What if food is about far more than what is on the plate?

What if the dishes we love could carry us back to another country, another season of life, or a table filled with people we miss?

In this deliciously wide-ranging episode of The Fun & Bliss Show, Monick Halm and Moneeka Sawyer sit down with two-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer, journalist, author, and culinary storyteller David Page.

Watch the episode here

David is the creator of the beloved Food Network series Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the author of Food Americana, and the host and producer of Culinary Characters Unlocked.

Together, they explore food as memory, identity, culture, curiosity, connection, and, of course, fun.

 

In This Episode, We Talk About

Listen to the episode on Spotify

• How food becomes deeply intertwined with memory

• David’s experience covering the opening of the Berlin Wall

• The storytelling thread connecting journalism and food television

• How Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives was created from an improvised pitch

• Why the show was always about people more than food

• How immigration and adaptation shaped American cuisine

• Why Chinese-American and Italian-American foods deserve to be understood on their own terms

• How food reveals history, culture, geography, and identity

• The role of timing and luck in a successful career

• Why curiosity is one of David’s greatest tools

• How work can become a meaningful source of fun

• Why you should go out and eat the cannoli

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Monick Halm (00:02.572)
All right, welcome David, it's so great to have you.

David Page (00:05.816)
Well, thanks for inviting me. It's great to be here.

Monick Halm (00:08.822)
It's a pleasure that you have a really fascinating path. You've gone from network news and major world events to food, television, books, conversations with culinary characters. When you look back, what's been the through line? Telling story.

David Page (00:27.158)
I tell you I'm remarkably curious, which is what you have to be to be a journalist. And while the formats have changed, I still consider myself a journalist. I just interesting and and I like to talk to people and I like to tell stories. So it's it's it's a matter of finding something interesting and sharing sharing it with people.

Monick Halm (00:37.368)
find stuff interesting.

Monick Halm (00:43.884)
It's all the same.

Moneeka Sawyer (00:49.992)
Well, talking about stories, I have to ask about the Berlin Wall. you know, it's I remember the day that that came down. I was at UC Berkeley. It was a big, yeah, it was such a big deal, but you were right there as a and so could you tell us a little bit about that? What do you remember most? Not from a journalist's perspective, but from you as a

David Page (01:05.784)
Remember the day it came down, I was yeah.

Monick Halm (01:07.15)
there.

Monick Halm (01:14.946)
from me. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I was had been let me

David Page (01:19.104)
in Europe for a number of years for D C News, I was a producer.

Monick Halm (01:22.254)
as the communist

David Page (01:25.822)
governments of Eastern Europe started to fall, even before they fell when it was clear they were gonna, NBC moved me to Budapest so I could be in position and I ended up running on the ground coverage of of most of the the communist collapse.

Monick Halm (01:42.741)
and you know,

David Page (01:44.53)
Romania had happened, Czechoslovakia had happened at that point. And East Berlin had become kind of a flashpoint because what was happening was people were using East Germany as a way to get out from other countries. it was it was getting pretty serious. And decided that they wanted to come and do nightly news with Tom Brocol live from in front of the Berlin Wall.

Monick Halm (01:48.062)
and

Monick Halm (02:00.349)
and

Monick Halm (02:03.923)
BC nightly news.

David Page (02:13.812)
and to this day I think that the fact that we had ten K lights up to to give us a background probably helped incite a lot of what went on. pardon me while I clear my throat.

Monick Halm (02:24.802)
them. But we were planning

David Page (02:27.518)
the the newscast and and there were tons of people there from New York and elsewhere and I was there obviously

Monick Halm (02:29.422)
Monick Halm (02:34.047)
And,

David Page (02:35.678)
Brooke always getting ready to to go on the air and difference. The show which goes on the air at six thirty in New York was gonna go I don't know if it was I have to remember Eastern Daylight Saban, whatever. It it was either five or six hours different. I think I think we were gonna go on at twelve thirty local time. Might have been eleven thirty. Anyway,

Monick Halm (02:37.848)
And because of the time

Monick Halm (02:55.598)
around nine in the evening, a cameraman.

