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New Worlder

New Worlder

By: Nicholas Gill
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About this listen

 The New Worlder podcast explores the world of food and travel in the Americas and beyond. Hosted by James Beard nominated writer Nicholas Gill and sociocultural anthropologist Juliana Duque, each episode features a long form interview with chefs, conservationists, scientists, farmers, writers, foragers, and more.Copyright Nicholas Gill Art Cooking Food & Wine Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary
Episodes
  • Episode #115: Olivia Chase & Steve Sprinkel

    Episode #115: Olivia Chase & Steve Sprinkel
    Jul 31 2025
    Olivia Chase and Steve Sprinkel are the owners of The Farmer and the Cook in Ojai, California. What is The Farmer and the Cook? It’s a restaurant, café, bakery, farm market and community hub in the middle of Ojai, plus a 10 acre farm a few blocks away.

    The Farmer and the Cook opened in 2001, though Olivia and Steve have been at the center of the American organic food movement for decades, helping it grow from a radical counter-cultural idea in one small area of Southern California to a transformational influence on the American food system. Organic food, vegetarian and vegan food, farmers markets, farm to table – these are ideas that entered the American mainstream because of what started to happen in this area. Today, they are often buzz words, corrupted by industrial food. Then there are people like Olivia and Steve that have not wavered from their original goals. They have stayed true to their ethos, growing, distributing and serving nutritious food that is good for your body and doesn’t destroy the environment. They try to make it nutritious food affordable and accessible to anyone in their community, not just the wealthy Angelenos that make their way to the town on the weekends.

    In our discussion, where Juli was there on location, we talk about how the price of land has made it difficult for new farmers, but how organizations they are a part of, like the Ecological Farming Association and ALBA, are helping to train farmworkers, many of them Latin American, to improve yields and access land of their own. We talk about hopeful gains in seed saving, which is helping make agricultural diversity more resilient. They are also helping preserve seeds from Gaza so that they don’t disappear during the war and they can eventually be reestablished by Palestinian farmers.

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the time it takes food movements to have real impacts. We are sometimes taken by surprise at how quickly food systems can be disrupted. I’ve seen it happen rapidly in the two decades I have been researching food in Latin America. Sometimes we want things to happen in the other direction overnight, but it takes time. Seemingly small actions, like saving seeds and getting nice vegetables into the hands of consumers can have a strong impact as time goes on. It might take decades before you can see the change, maybe it’s after your bones are down in the ground, but someone must have the courage to start somewhere.
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    Host: Nicholas Gill
    Co-host: Juliana Duque
    Produced by Nicholas Gill & Juliana Duque
    Recording & Editing by New Worlder https://www.newworlder.com
    Read more at New Worlder.
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Episode #114: Nicolás Tapia

    Episode #114: Nicolás Tapia
    Jul 17 2025
    Nicolás Tapia is the chef and owner of the restaurant Yum Cha in Santiago, Chile. Nicolás talks about how he became interested in tea during a trip to China and during a family style meal where everyone was drinking tea he was reminded of the Chilean concept of once, the evening tea and meal. That’s when the idea was planted in his head to create a restaurant where food and tea could be paired together, combining his cooking experience, Chilean ingredients and the influences from China and elsewhere in Asia where he continues to explore regularly.

    I mention this in the conversation, but when I first heard about Yum Cha I questioned whether it was going to work. A tasting menu with Asian techniques, Chilean ingredients and a tea pairing? It’s a risk. Even though there is a ton of tea consumed in Chile, more than anywhere else in Latin America per capita and even more than in China and Japan. Then I went and I was like, alright, he knows what he’s doing. It comes through in the interview. I think it’s a good example of someone following their curiosities to another part of the world with an open mind and doing something interesting with it what they learned, and continuing to learn, engage and create something new. I highly recommend a meal there if you are in Santiago. Or stop by the tea house he is about to open.

    Nicolás did the interview from a hotel room in La Paz, Bolivia, where he was doing an event later that week with the restaurant Phayawi, which I haven’t been to but I’ve heard great things. I’ll be in Bolivia in a few months and hopefully I’ll have time for it.

    Read more at New Worlder.
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Episode 112: Martin Rosberg

    Episode 112: Martin Rosberg
    Jun 20 2025
    Martin Rosberg is a natural cheesemaker that lives in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, a small community across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is Argentine and once ran a boutique hotel and restaurant in Buenos Aires but moved away to find a quieter life on a small farm with his family. He built a few stilted houses that he still rents on Airbnb, then he started making breads and eventually a few cheeses to give to the guests there. He really fell down the cheese rabbit hole, however. This led him to the world of natural cheesemaking, which is kind of like the natural wine of cheese: using traditional methods with natural cultures and without expensive equipment. It’s essentially how cheesemaking was done for 8,000 years until a century ago when modern practices entered into the craft. Martin now makes 20 kinds of natural cheeses from his farm in Uruguay, several of them his own unique styles. He also teaches workshops on natural cheesemaking and gives tastings around the world, including at his farm.

    Martin has been a good friend of mine for 15 years or maybe. I’m not even sure anymore. He used to be clean shaven and wear suits. Now he is this cheesemaker on a farm with all these crazy cheeses. Anyway, he was leading a few workshops at the very beautiful Coltsfoot Valley Farm in Cornwall, Connecticut, which isn’t that far from me so I went and picked him up and he stayed at my house for a couple of days on his way back to New York City. One of the most Connecticut things ever happened on the drive: two cars got into an accident trying to navigate going in and out of a narrow-covered bridge. Back at my place we of course tasted some cheeses and drank wine, but we decided to do this somewhat sporadic podcast conversation from my barn where I always record, while Juliana was able to join by laptop set up in front of the couch. Martin was one of the first guests on this podcast and it’s always good to hear from him, but it was nice recording the conversation in person in the barn. He’s the first to do that and it felt like a studio. Maybe one day it could develop into one. It just needs some time, like a cheese.

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    Host: Nicholas Gill ( https://www.instagram.com/nicholasgill2 )
    Co-host: Juliana Duque ( https://www.instagram.com/juliduk/)
    Produced by Nicholas Gill & Juliana Duque
    Recording & Editing by New Worlder https://www.newworlder.com
    Email: thenewworlder@gmail.com
    Read more at New Worlder: https://www.newworlder.com
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins
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