Gabe Kennedy

EVERYONE EATS        |        MARCH 9, 2020

Gabe Kennedy

Co-founder of Plant People

The award winning chef turned entrepreneur grew up in Boulder, Colorado where he developed an affinity for plant-based nutrition, sustainability and alternative wellness approaches from an early age. He is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and Cornell University.

After working in private equity with a focus on organic food brands such as Organic Avenue, Brad's Raw Foods and Little Duck Organics, he shifted focus to the culinary world.

Gabe won ABC’s primetime cooking competition series, The Taste, was named Visiting Executive Chef of Bon Appetit magazine, and reimagined The Little Beet restaurants as Director of Culinary and Innovation.

Gabe drew upon his upbringing, experience in food and CPG brand consulting background to create Plant People. He discovered the healing benefits of hemp to treat his traumatic spinal injuries and was inspired to introduce effective, accessible and natural wellness solutions that support the health of people and the planet.

INTERVIEWED BY ROSIE ELLIS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MOLLY CRANNA

GABE’S KITCHEN IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Gabe chopped the freshest looking salad we've ever seen while we discussed an obsession with popsicles, intermittent fasting and how his relationship with food shifted when he co-founded Plant People.

BREAKFAST

I tend to skip breakfast. I’ve never been a big breakfast person. I remember eating a lot of eggs as a kid. After that, I couldn’t stand that smell in the morning.

After I wake up, I usually do a little stretching and meditation. I would like to be committed to the intermittent fasting thing, but I’m not. I’ll have a pre-gym coffee. I look forward to it, especially when I add cacao or chocolate in there. I usually add some mushrooms to my coffee. I’ll either put in some Four Sigmatic blends, some cordyceps, some reishi, chaga, some turkey tail or coriolus.

LUNCH

If I bring my own lunch to work, it’s usually repurposed leftovers with greens on top. Our office is in Chinatown so there are actually limited dining options unless you want Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai, which I love – I just can’t eat it every day. I enjoy a salad from sweetgreen.

I try to eat vegetarian. That will be either a pretty simple salad that I make myself, a more complex salad that I get out, or I’ll indulge in some Thai food. Half of the time, my work meetings are back to back, and I'll have this moment of if I don't order food now, I'm not going to have an opportunity to eat until dinner. Then I'll just go and order something.

It’s embarrassing and not what I want to put out into the world, but I like this place called Copper Throat. It’s like a $10 Thai meal. I like Dimes – the pozole is really good. There’s a place called Banh Mi Saigon. There are two, but I go to the one on Grand Street – they have a phenomenal rice vermicelli bowl. So many herbs, rice noodles, a fair amount of shredded lettuce, it’s like a cold noodle salad bowl. There’s shiso, there’s cilantro, there’s mint, there’s thai basil, pickled vegetables, and then this grilled marinated chicken thigh and it’s like $8.25. It’s a total win. And so now that I’m not eating much chicken, my lunch routine is sort of thrown off.

DINNER

I’m super simple, especially if I’m cooking for myself. I’ll make a big salad. I like spicy greens, so arugula and watercress. I always throw fruit in there, so right now I’m doing some citrus or some pears, in the summer I love stone fruit. A nut for some crunch, definitely cheese. If I’m going to have a salad there’s got to be some cheese in it – some Grana Padano, some parm, goat cheese, whatever. Lemon, lots of lemon zest, olive oil. Some nice balsamic or sherry vinegar and call it a day. I’m a big fan of walnuts, big fan of pistachios, I love sardines. I’ll throw sardines on a salad or smoked trout.

In the winter I’ll do squashes, mushrooms. I’m a big mushroom person. I think mushrooms are going to save us all. I love making soups. Soups, curries, stews. I’ll make wild rice or rice with lentils and will usually mix in some dried fruit and nuts. I’ll saute it, crisp it up and put an egg on it.

My relationship with food is always evolving because I’m a chef, quote unquote, right? It was such a huge part of my daily experience. And then I started this business, Plant People, and my relationship to what I ate really shifted. My priorities were different. There was no longer such a microscope over the food and service at restaurants – it became much more about who I am with, what’s the environment, am I enjoying myself, does this make me feel good?

And it’s the same when I’m cooking for myself. I no longer have to perfectly sear the fish. I don’t have to make this extraordinarily complicated or indulgent meal. I can really just eat something that makes me feel good, that’s easy to prep, that’s easy to clean, that doesn’t require me to go shopping for more things than I have.

DESSERT

I’m a popsicle and mochi guy. And it does not matter what popsicle it is. I fucking love a popsicle. I’m an all season popsicle fanatic. I think I just like foods on sticks: like kebabs and skewers and yakitoris… and popsicles.

There is a really good place called Malai which does Indian inspired ice creams. So they’ll do a rose petal pistachio, there’s a chili chocolate.

I have a soft spot for gummies. I think Haribo really nails the texture. They win on texture ten out of ten times. Some candies need a little bit of – what I like to refer to as curing – I like to leave them out. They need a little more texture to me, a little harder. I like a stale gummy.

And right now, satsumas. Oh, and frozen grapes. The thing about frozen grapes is, if it’s a quality grape, you get the crisp, you get the snap, and then you begin to experience this sorbet of sorts... and then a slushy. It’s so good. Or a frozen banana with a little bit of almond or tahini butter. I’ll also split dates down the middle and put almond butter in them and freeze those. It’s like nature’s Nutter Butter.

SPEED ROUND

Recent food discovery?
Tahini butter.

Favorite place to shop for kitchenwares?
Korin in Tribeca has great knives. Otherwise, JB Prince is a good all around option.