David Page (02:59.286)
A kind of flaky cameraman came right in trailer, pretty agitated saying there

Monick Halm (03:01.326)
came running into the production.

Monick Halm (03:07.598)
leaving they're getting there they've opened a gate and it turned out I think it was the

David Page (03:11.79)
British you know, you you watch spy novels and they talk about Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was the American cross

Monick Halm (03:17.718)
And I had been going into

David Page (03:19.534)
to East Berlin for years and so I was pretty familiar with the process and it was

Monick Halm (03:24.302)
Like I used to tell people it was like the same movie, but once you cross over.

David Page (03:29.15)
it went from color to black and white. 'Cause it was the same architecture, but everything was gray.

Monick Halm (03:34.408)
And although the high point was if once you got through

David Page (03:37.038)
True, if you took a left. Under the elevated train stand they used to sell the best vice verse, those little white sausages. I I always look forward to that. Anyway.

Monick Halm (03:45.427)
Moneeka Sawyer (03:48.556)
Talking about food.

Monick Halm (03:49.846)
that

David Page (03:55.458)
There and my answer to that was yeah, right.

Monick Halm (03:59.68)
And then he had one of the first cameras that had a built-in model.

David Page (04:02.318)
monitor and he opened it up and started playing video back and yeah they were just streaming across the bridge. So passed that information on to the executive producer of the show and we all you know got into gear and from there it it just went nuts.

Monick Halm (04:08.567)
I

Monick Halm (04:17.934)
And then I, we had a crew.

David Page (04:24.044)
I mean, we had a bunch of crews there, but one particular crew, Howard and Robin, were known as the stretch crew. They were out of London. They were both rail thin and about six foot six. So we grabbed the stretch crew and we ran to the wall because the we were in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which you know, intersected the wall a as the in between East and West Berlin.

Monick Halm (04:33.518)
So I grab.

Monick Halm (04:44.979)
And how I got a ladder? don't know. mean,

David Page (04:46.882)
Some ladder obviously it was something that had been there for production purposes to hang lights or something. I brought the ladder to the walls so that Howard and Robin could climb up and shoot down my ladder away from me. I I lost control of my ladder.

Monick Halm (04:58.508)
And then a bunch of Germans took

Monick Halm (05:03.816)
And not a phrase you often hear.

David Page (05:05.826)
People say I lost control. It happens when you get older.

Moneeka Sawyer (05:10.817)
Usually it's not a good thing.

David Page (05:14.614)
people when I lost my ladder. This doesn't usually happen to me. But anyhow

Monick Halm (05:17.774)
I lost my ladder and all these Germans went up and that's why you saw them all dancing on the wall. my So we stayed through the newscast I would suspect Because people realize the newscast is done

David Page (05:24.814)
'Cause they stole the ladder. Wow.

David Page (05:36.654)
Probably was on on Eastern time in New York. Usually simply replayed on tape where you guys are on the West Coast, but news events you update it, you cut into the show live for the West Coast.

Monick Halm (05:42.039)
and use

Monick Halm (05:47.254)
when there are news.

Monick Halm (05:53.262)
I would suspect that we... Anyway.

David Page (05:55.544)
We did a West Coast update. After we were done, I took a crew, this time a German crew, who was it? It was Joe and and Heinrich from Mul

Monick Halm (06:06.766)
and we went and

David Page (06:09.548)
Joe was actually, Joe had been covering news for so long, he had actually shot the wall going up. Wow. Many years earlier. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Monick Halm (06:17.816)
So, and we walked through Checkpoint Charlie, which you've ever seen a spy movie.

David Page (06:22.07)
It's like the car stops and the papers and they they look under the car and they open the trunk to see if you're smuggling thing. There was none of that. I mean it was Chuck Point Charlie was deserted. And we just walked through into East Berlin and started working, you know, talking to people and and shooting pictures. And it it was a whole evening. It was it was and it's you know, i the wall that night. You see pictures of people banging on the wall.

