupid question, and listen, I've been cooking my whole life, Nicholas, and caviar is just something I have not worked with. I've not worked with it. We do get requests, obviously, when we're doing cocktail parties, sometimes for caviar. But one question I always wanted to ask somebody that had the knowledge or uses caviar often the color, the color of the actual eggs like you got beautiful, vibrant pink and peach and black. Does it naturally come that way or is it infused with some sort of food coloring?
Speaker 7:Yeah, so certain sturgeon, they basically have different color variations. Ossetra, from my understanding, has some of the greatest variations of any species. So basically the Ossetra sturgeon can come in very golden. It can also come in anything from super, super golden almost like banana yellow, to black, wow, and like you get a whole bunch of different tones in between, like there's greens and, like you know, mixed color. There's also bicolored eggs, so eggs that will have two colors, like black and yellow, half and half Right, pretty interesting.
Speaker 3:Now, does that affect price at all? Like color.
Speaker 7:I find that the color of the caviar definitely does have an effect on the flavor. I'm not sure if it's because I think it may just be more attributed to the genetics of the fish, right, um, but um, there's definitely particularities to lighter caviar versus dark caviar wow, interesting.
Speaker 2:That's smart for you to do that during the winter, because I was going to ask you what are you doing in the winter? You know, like, what do you do? You're obviously not getting like blueberries and all that stuff. That's really smart on your end.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it was more out of necessity, but it's great.
Speaker 3:So your culinary career, Nicholas, let's just talk about that quickly. When you started cooking before you got into the and you met Mushroom Lady and your passion just kind of blew up with the harvesting and the foraging, what was your style Like, what were you mostly cooking and what kind of restaurants did you work in?
Speaker 7:So I worked for Oliver Bonaccini chain of restaurants for almost seven years and so that was just between. Like, basically, auberge and Canoe were the two restaurants that I worked at, wow.
Speaker 3:Canoe Jesus. It's one of the best restaurants out there, in Toronto anyways.
Speaker 2:I like the name. I've never been.
Speaker 7:Probably can't afford it.
Speaker 3:I might have to take your order. That's incredible, man, awesome.
Speaker 7:Wow, wow, yeah. And then from there I uh, I left and I spent three years in Europe where I did a lot of just like staging at different restaurants and traveling and learning about all the food and kind of like reconnecting with um, like my heritage, um my family's, like originally from Portugal and so um, and then after that point I came back and actually worked, for I worked at Auberge again for a little bit and then I kind of bounced around and then I got into the private game.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. You know what the crazy thing is, Tony? What are the odds? We have a nice Portuguese gentleman on the podcast and our two Portuguese co-hosts decide or well, I shouldn't say decide, they're swamped in work and and one's going to Portugal tomorrow on the red eye tonight but what are the odds? You got a mungie cake and, uh, italian and the two Portuguese guys couldn't make it that that's crazy.
Speaker 3:But listen, man, to be honest, I cooked. I cooked Portuguese food early in my career as well and I mentioned it on this podcast. You know, from Cousin Du to you know, learning how to do the Sardinia Jingalenia. One of some of my best friends growing up Portuguese owned Portuguese restaurants still all around Toronto Mario's Barbecue and stuff. And the culture, the Portuguese culture, the food is incredible. And just you heading out to Europe, it must have been a culture shock. And the only reason why I say that is because the lifestyle and the food, you must say Nicolas, I mean, you had the experience Is it not different than what it is here?
Speaker 7:Yeah, and that's kind of like one of the main like drivers for me to like focus so much on these like forage products. Because, like one thing, I think that we, like you know, portugal is not maybe like the most culinary um, like um developed place. Like they don't have, like they do obviously have like michelin star restaurants and like fancy places, but I think like what portugal, where they really shine, is in like the quality of produce and ingredients, right, and the stuff is just so good. And so when we kind of like look at like canada, it's like what do we have? That's like on that kind of same bar and like, although there are some farmers who are definitely stepping up to the plate, like I think we still have like quite a ways to go.
Speaker 7:Um, and I think like the wild food really like fills that gap, like some of the things from the wild are just so incredible and like they're picked when they're supposed to be picked. They're like ripened in season and like that is like just what, like it's like the best thing a chef could ever ask for. Yeah, I bet.
Speaker 3:Now, siege, you mentioned to me off camera, off air, something that Nicholas was mentioning to you, and I think it had to do something with the wood, and correct me if I'm wrong, but something about the pesticides. We're discussing it. I'd love to talk to Nicholas about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can. What we're talking about, nicholas, is you were mentioning some places that you can't really forage anymore or look for game, because if you want to go into that a little deeper, that'd be great.
Speaker 7:Yeah. So, basically, a couple of years ago I stumbled upon this for the first time ever and like we're talking about this is, like you know, timon's area and north and um, so like this is truly in the wild, and I came up to like one of my like chanterelle spots that I like had been picking for many years, and there was like these large signs posted, uh, basically saying like it's toxic to walk in here. Um, and this is something that like definitely just came to like um my attention because I was like I I couldn't believe that like in like the heart of the wilderness that they were like using like toxic sprays and in quantities that like basically made it not like safe for you to even travel in there. So, um, yeah, like 250,000 acres of um Ontario, apparently, according to statistics, are like sprayed every single year post-cutting and like um for like maintenance, um, and basically it's to um any non-choice trees to grow, so it'll kill all the alders and all the other little bushes that are kind of there.