 

Dream dinner guest?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

 

Any vitamins or supplements?
Mushrooms, immune building herbs. Of course, Plant People for your adaptogenic, nervine tonics, herbs, and hemp solutions.

Best snack between meals?
I love a good apple. It’s in my bag, it’s resilient, it’s crispy, it’s refreshing; my mouth feels clean. I don’t even brush my teeth anymore, I just eat apples before bed (laughs.) That’s disgusting.

Go-to comfort food?
Soup. Any soup.

Go-to market or grocery store?
The farmers market, of course. And any natural food store, wherever I am, is usually the best. Natural Grocers is a great chain. I used to love Whole Foods but now with this whole Amazon situation, I feel like the quality is going downhill.

Most frequently used Plant People product?
I use Be Calm everyday. Albizia bark, albizia flower, avena sativa, ashwagandha, schisandra berry, holy basil leaf, and of course CBD.

Favorite seasonal treat?
Popsicle. All seasons.

Go-to cookbook?
You know what I refer back to? And I know it’s not sexy… my CIA culinary school textbook. It has all of these fundamentals and then I can kind of build my je ne sais quoi on it.

Cocktail of choice?
I like mezcal, but that’s not really a cocktail. I love any version of a spritz. I like a lot of the non-alcoholic options that are out now – Kin, Ghia, so on and so forth.

Favorite neighborhood spot?
La Vara or June, if I want to impress someone.

Cooking playlist?
Oh I’ve got some bangers. It’s usually feel-good. Nothing frantic. I want to be calm... Brazilian tunes tend to be great for the kitchen.

Secret food hack?
Here’s my equation for making food taste good: salt, acid. You have to have salinity. You have to have acidic components. A little bit of heat, a little spice. Some texture. That’s it.

Allergies?
I avoid factory farmed meat.

Favorite restaurant globally?
I used to go to this great cafe in Indonesia called Soma that was just fresh fruit and juices and I loved that. It was humble and delicious and nourishing.

Favorite way to work off a big meal?
I love swimming. I go to the YMCA up the street, it’s great.

Last meal on Earth?
I want a table of just perfectly ripe fruits. And keep in mind tomatoes and cucumbers, those are fruits too technically. Or maybe an amazing soup. I love soup so much, that’s why I have a spoon tattoo. Fruits and soup. And popsicles! (laughs)

 

Who would you like to see on Everyone Eats?

Honestly, I want to know what everyone eats, even people that I hate. Like I’m curious what Trump eats, like what’s keeping this guy fueled? Psychopath.

 

Weirdest eating habit?
I cannot stand people who eat loudly. That is my weirdest eating habit. It actually has nothing to do with me, but it has everything to do with me. It’s my issue, not theirs, and I’m aware of that. It’s something that I’m really working on.

Where do you most feel like The Regular?
I feel like The Regular on the Manhattan Bridge. Everyday I ride past a few bikers who always give a little nod. No idea who these people are, but we always nod.

THIRD SCOOP

How do you differentiate between food for medicinal purposes and food for culinary enjoyment? Or is it one in the same?

I think it should be one in the same but every once in a while you’ve just got to eat what you want to eat and not really worry about it. I also think about the psychological joy that I’m getting from food. I don’t always eat for health. I think sometimes it’s important to experience something for happiness.

What do you miss most about working in the more traditional food industry? What do you love most about the career pivot you made?

There’s something really satisfying around working with food and working with my hands everyday. There is that excitement that you get being on the line, having tickets roll in and seeing beautiful plates go out. But I don’t miss the hours. I don’t miss the physical labor because it’s intense, it’s draining and it’s taxing and I don’t think that the industry is the most healthy.

What I enjoy now is that I’m able to bring my love and appreciation for food and plant-based wellness to the world in a different way. Food is now just one small part of what I’m doing on a daily basis. I can now look at the implication of food on a larger level. I look at the agriculture systems and I look at how to utilize food as a way to improve people’s lives. I think about access and education and agriculture. If we can get people to substitute a fast food meal with a home cooked meal that’s a win and not only is it a win for their own health it’s a win for our product’s efficacy if they’re taking our product, it’s a win for the agricultural system and so on and so forth.

I think what I’m doing now is more scalable. Instead of chopping salads for rich people, I’m able to do something that gets into the hands of a lot of people. I still feel like I’m cooking things up but I’m just cooking them up in a supplement form instead of a meal.

Who are you most inspired by – in food, in medicine, in business?

My parents really inspire me. I’ve learned a lot from them about healing modalities and utilizing food as medicine. My mom is an acupuncturist and herbalist, my father is a chiropractor and acupuncturist so I was able to get a lot of input and suggestions from them.

I was a skier as a kid and that’s sort of how Plant People came about. I was a ski racer, I fell, I broke my back. I obliterated my disk and I was dealing with it for 15 years. And through those years I had a lot of procedures and surgeries, and the way I was able to feel better was through these plant based modalities: food as medicine, using plant based nutrition, alternative medicine, herbalism. And then I engaged in cannabis on my own and it really helped me. I have really no one else to thank other than my mom and my dad. They really helped me out.

GABE'S POPSICLES

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Freezing Time: 6 hours
Servings: 6

INGREDIENTS

1 can full fat coconut milk
1 cup of coconut yogurt, or regular yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of strawberries (1/2 blended, 1/2 chopped up)

PREPARATION

1. Blend coconut milk, yogurt, vanilla, maple, salt and 1/2 the strawberries until smooth.

2. Chop up strawberries into small chunks and evenly distribute to popsicle molds.

3. Fill molds with blended material and freeze.

OPTIONAL

Add other types of fruit, if you like.

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