#1676 - Jesse Griffiths

Joe Rogan (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Jesse Griffiths (0:09)

What's up, Jesse?

Joe Rogan (0:14)

How are you, man? Doing really well.

Jesse Griffiths (0:16)

You are one of the many people that are cool as fuck that I've met because of Steve Ronella.

I need to give that guy like a gift just for introducing me to cool people. Like I've met at least a dozen really cool people because of Steve Ronella.

Joe Rogan (0:31)

Yeah, I can believe that. He's a powerful person and I'm honored to be included in that group. I really am.

He's done a lot for us. His ability to get out there and support people and his knowledge of his reach and just wanting to get out there and promote people, it's very, very kind. He's a very generous person.

Jesse Griffiths (0:57)

He is and he's so smart and he's so important to that world, the world of wild foods. I heard you on the podcast, on his podcast, a few years back when you were talking, you guys were talking about cooking and Dai Due, your restaurant here in Austin, and you could tell right away that what you're doing is very much like a passion project. Like you're a guy, when you talk about food, when you talk about cooking, when you talk about the ingredients that you use, and it's like, I fucking love when someone's really into what they do. When I hear you talk about Dai Due, when you talk about cooking in general, and of course you got a new book out, it's out right now, The Hog Book, go get it. Chef's Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Pigs.

But it's very inspiring.

Joe Rogan (1:50)

Thank you, thank you. Yeah, I love food. And most of my life revolves around gathering it in some way or another. Whether, I mean, I like to go pick blackberries a lot.

And that translates to a lot of other things. I mean, I obviously like to kill pigs. I also like to buy carrots, things like that. I like to serve food.

And it's honest work. And I'm glad that you appreciate that.

Jesse Griffiths (2:17)

Yeah, it's, you know, I learned from Anthony Bourdain what food really is. It's like it's an art form that's temporary. You know, I used to think of food as just being delicious. And then I watched that No Reservation show, and I'm like, oh, these are artists.

Oh, it was like a shift in my head. I had to, like, rethink what it meant to be a chef.

Joe Rogan (2:36)

I don't know. Sometimes I might disagree a little bit with the artist label.

And more that, you know, sometimes I'll tell our staff, is like, we're plumbers. Like, we're more craftsmen than artists. Now, there's some chefs that are artists that are out there that are way smarter than me.

And they can make a foam or they can compose a dish with things that just, like, will blow your mind. You're like, I don't think that's going to be good. And then they put it together and it is really good.

I think of, you know, being a chef got really hip. I don't know. I mean, Bourdain had a lot to do with that, too. But I like to tell our staff, particularly, just to kind of keep everybody's, you know, egos within limit, that we're more craftsmen, you know, that we're like plumbers. You know, we do something that's needed on a daily basis because, you know, you eat a really good meal and you're hungry the next day. And so I think that some chefs are certainly artists and I really admire them. I, however, am not one of those.

Jesse Griffiths (3:37)

You're being humble. I get it, though. And I like what you're saying about keeping the other people in check. Good move. Very smart.

Tell them they're plumbers.

Joe Rogan (3:44)

Right. I mean, no offense to plumbers, either. I mean, they make a hell of a lot more money than cooks do.

Jesse Griffiths (3:49)

Well, yeah, and you're fucking, you know, when your sink's broken or your toilet's backed up, you need them. The thing about it is, though, like, there is an art to cooking food correctly. It's not simp. And there's also an art to being like a carpenter, right? You know, like, there's a lot of craftsmen that you, for sure, a Finnish carpenter, that's an artist.

But there's something about food that, for whatever reason, I think, until Bourdain came along, people didn't really look at it like an art. Now I think they do. I think a lot of folks do. Like, you know, when he would go and, you know, travel to France and some strange restaurant that was in the middle of some farm, and they have, like, farm to table. These incredible chefs are all running around cooking these little things.