Speaker 7:Oh, my goodness. And it's just kind of interesting because, in the nature of things, when you get a cut block, usually that cut block is just like chocked full of wildlife. You know you get like tons more grouse rabbits, all kinds of smaller game, because like that, like um, very dense low cover really provides amazing coverage for these animals to breed and reproduce and do all that stuff. But what I really find is a lot of these cut blocks, especially after they've been sprayed, are like the void of life oh, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:And there's signs for you not even to walk on this stuff. Yeah, that's correct. Oh, my goodness, could you imagine? Like, I mean, we think we're going to get into a little bit later for our listeners. Uh, you know, nicholas isn't just an awesome chef and forager. This guy pops, yeah, he's, uh, he's, he's a heck of a fisherman and a hunter. But, like, I'm thinking, like I, I on fishing canada, on the outdoor journal podcast network, they had a guest on and they were, they were talking about the spray and I had no idea. But I mean, even the animals that may be exposed to the spray, I don't even know if you want to harvest them, am I wrong?
Speaker 7:on that. So I think the exact quote that someone got from the company because there's a number that you can call was eat the blueberries, but the moose meat should be okay, should be we all know what the moose are eating and all that stuff, like all the blueberries and like, I mean, everyone like bears and all that stuff.
Speaker 3:So if they're consuming it, that's the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard of in my life.
Speaker 7:Here's the thing Siege, go ahead there was basically a trail cam that uh, hunter northern ontario had set up, that uh, I'll try to find the video and maybe send it to you guys, but uh, basically, uh, within 12 hours of like it being sprayed, um, there was like moose coming into that exact area where the spray had just been sprayed and they were like consuming all the foliage. Oh no, that's crazy. So I mean, like I don't think that could be healthy for you. I don't think, like, um, if, like, the levels aren't safe for you to walk in, they're definitely not safe for you to consume, and probably, like you know, if you are like trying to hunt cut blocks, you should be like a little bit more cautious, firstly, of blueberries, for sure, and secondly, of, like any game that you're trying to harvest there, because it is pretty much in the process, like once they cut it, and like they're going to replant, they're going to spray, right.
Speaker 2:That is fascinating, that is. That blows my mind, man. That is, that's crazy. And it's just to prevent. You were saying like, like unwanted growth of certain trees or something, but really, what's going to grow on there that's not natural to Canadian soil anyways, you know what I mean. It's just I don't know. We're not scientists, tone, and I don't know any of this stuff.
Speaker 7:But yeah, at the end of the day, it's just, it's a financial thing, right, like the trees, with no competition, grow faster Right, and therefore, therefore, therefore, they, they, you make more money if you spray.
Speaker 2:So, that's, that's a rope. Yes, there's the rope. I was waiting to hear the rope like the catch kind of.
Speaker 3:That's why they're all about the dope. It always is and this is what drives me nuts. So just just basically touching on, like the, you know the quality and tasting of the wild game and I was told by many people. Obviously with the eating wild podcast, people are always reaching out to us, asking us questions and one one conversation that I went back with, uh, back and forth with with somebody, was the bear meat out in the Parry Sound area.
Speaker 3:And again I see you and I and the boys, the four skins none of us has really harvested a bear before. We haven't shot one yet, but from what I heard and Nicholas correct me if I'm wrong, maybe you know more about this the bears out in the Parry Sound area are usually eating. They have a massive dump area where most of the bears will just hang out and they'll be eating garbage and it's renowned over there for bears and they're harmless because they're so used to people going there and dropping their garbage off. And, uh, from what I heard was is that somebody who harvested a bear out in that area? The meat was just awful and and does that have something to do with it? Because they're, they're just eating. You know they're not eating the proper stuff out there.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I mean, well, you know, just like you know, a kobe, kobe beef has like super exceptional because of what it eats.
Speaker 7:Um, I think, like you are what you eat and like when they're consuming like all kinds of plastic and like, um, because you know, bears aren't like opening things up, right like they're. If there's a tin with like a little bit of like sardine juice in it, they're going to eat half of the tin, right, and so, like I think at the end of the day, they're probably just getting like a whole bunch of contaminants and chemicals and things that, like bears shouldn't be eating and like that probably is highly affecting the flavor. So I have heard the same thing any, any bears near the dump, the meat is basically useless. So, um, yeah, I would just say, hunt in a different area and away from any dumps, for sure, because you're gonna um, and I mean, like I've heard I haven't harvested one myself, but I've heard like the most exceptional bears are always blueberry bears. Yes, that are like close to um, like large blueberry patches and stuff like that. But then it comes back to well, was that blueberry patch just sprayed with?
Speaker 2:chemicals, because I've heard the same thing and I've heard that there's actually bear meat. When they consume so much of it, it almost has like a purple hue to it. I don't know if this is fake news or but I heard and it's extremely good to eat. That's that's what I've heard. I don't know if you heard anything like that I have heard.
Speaker 7:I have heard about the blue fat as well. I haven't personally ever seen it, but I would love to see it one day yeah, we're not.
Speaker 3:We gotta talk to a few people about that. Siege, we got guys that pop bears all year, coach gags and and even dave gray dave gray grew up eating bear and I'd love to talk to him about that. That uh, it sounds amazing. So, you know, nicholas, you you've, you know, you, you got quite quite the career, quite the journey. Siege mentioned this a few minutes ago. You are an absolute pop fest waiting to happen and you fish. If you look at, if you look at your Instagram like there's just a few pictures that came out into my mind there's a picture of you with a lake trout that I don't think I've ever seen a fish that big in my life um, a laker anyways, um, let's talk about that. What got you, uh, what got you into the outdoors? Obviously the foraging and stuff like that, but what got you into, let's say, fishing? We'll start with the fishing.