Monick Halm (06:41.847)
It was a remarkable.

Monick Halm (06:46.646)
did not physically come down.

Monick Halm (06:51.88)
There was some of that in the act.

David Page (06:53.548)
the ensuing days, but the actual the large scale destruction of the wall didn't happen for quite a while. By the way, one of the few people on earth who does not who has ever been like knows anyone in the news business, one of the few people who doesn't have a piece of the wall. You know, everybody else, like NBC, sent pieces of the wall to people. I never bothered to get one and you know now I kind of wish I had one. Yeah, I was there. Kind of cool. What's what's in some respects neater is

Monick Halm (07:00.258)
I am but

Monick Halm (07:16.686)
but it was me. Demon in.

David Page (07:23.648)
A few days later, the the I forget what day of the week this was. I know it was during a weekday because Broko was was anchoring. It a guy named Garrett Utley, who is a god to me. He he's one of the most legendary, I mean he's passed away, one of the most legendary foreign correspondents in the history of journalism. Also, by appearance, like the straightest, most uptight guy on earth.

Monick Halm (07:31.049)
the week.

David Page (07:49.164)
He's not re he wasn't really, but that that's he just looked like Mr. Solid, the last guy you would expect to like get into rock music or anything. But

shows so he w in Berlin for the first weekend shows that followed the the walling down to do a concert kind of celebrating the fact that the wall that that it was open.

Monick Halm (08:18.484)
And at the concert he did, get.

David Page (08:20.586)
I will help from my friends. This was like

Monick Halm (08:22.728)
And late in the evening, and I went to Garrick and I said, how about we do a music video?

David Page (08:27.288)
Video with a montage of pictures from the events of the week over Joe Copper singing this song and Garrick said yes.

Monick Halm (08:33.294)
So now we're on deadline crashing this. Second. know the best of my knowledge over put.

David Page (08:39.042)
music video until the last and I'm the only guy music video on a weekend nightly.

Monick Halm (08:45.774)
That's so cool. It's kinda cool.

Moneeka Sawyer (08:51.284)
Yeah, it must have been awesome though. Yeah.

Monick Halm (08:54.412)
Yeah, and look, then, and the, you know, then you follow this up and, know, as American.

David Page (08:56.844)
Reality is

David Page (09:01.652)
Often do there was just this assumption that everything would be American democracy hunky-dory. West Germany was not the West Germans were not thrilled to have East Germans as part of their society because they view people in New York view Mississippi as the the poorer, dumber stepchildren who were going to strain the social system. not that long after

Monick Halm (09:06.669)
Many.

Monick Halm (09:15.032)
viewed them the way

Monick Halm (09:19.208)
at the,

Monick Halm (09:27.892)
David Page (09:31.616)
all of this happened, there was unification, you know, the two sides becoming one country. But before that officially happened, there were elections in in East Germany where the party that ran West Germany won and now ran East Germany, so it was a de facto unification. And I tell you, as a Jew whose grandparents escaped the Nazis, I

Monick Halm (09:43.169)
same part

Monick Halm (09:55.434)
felt and I lived in Germany, love Germany, I have a lot of German friends, but I got to tell you I felt the chill in the world. I truly felt a sense of

David Page (10:01.224)
I felt

nationalism that scared the crap out of me. So, you know, that was a great event. Germany is for all intents and purposes doing very well, but you know, it's ever as simple as it's explained.

Monick Halm (10:08.536)
greater and

Monick Halm (10:13.806)
You know, nothing's

Monick Halm (10:18.83)
That's so incredible that you were there in history and you've covered a lot of serious high stakes world events. What pulled you into food storytelling? To make a living.

David Page (10:31.254)
Well I needed

David Page (10:35.114)
Literally, I back in the States and become a show producer, first at NBC. I was w one of the initial co producers of the version of the Today Show. I then got fired. I I'm bad with authority. I've been fired lot. We we separated and I went on my way. Ended up at ABC as an investigator producer and and then the senior investigator producer of twenty twenty and then

Monick Halm (10:44.448)
weekend.

