This week on Chopping It Up, Keith sits down with Eric Steinkamp, the mind (and hands) behind Feral Future / Feral Foods, to talk about what really happens when you stop eating like a lab rat and start eating like you actually live in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Eric shares how his fiancée Carrie literally read the stars with astrocartography, pointed at this valley, and how that cosmic nudge turned into a real-life move from LA race tracks to slow roads, gardens, and a kitchen full of elk chili and wild boar pasta. From there, the conversation dives deep into what “you are what you eat” really means—epigenetics, gene expression, seed oils, sun, skin cancer, and why local, seasonal food grown in the same dust and pollen you breathe can literally change how your body works.

They dig into one-ingredient foods vs. ultra-processed “forever foods,” butter vs. canola, and how our grandparents’ way of eating somehow became the radical, counterculture choice. Eric breaks down Feral Foods’ farm-to-table-to-go approach: elk chili, wild boar pasta, turkey wild rice soup, venison “mexi meat,” seasonal corn chowder, mineral-rich feral tea, grass-fed collagen marshmallows, and pantry staples like full-spectrum salt and feral herb blends—real food, prepared locally, ready to heat, eat, and feel good about.

You’ll hear how Feral Future is bigger than just food: it’s about what you consume, what you surround yourself with, what you wear, and how you care for your tools—right down to Eric’s mobile knife sharpening so your kitchen is actually a place you want to cook in. At the core is a simple challenge: if you love this valley, prove it three times a day with what’s on your plate.

Listen in, get hungry (in a good way), and then take one step: swap one processed meal this week for something made by your neighbors, from this dirt. Check out feralfuture.com, look for the Feral Foods fridges at Joy Cafe in Solvang and The Yard Orchard in Los Olivos, and support the people trying to keep our community healthy, strong, and here for the long haul. 🌾🤝