Speaker 7:So, um, basically, yeah, I've. I've been fishing since I could basically stand. My dad put a fishing rod in my hand when I was very young and that was like one of our like main family activities. Most weekends we were like going fishing. We did ice fishing, we did river fishing, we did boat fishing, we did trolling for salmon, we did everything. So fishing has kind of been in like my life.
Speaker 2:You had no choice. You were like me. I had no choice. You had no choice. You're like me. I had no choice when I was a kid, I was just like do this, I'm like okay, I like it, yeah, so sorry.
Speaker 7:I was like obsessed. I was constantly begging to go fishing. Yes, so that was kind of like my first journey into it and I really started slamming like the bigger fish I actually had. It's a great story.
Speaker 7:I was headed down a logging road. I was like probably almost 60K down this logging road and I actually there was like a giant rock in the middle of the road and I didn't have time to basically get away from it and I dinged my oil pan just enough to perforate a hole in it and I didn't realize that at the time. But anyway, so I parked my car and I got out and I was doing some foraging and I was doing a little fishing and I went to go start my car and right away the like the heat came on and the oil sign and I was like well, oh no, what's happening? I went and looked and my entire oil had just like gone onto the floor. I'm really sorry for the force, but it wasn't on purpose. Um and um, basically, um, I was like damn, this really sucks. I'm like trapped down here and then, like all of a sudden someone came from farther down the road and was coming out and I flagged them down.
Speaker 7:And the guy's name is Nick, funny enough, and he was fishing back there and I told him I'm like, hey, my car is done. Do you mind giving me a ride to the road? Anyways, long story short, we ended up hanging out for like three days, fished like all a whole bunch of lakes, and he had like a small little boat and at that time I didn't have a boat, so I was just doing shore fishing. So it was just like I got to get onto all these like fun lakes that I always wanted to get on right. Um and uh. That's uh. You know we started slamming. Every time we and him get together, a trophy gets in the boat.
Speaker 2:It's pretty awesome so you still fish with uh nick to this day oh, a hundred percent that's amazing, and I gotta ask you what happened to the car uh the car. Uh got towed out of there and got a new oil pan and drove back to toronto I love those kind of stories, like I mean, at mean, at the time you're probably so pissed off about that car and then next thing, you know how long did you fish with this gentleman? Three days, three days. That's amazing. That is amazing.
Speaker 7:I just sat in the back of his road. We went and got it after.
Speaker 2:And you guys are you're fishing for trophies and that is so cool, fishing for trophies, and that that is so cool. And what I admire about you is, um, when I see, when you're foraging, you know you'll have a. You'll be, let's say, you're going for blueberries or something like that, and uh, or mushrooms, and next thing you know you get your mushrooms that you're foraging and then you'll see an open fire. I'm trying to paint a picture for our listeners. You'll have open fire, then you'll have a pan and then you'll have these beautiful mushrooms in there and besides those beautiful mushrooms, you'll have some even better looking grouse that you harvested and it's all going into this pan and it's just like man. It's just so cool that you're doing that. You're doing pretty much your job of foraging and you're bringing out, like I think you told me earlier why forage without a gun. You know what I mean.
Speaker 7:Yeah, 100%. It's like the opportunities for like taking especially small game like which is what mostly what I hunt. It's just incredible and like I find that, like you know, at the same time when it's grouse season, it's also like Matsutake season and like really really far North Ontario and I think like a lot of the combinations that are coming out like seasonally together are like really epic, like um. One of my favorite things, like probably like one of my favorite bites probably on earth, is like spruce grouse with Matsutake. Oh, yes, yes, just poached in butter. So like I just gently poach the Matsutakes first and like really infuse the butter. I just very gently poach the spruce grouse in and that's like my trail snack. I just like have a little pan, some butter, some salt. I just crank the pan right after I shoot the grouse, pull off the legs, pull off the breast, and then I'm just like there poaching it, eating it roadside and it's like it's freaking incredible man.
Speaker 2:It just like blows my mind and you call that a trail snack. I call that. For me, that is like a night out of a town, like that is a fantastic dish, that is. That is so cool that you do that and and I can just imagine when you're foraging the opportunities you have, you might see these little lakes or something Do you ever bring like with you like a kayak or a canoe?
Speaker 7:No kayak or canoe, but I do have like a 10 foot aluminum that I can carry on my head oh nice, so I'll usually just like throw in my on my head. Oh nice, so, um, I'll usually just like throw in my little bush boat. That's great If I'm so inclined, but, um, usually that takes a little bit more planning so it's not kind of like whimsically will that happen. But what I will do is bring like a fishing rod and I can do a lot of short casting. What I like to do is just like I'll usually use like a super light test and then I'll use something like a casting spoon right, I can cast it a quarter mile oh yeah, with those casting spoons you could go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's phenomenal.
Speaker 3:You know, nicholas, um the lake that you're fishing at, or you end up, do you even know sometimes what the species are in that lake. Or you just basically going out, going out to a field and come to a body of water and it's like, okay, well, let's see what we're looking for today.
Speaker 7:Definitely I'm targeting specific bodies of water for certain species. Like I'll use like the fish online directory, which I think is like such an amazing it is, it is and that like kind of lets you know, because there's also like certain lakes, you know, um stocked lakes, stocked brook trout lakes, especially. They don't close, their season doesn't close. So it's like really awesome when you want to get like you know, some of that like really close inshore late season brookie fishing where you're like hitting them in like a couple feet of water and like you want that opportunity but you don't, as like you can't fish brookies anywhere else.