I then

Monick Halm (10:52.76)
So.

Monick Halm (11:01.59)
And,

David Page (11:04.16)
one of the three line producers of Good Morning America, where every third week the show was mine, subject to the executive producer's oversight.

Monick Halm (11:12.27)
But network news started, I could see it going.

David Page (11:16.745)
down the entertainment path I didn't want to follow.

Monick Halm (11:20.379)
And I'm not saying.

David Page (11:21.518)
on truths. I'm not any of the garbage that gets said today about how the media is intentionally the mainstream media is intentionally lying. That's not true. see it beginning to become more interested in the entertainment side of things to attract ratings. And I was producing Good Morning America and my boss came up to me one day. This was back when Regis Philbin had Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It was you know a big

Monick Halm (11:31.192)
but I did see the

David Page (11:50.764)
phenomenon. And she said, there's going to be a million dollar winner on the show that airs tonight. He's in your first half hour tomorrow. Now the was pure. It was news. I was told that a guy who won a game show was going to be forced on me on my first half hour. I started looking to get out of news, network news as it were.

Monick Halm (11:58.145)
first half hour.

Monick Halm (12:01.941)
And once

Monick Halm (12:12.149)
I-

David Page (12:13.762)
got way out. I got offered a job as executive producer and senior vice president of a publicly traded channel in Minneapolis. And I thought, this is cool. I'll be like a corporate guy and I'll get stock options and all that stuff. I hated it. That lasted about actually a year or two. Anyway, I got out, opened a production company, I was starving. I I couldn't who now is on the main today show

Monick Halm (12:20.43)
home shopping.

Monick Halm (12:29.911)
Well, that's the next-

Monick Halm (12:37.602)
and sell anything anymore. Now Al Roke

had been on the weekend.

David Page (12:44.6)
show when I had the weekend show. And i I you know, theoretically he worked for me. The big time talent doesn't work for the producers by by any means. But Al and I were friends and and Al also

Monick Halm (12:56.202)
and had on the side, he had his own production company. So I called him up. said, I can't sell.

David Page (13:01.742)
Crap. Got any work? You know, anything like he says, sure.

Monick Halm (13:07.566)
He's done a lot of stuff for the Food Network. So he said, I can subcontract you some of the.

David Page (13:11.086)
projects we have for the food network. So I started food stuff interest in food. Especially having been overseas, I I developed a a real interest in in the various cuisines.

Monick Halm (13:13.378)
So I said, great. I it because I've always had an interest.

Monick Halm (13:26.344)
And, you know, I wasn't going to.

David Page (13:28.606)
gonna get rich taking a percentage of what they were paying him. So w you know, it was fine with him. I started pitching the network directly.

was landing at all. but there was this one woman, executive, who was kind enough to at least take my calls. And she kind of started to feel sorry for me because I kept pitching stuff she wasn't buying.

I when I was doing I done a di entry on diners for the food network France.

Monick Halm (13:59.495)
And I'm on with this woman.

David Page (14:01.09)
The phone tonight. It's like late, I don't know, late on a Thursday or a Friday. My home office was downstairs. It was one of these where your house is on a hill, so like you're in the basement, but there's some windows toward the back. Anyway, so I was kind of stuck in the gloom down there. And I'm pitching, pitching, pitching, and nothing's going. And finally, frustrated pity, she said, Anything else about.

Monick Halm (14:08.334)
where...

Monick Halm (14:20.952)
of creation or or estimate yeah I'm dying yeah

David Page (14:31.638)
And dives. And I told her about it. And she actually said, you know, it sounds interesting. We have a developer meeting Tuesday, so get me a

Monick Halm (14:35.822)
We have hour special on Monday.

David Page (14:43.02)
I hung up and I I was happy because finally she had an interest in something, but I had a thin air. I was not developing a show called Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. I just made it up right there and I'd rather be lucky than good. That's that's how I ended up as a culinary journalist.