Speaker 2:wow, that's phenomenal have you ever thought about being on that? When I think of your story and I think of your, your, your career path, that you have, what is that? Uh, the survivor show alone. Yes, have you ever thought about being on something like?
Speaker 7:that I've thought about it, uh, but not, not seriously. But many people have told me yeah, I like.
Speaker 3:I watch it religiously. That's my favorite show on tv tone.
Speaker 2:You and I were great at watching it but are you nuts?
Speaker 3:you want to put me in the middle of a you know we're in our late 40s or whatever us us portaging with.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know we we'll live through you, nicholas, on this one. We love it, I admire what you do, but we'll live, we'll. We'll watch it on instagram, yeah. So, nicholas, when it comes to when you're out there, you mentioned you bring like a little aluminum boat with you. Are you bringing anything for like a trolling motor or does that have like a gas motor?
Speaker 7:uh, yeah, I got a 9.9 merc that I borrow from a friend of mine up there who has a lodge, and the boat does 44 kilometers an hour.
Speaker 2:It's incredible, like cover some water and it's good on gas too. Those 9.9s, oh my god, all you can run it for like a week. So I wanted just to paint a picture for our listeners. I'm just so fascinated. Like I said to you earlier, I'm fascinated. My wife and I watch Alone all the time and here I am putting you out here, like you are definitely living off the grid, but I know you're not. But when you go to harvest and everything you mentioned earlier that you're carrying in this aluminum boat and then a motor, are you solo doing this?
Speaker 7:Sometimes solo, but usually I'm fishing. Most of the fishing trips I do now are with Nick. We do a couple of annual fishing trips. We actually have one coming up right at the end of July into August and basically, yeah, we picked a super back country lake. I know for a fact that the only people who have fished that lake have entered via commute, the only road that goes there. There's giant old growth that's gone across the road. So we're bringing two chainsaws we're going to cut our way through to this lake and we're basically like two chainsaws we're going to like cut our way through to this lake and we're basically going to like get on. It's probably going to take us about a half a day just to get on the lake.
Speaker 2:Wow, I admire that, my friend. Like these lakes, like I mean, we do a lot of fishing and you know well Nipissing and Korthas and Lake St Clair and Lake Erie, but these I'm picturing in my head right now. There's no jet skis, there's no people water skiing, there's no, like where you're going, and I'm sure these fish aren't seeing a lot of lures.
Speaker 7:It is honestly some of the most fun fishing I think I've ever experienced. If you get onto a lake that sees maybe one fisherman a year, um, they bite almost everything. It's incredible. They're so unpressured. Everything is, just, like you know, ready to bite. We never use any live bait. We're, just like you know, doing viewers and like it is. It is utterly incredible. Like you know, a 30 fish, 40 fish day is not like out of the question in places like that.
Speaker 2:There's a lake that I go to with my family. I'm actually going in a couple of weeks and I have two daughters and they love fishing. I didn't force them on it by any means. They just you know as a kid, if someone tries to force it on you, you lose interest. And this lake that I go to, it on you, you lose interest. And this lake that I go to, it's far. It's about six and a half, seven hours from my house in london and it's the same thing what you're kind of talking about. And they catch so much fish and and then the problem is, nicholas, is I bring them to another lake after that and they don't catch near as much fish and they're like I thought fishing was supposed to be easy. The other lake we go to, far up north, we catch them one after one. I'm like, yeah, it's not always like that. You know, you get spoiled in those back, uh, those back legs you really do honestly.
Speaker 7:Um, you know, like I spent teenage years in early 20s only doing fishing in like southern ontario. It wasn't until like my mid-20s and late 20s where I really started to get into like fishing. Like you know, untouched lakes and like lakes that are like hiking only or like no motorized vehicles allowed Right, I didn't have a boat for years and just from shore I would catch more fish in a day than I would in a year down south, Right, and you know some beautiful fish Like I've caught like 15-pound pike from shore.
Speaker 2:I've seen pictures. I've seen pictures of the pike you get and that's what I was kind of leading into was I've seen. Like the pictures you show me, they're all trophies. What is your favorite? I would have to ask you what's your favorite fish to try to target and your favorite fish to harvest on your adventures.
Speaker 7:I really love pike, but I've found a brand new love for lake trout. Lake trout is probably my new addiction, but definitely for me me, I think, without question. Um pike is like my absolute favorite fish to catch. I think they're just so much fun. Um, they're so aggressive, their bite it's like incredible and like when you get a bigger one fight is phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Those head shakes. You know I'm addicted to those head shakes when you get. When you get, I'm getting goosebumps talking to you about it. Now is you know you, you catch the average size pike and you know I'm addicted to those head shakes when you get. When you get, I'm getting goosebumps talking to you about it. Now is you know you, you catch the average size pike and you know it's average. But when you get those ones that you could just feel the left and right head shake on on your like you know and uh, yeah, do you, uh, do you harvest pike as well?
Speaker 2:oh, absolutely one of my favorite and it's so funny you say that there's been such a misconception over the years. And, like I mean, I grew up my grandfather always called them snot rockets and get them off my line, and I didn't really appreciate pike until I got a little bit older and I started fishing with some of our co-hosts, like Luis and Dan and Antonio, and I always thought they were just terrible to eat. They're slimy, and then, if it's like I can speaking um, you would probably know, this is when you clean them properly and take your time, and I I, when I ate my first pike, I was blown away, is it's so?
Speaker 7:good, yeah, and I mean like they're like they're an absolute staple in like old school, like European cuisine as well. Like pike is like a famous fish and I think it deserves that place. I think like, yeah, you know, obviously it has a different bone structure. That's the thing we need to understand. You know, like everyone tries to fillet it like a regular fish, but it's not. It doesn't have the same bone structure as a regular fish. So if you fillet it like a regular fish, it's right, it's not. It doesn't have the same bone structure as a regular fish. So if you fillet it like a regular fish, you're going to get bad results, right. I think you know just um, I was taught by um, um, my friend, basically his name's doug adams. He's like a pike cleaning master. He has okay, okay, called northland paradise, okay, and he's just like such a gem. And he showed me how to clean pike and ever since then I've been bone free and enjoying pike meat like nonstop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's crazy, because when I was younger, I was always told yeah, we'll eat pike, but the only proper way to eat pike, due to the bones, is you have to smoke the pike. And then you still, when you smoke it, the bones come out easier and all that stuff. But I, you know what? I love my grandfather, I love my father, my uncle. They're fantastic. But they gave me some false information and that's what they were taught, too right. They were always known that they were bony. But once you, I think you totally are right when you know how to work around those bones. And then, um, yeah, there's a lot of people sleep on the on pike.
Speaker 7:They definitely do. I think, like um, it's definitely one of the best eating fish we have. Like um for me for sure, like hands down one of the best eating fish, especially from like those super cold northern waters. Like they're just exceptional. And then sometimes you get them, the meat has like an orange hue to it and I particularly love those ones. I don't know exactly what they're eating to create that, but it's. It's definitely they're eating something different or they're like starting to target something different. I usually notice that they start to get that meat like the five pound plus mark and they are like so incredible.
Speaker 2:So when you're preparing pike, are you doing like a traditional beer batter or like a pan fry? Kind of walk us through how you like to prepare your pike dinner.
Speaker 7:So I have a little bit of an unconventional batter that I really love to use. I basically just bring like pancake mix and I spice it up, and what I love about that is like there's something in the pancake mix that doesn't let the fish get not crispy, so after you fry it it stays crispy for a super long time, which I think is always like really nice, because like sometimes you don't get to eating all the fish like immediately, and when it loses its crisp it's really not as great when you're having that like typical shore lunch. So for me, like just a general pancake batter, and then I basically add like some smoked paprika, I do a little bit of salt and pepper, some cayenne, some onion powder and then like pretty much call it a day, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:The cayenne that's a very nice touch. I've had similar recipes that you're talking about, but I have not included the cayenne, and, uh, that sounds really good, man, that sounds really good yeah, it's absolutely delicious.
Speaker 7:Um, yeah, I like doing them like that. And then another thing I like to do is I make like a mousse with the pike and I do like a classic french like uh, cornell with them. So, just like a pike mousse and then I poach the cornells and it's really incredible too. They have great texture and, like the fat content is generally pretty great in the Pike and, um, and, yeah, it's just like it's such a great meat. It's very versatile. I'm using so many different ways. It's fantastic smoked as well and, yeah, I just absolutely love Pike.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, man. And now, what do you? Do you have anything? Uh, what's going on with nicholas? You mentioned that you are um going out with nick again. I guess, um, uh, fishing and and foraging, is that, uh? What's what's on your plate for the rest of the summer?
Speaker 7:mushroom season just started. I was harvesting shot shells this morning and, okay, we're going to be progressing into, like, all the different mushrooms and then the fall mushrooms, um, but, uh, this trip is really special. It's been three years in the making. That's awesome, oh, wow, uh, we have tried, we have tried to get onto this lake four times and we have not been able to get out there ever once. It's, uh, the road to this lake is, uh, nothing short of absolutely treacherous and, um, it's quite an adventure. Like the half the adventure is just getting there. Um, so true, and um, it's a pretty awesome lake. It's quite large, it's extremely isolated and it's seven miles from end to end and at some points you can like, almost like.
Speaker 2:I think it's only 10 feet across, and what will you be targeting this?
Speaker 7:lake specifically is pike in great numbers and great size.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yes, you have to. You have to share that with us. That's, that's phenomenal. We could keep you on all. We're running out of time, but we could, definitely. We got to. Uh, you have to share that with us. That's, that's phenomenal. We could keep you on, although we're running out of time, but we could, definitely. We got to have you back on. Let's have, let's aim for, like I don't know what do you think? Tone like, uh, maybe an octoberish or something?
Speaker 3:yeah, we got it, we got it. We got to talk to nick when it comes to the hunting season and when, when the foraging season is wrapping up and we, we got to dive, dive into some the story, like I'm sure you probably have stories that uh, you know, we we'd love to talk about and we, like Siege said, we could probably talk to you for hours.
Speaker 2:Yeah and uh for all our listeners. How can they uh? How can they reach out? Uh, you know, see, your journey Is there. Are you definitely on socials?
Speaker 7:Yeah, so at Stark North on Instagram is probably the best way. That's where I like post the most active and like up-to-date content, and we'll be posting a lot more to come.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Thank you so much, nicholas, for joining us today. Antonio is having a little bit for our listeners, a little bit of audio issues, so I'm kind of just taking the role for me. He's probably going to criticize me for everything the rest of this interview.
Speaker 3:You're doing a great job. Oh, there he is. There he is, you're doing a great job. Don't kid yourself, bud, you're natural.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks again, nicholas, thanks for our listeners. Make sure you go to Stark North and let's learn about more about Nicholas Stark on our eating wild journey, and we look forward really look forward to hear about your next adventures. I'm being selfish because I really I envy everything you're doing. You're going off the grid, you're going with a little aluminum boat, a 9.9. You're foraging and you're fishing and, yes, it's a really cool, and I can't wait to hear more of your stories in the future.
Speaker 7:Oh, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:No problem.
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Speaker 8:After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show's about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's, under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature. And under the canopy. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:We interrupt this program to give you this week's product code password for the Eating Wild Traeger giveaway. This week's password is pellet P-E-L-L-E-T Pellet. Make sure you go to the Fish and Canada website under contests, Go and punch in that word. Give you some free entries. Good luck. Now back to the episode. Welcome back to the Eating Wild podcast folks. I am Antonio Smash Maleca, Along with my co-host. Today we got Christopher Showtime Johnson Siege. We just had Nicholas Stark on and I'm going to be honest, man, this guy, he has got Eating Wild written all over his face. He was, he's, a perfect guest for basically what this podcast represents.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, and the stories when he was talking about the foraging and all that so cool, but he's out there, not out there as in out there. He's out there doing it, he's in the woods, he's doing it. That story he said how his car broke down and then he meets another guy named Nick and it just shows you with the outdoors man, it just shows you when you have that connection with someone that has the same interests as you and now they seem like they're fantastic friends and they're doing fishing trips together, all because of broken down car. That's crazy, yeah, it's phenomenal. I can't wait to pick his brain more, uh, down the road and I I would love to um incorporate for you especially, uh, some of the stuff he forages. If we can get that stuff, some of it, into your hands and I would I can just imagine what dishes you would do with some of that stuff.
Speaker 3:Oh man, I, I really want to try um, the caviar. Like the caviar was something that really shot out to me because, you know, I don't really get to work with that kind of stuff, to be honest, like with our style of cooking again, cooking on film and television sets, like we're carnies high end carnies, I would say, and we we really don't get those opportunities to. You know, have some of the more finer things, and I and I always think caviar. When you think of caviar you think it's one of the more finer things, but really it's not. You can, you can almost eat it with anything, eat it with crackers, you know, um.
Speaker 3:But but he mentioned something that really stood out to me, and when he mentioned that he worked at canoe. Forget about going to europe and staging at all different restaurants, like he mentioned. But I don't know if you know this, but canoe is the closest thing that toronto has to a michelin star restaurant. In fact, I don't even have a star, I don't even know, because toronto really isn't known for their michelin star restaurants, like a Chicago or you know, copenhagen and stuff like that, or even London and Paris and Barcelona.
Speaker 3:You know my idol, my mentor in the kitchen, marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay, not because of their TV presence. In fact, marco Pierre White doesn't even go on TV, he's just he's kind of popular now on social media because he's such a lunatic and all the interviews that he's had back in the day, you know, he just tells it the way it was. But you know somebody like Gordon Ramsay who's worked in Michelin star restaurants and owning Michelin star restaurants. You know, you see what it takes to work in those kinds of restaurants and the pressure. And I know we laugh because we've been watching an amazing TV show called the Bear. Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3:And if you haven't watched this, this TV show, that is real life, that is real kitchen, etiquette, kitchen. I'm going to say I'm lost for words here. This is the reality. The person who writes and create that TV show, the Bear it's on Disney. Watch it, because that's what we go through every single day.
Speaker 3:And you can be at a fast food sandwich shop. You could be a high end Michelin star restaurant or you can be, like you said, you're, just local mom pop shop and everyone goes through every kitchen, goes through the stress and the anxiety of making sure that you're perfect every single day. And it's tough siege, it is, but you know, for him to work at Canoe tough siege, it is, um, but you know, for him to work at canoe, that's got to be one of the most pressure-filled restaurants, I would say, in toronto, and I would. I wish I could have talked to him more about it. But uh it that right away set the tone for our interview. And now I said to myself I know where this guy comes from. You know, I know where guy comes from. And then you were talking to him about popping, because when you see how much fish and how much this guy forages and hunts and everything I would have never. Would have looked at him and be like, wow, this guy was probably making some of the best food in Toronto.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and he told us a funny story off camera. It wasn't really funny, but the cool thing is what he does is when he's foraging he brings a gun with him and all that stuff to look for, to harvest, game, and a lot of times he brings a pellet gun with him. So, if any of our listeners know, you can have a pellet gun and all that stuff for grouse. And my grandfather used to use a slingshot for grouse when he was moose hunting because he didn't want to waste a bullet first of all, and he didn't want to scare any moose that were around. So stealth mode and all that. But the fact that he goes out there with the pellet gun, you know he goes foraging and then gets some grouse and then cooks it right on spot. But we have to. We have to do more with Nicholas and both in the kitchen, with you and in the wilderness and on the lakes. We have to do some kind of collab.
Speaker 3:I'm going to be honest, man, I think my nerves would be shot. I've cooked with some of the best people in our industry. A lot of people have heard Craig Baxter on our show. In fact, he was on last week. I would say I would go up against anybody cooking alongside that guy, even Martins. Give me Martins, give me Craig, and I'll go up against anybody in the city Just really looking into what this guy does as Special Siege and his skills and his talent is unmatched and it was a pleasure having him on here and I really appreciate it and we got to follow up with him.
Speaker 3:We definitely got to follow up with Nicholas and you know, again, we really appreciate the time you took with us. But, moving on, we got a little bit of homework and a little bit of cleanup shop here with the Eating Wild podcast. We had some really, really amazing things happening in the past few weeks that I want to talk about quickly, siege, one of them being our latest giveaway on the Fish and Canada website. On the Fish and Canada website is somewhere in this episode. You got the first actually no, I'm going to say possibly the second code that people got to listen. You got to listen to the whole episode because it might not have been aired yet. It might not even been happening in this episode. It could happen right after we're talking here. But you're going to get 100 bonus code entries. If you hear the bonus code, you log on to the fishing canada website, go under contest, punch in the code for the week and, I think, siege to get a get a few extra pops yeah, they get 100 extra pops.
Speaker 2:I love that. Um, they get 100 extra pops and it that traeger man, that traeger we got a 34 pro thing electric pellet smoker.
Speaker 3:This thing can fit a pig on it and I'm telling you right now I was so tempted to put this bastard up in my backyard and say ciao. Couldn't do that. We love the listeners. We love our followers. Yeah, I'm really pumped for this one. So make sure people, when you're listening, check it out for this one. So make sure people, when you're listening, check it out, listen to the whole episodes. You guys got to listen for the next three weeks because I'm telling you you want to win this baby. You want this in your backyard and see you win this thing. What are you doing? What's the first thing you do? Because you don't you don't really smoke much, but I would have to do is go on YouTube and figure out how to work this bad boy.
Speaker 2:I'm a Weber kind of guy and I just put it on. But I've seen we all listen to Joe Rogan and I've seen what he does with Traegers and I see his Instagram, what he does with Traegers and they look phenomenal man Brisket, you name it, jim. And they look phenomenal man Brisket, you name it. Jim Miller uses them all the time and he's doing chicken and all that stuff. But yeah, and I'm excited, whoever wins, I'm really excited. This is one of the coolest giveaways we've had. And they keep coming, antonio, they keep coming, they're coming, man, they're coming, yeah, man.
Speaker 3:Well, you know we talked about the fillet knife which, uh, we have some of the um, some of our um, you know, knife ambassadors are out there cutting some peixe as we speak. Uh, you've been getting some great feedback on that, but, again, we're going to save that for a future episode and we we only have a limited stock of these, so, um, as of now, siege can people I know this is kind of premature because we want to get the right details out right people? We're hoping mike can help us with that, but can people actually reach out to you now on instagram?
Speaker 2:so what? Yeah, that's a fantastic question because we're just working out the pricing on the both of the knives and the limited inventory. So we are going to be doing a small run and we were thinking about long story short. We were thinking about doing an e-store and all that stuff. So what we're thinking about doing is doing a small run on Instagram. You can DM us for the interest if you're interested in one of them, and we just have to figure out all the logistics of shipping and all that stuff. But it's going to be a very small run until we talk to mike and who knows, maybe it's going to be in our portfolio for a year when we have more inventory.
Speaker 3:But they're fantastic oh, I'm looking forward to it, man, I'm really looking forward to it. And just before we close off this episode, siege, you are a week away. Siege is a week away from hitting Paradise City. Take me home to the Paradise City. This is a place that the roots of the Christopher Johnson tree started. I want to ask you before you go away, because hopefully we can get in a few more episodes before you depart. But you're going to your home country, you're going to where I don't think people even understand. You kind of gave me the lay of the land today of where the roots started, from your grandmother purchasing land out about six and a half hours away from London, ontario. But you are going out to this special place. And what are you looking forward to? And I know you take your family there every year, but you pop, brother, you pop nickels.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I've got a seven pound four ounce large mouth there. It has everything and you touched on a little bit. It's a history of my grandmother came from Sweden with her family and their farmers anyways, we have a property there and I've been going since I've been in diapers, so it's a place that's special to me and my family and we're gonna do a lot of. I'm not going to have the cell phone that much, so the Instagram posts may have to slow down for a week or two. It's not like we disappeared, but yeah, I'm going to do a lot of fishing, a lot of just family time. Man, if I'm not fishing, I'm pulling the kids around the tube and we're going to go island hopping. We do barbecues on different islands, you know, hot dogs over fires and all that stuff. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it and I wish I could tell everyone the lake, but this one I can't.
Speaker 3:I can't do it. Keep that to yourself, brother. I don't even know, because you didn't even tell me, but I'll get to be honest, I'm bringing you there.
Speaker 2:I'm bringing you and the boys there, the foreskins skins, but I'm blindfolding each one of you and putting uh, you know, the black car will show up.
Speaker 3:It's gonna be like narcos when we're showing up to the dope fields, when you got us all covered up yes, take, you didn't take the blindfold off and we're on the lake.
Speaker 2:That's it yeah, the only one that I'll ever bring without blindfolding. Blindfolding is mr p bowman, him and I uh yeah, yeah, but not you guys. Bull rod's cool man because he knows a lot. Blindfolding is Mr P Bowman, him and I. Bullrod, yeah, but not you guys. Bullrod's cool man because he knows a lot of good lakes and he keeps secrets really good and I know he does Hold on a second.
Speaker 3:Yes, you're trying to tell me. Mr Bullrod and Angel Viola keep secrets. They got a segment on the Fish and Canada show where they're giving you GPS. Oh right, Are you baked on the Fish? And?
Speaker 2:Canada show where they're giving you GPS coordinates.
Speaker 3:Are you baked? You're telling me Bo Rod keeps a secret. I got a pad and paper every Saturday morning right before the show closes off, and I'm taking notes.
Speaker 2:Oh, isn't it? What is it? The hot spot they're getting there, or whatever. Oh geez, yeah, you know what? Bo Rod, I'm taking away that invitation. Antonio, you're in, bo Rod, you're out. Man, I forgot you put coordinates. Oh yeah, that's out the window.
Speaker 3:That's right out the window. Siege, come on man.
Speaker 8:Him and Viola are giving people the secrets.
Speaker 3:Hey, listen, you know what I'm going to be honest, man, I actually, you know, before we were part of the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast team and network. We were fans we're always fans of the Fishing for the Land, of the Show and when they started doing two things one was Getting there, that segment Getting there, which actually is brought to you by the ODJ and the podcast network, which is pretty cool to see our logo and our faces Saturday morning on the Getting there segment. And you know it's Bo rod telling you exactly how they got there. You take the 401, you have the 400 north and you get off at this street, this and that, and then you know the Garmin spot, like the spot lock, like this is where we fished. Here's the coordinates. This is what we got and I think it's important to some listeners because you know people that grew up watching TV and watching these idols on TV fishing. We all wanted to be them Siege. We all wanted to be in their shoes and you know the fact that they're sharing not only the secrets but they're sharing the spots publicly on TV in front of millions of people. It's like, hey, I'm inviting you guys to come here and be us for the day, and you know what.
Speaker 3:I always appreciated that segment. But you're right, there are a lot of people out there that, will you know, say hey, that's. You know we shouldn't, they shouldn't be doing that, this and that, but you know it's. People are on both sides of the fence and for me I'm on that side where I actually appreciate it. I'm going to be honest with you too, siege.
Speaker 3:Out of all these years I've been watching television shows and it's funny because there's a couple of shows out there where I actually, when they were on Scugog I won't mention the show, but they were on Scugog I knew exactly where they were. I knew exactly because I'm watching the show and it's like I know where they are. I fished that spot oh, what time of year was it? And you're thinking about it. But when you're watching other guys on tv and they're like, yeah, this is the spot we're fishing, like, like the fishing canna show, I've never once done it. I've never actually once have taken the time, plan out a day and went to those coordinates. So how many people do you think really do that siege?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm sure there is uh people that people that do and it's a feather in their cap for them. I really like what they do with the lodging. They show you what the lodge has to offer the docking, the boats available to rent, the accommodations, the food plans and they did a recent one, a pike one, that really gets me excited. But yeah, it's a great program they have over there ODG Outdoor Journal Network and Fishing Canada. It's fantastic.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and again, I always appreciate our teammates. You know Frank Ugly Pike and Steve Niedzwicky and Jerry Ouellette, and the list goes on. And I'm telling you right now, it's a wonderful team to be a part of, and Steve Niedzwicky and Jerry Ouellette, and the list goes on. And I'm telling you right now, it's a wonderful team to be a part of. And you know, I just sometimes it's so surreal, CJ, that we're on the other side of the mic sharing stories and people are emailing us, like I said, you know, to see that picture of that sandwich. Oh yeah For me, just all of a sudden losing my mind saying, hey, I'm putting a challenge out there, and then bam, all of a sudden your Instagram lights up. It was pretty cool for me and I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and stay tuned. We have big plans coming and we are so excited. I wish I could share more with the listeners now, but stay tuned. We're never a boring group. We always have something planned. And you were talking about other podcasts. On our network, there's a new one, untamed Pursuits. Yeah, and that's Jamie was on the Tackle Box before, and his co-host is a hunting guide. I believe his name is Ryder, and that's fantastic as well. So we're growing man. We're growing with the network and yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 3:And Jamie, that guy's a stick and a half. Every story that guy has is incredible. I really enjoyed listening to him. I've been on his show as well and we dug deep. He's got all the knowledge on the water sports and and his new co-host, that guy's that guy's got pop fest written all over his face too, um, from hunting all over the world and and I'm just excited that, uh, that we're growing and, uh, there are a lot of things happening siege with the eating wild podcast. But, uh, you got to stay tuned, you got to listen. Make sure you listen to every episode.
Speaker 3:Also, one really important thing before we go, see that the listeners can do is go on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this show right now and drop a review, good or bad. We take it professionally, not personally. I'll always say that, just like me in the kitchen, we'd love to hear back and you know what that does. It helps us stay on the mics and that's how we get our data. That's how we can pitch sponsorship and just show people out there that people are listening and they're enjoying. So I encourage everybody to go out there. Drop us a line, drop a DM to Siege on our socials.
Speaker 2:Again, you can subscribe to the podcast as well. If you can Subscribe to the podcast and follow us on Instagram. We never have boring stuff on Instagram. We're always doing something and, thanks to the listeners, we're pretty much doing kind of what our dream is. We're meeting fantastic people in the hunting and fishing and we couldn't do it. This sounds so cliche, you know what I mean, but I really mean it. We couldn't do it without the listeners and, um yeah, amazing.
Speaker 3:Well said, brother. Well listen, I'd like to say a quick thank you to nicholas stark for joining us today and, uh, stay tuned for some awesome stuff, some awesome giveaways. And we're just getting started, siege. I'm going to invite Coach to get that lovely tune started. This is Antonio Smash Malecka, joined by my co-host today, christopher Showtime Johnson for Top, dog Pereira and Daniel Hooks at Martin's. This was the Eating Wild Podcast. We're out of here, ciao.
Speaker 8:Get the net. We'll see you next time.