Monick Halm (14:46.828)
I had just pulled the phrase out.

Moneeka Sawyer (15:02.818)
David, I love how you said I'd rather be lucky than good. I feel like I live my whole life that way.

Monick Halm (15:09.518)
Come on, you know, it's funny if you succeed at something it's real important to remember who are a thousand other people as talented with the same idea who didn't stumble into the right moment of the right. I mean, I

David Page (15:16.173)
That they

Talented.

David Page (15:27.288)
I ended up in New York Television because I got canned at a local TV station in Atlanta at just the NBC the that the the lead producer there walked into the boss's office and said, Hey, I'm going on sabbatical.

Monick Halm (15:33.358)
the time that the Atlantic Atlantic Bureau

Monick Halm (15:42.928)
and

David Page (15:44.21)
write a book with Alex Haley. So that when I killed my off at the bureau thinking there was no chance the NBC's bureau doesn't have any interest in an investigative reporter from the local TV station, the the bureau chief said, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. If not told him on that day that she was going to go write a book, on the same day that I got fired, because

Monick Halm (15:46.808)
came and dutifully dropped my table.

you know.

Monick Halm (16:07.662)
When should I have a problem with?

David Page (16:09.39)
What's up for a.

Moneeka Sawyer (16:10.326)
You never mentioned.

Monick Halm (16:11.854)
of.

David Page (16:15.31)
To let it hit me in the posterior as I love it. But that not happened.

Monick Halm (16:19.486)
I would not, you know, so, yeah, look, I have a healthy response.

David Page (16:24.526)
Respect for my own talent, my own ability. But there's a thousand other guys who didn't get fired on the right day who could have done the job. So, you know,

Monick Halm (16:33.25)
Thank you.

Moneeka Sawyer (16:35.16)
Thank you. So when you moved into s to culinary storytelling, did you feel like it was a reinvention or were you just using the same muscles in a new place?

Monick Halm (16:45.752)
same muscle

David Page (16:46.094)
Russell's new place. Understand something. Diners is a food show. It's not. It good when I did it, I don't know what they do with it now.

Monick Halm (16:48.566)
Everyone thinks.

Monick Halm (16:53.248)
like old. I mean

I've been gone for long time.

David Page (16:59.854)
all good storytelling the telling the stories of people. I created the passions

Monick Halm (17:02.186)
is simply telling the people, diners around and the interests and the concerns and the person of people trying to make a living making food. The story, you know, when the Berlin Wall fell, the best story I was ever involved in, I found a family literally knocked on the, before the wall

David Page (17:24.374)
is is I literally I took a translator had physically come down.

Monick Halm (17:33.294)
We went to, there was a whole apartment.

David Page (17:38.174)
row apartment houses that were right up against the wall. I I took a translator and we started knocking on doors of those apartment houses until I found a family that

Monick Halm (17:49.152)
represented microcosm, everything about the division of the two Germany.

David Page (17:51.768)
As a

David Page (17:55.678)
And it was little Stevie, Aaron, his brother and did he have a sister? I'm trying to remember.

Monick Halm (18:02.392)
They used to play soccer in the backyard knocking the ball. So we did a story about that before.

David Page (18:05.056)
Off the wall it before it was knocked down, and we did a story with them after it was knocked down. Their microcosm was they had expected their to welcome them with open arms. They didn't. Other hand had reacted well to capitalism and had gone to school to become a driving instructor and was opening his own driving school.

Monick Halm (18:14.358)
And there are in the way.

on the

Monick Halm (18:29.934)
It was the story of people, the story of little Stevie LaConca, who now could chase an errant soccer ball through the pillars of what used to be the

David Page (18:32.046)
Was the Knowsky

David Page (18:39.298)
Wall across a pile.

Monick Halm (18:41.814)
of Rubble, all storytelling.

David Page (18:44.502)
in the final analysis is the story of people. So that's that's no different, however you do.

Okay.

Monick Halm (18:55.95)
So this is a show about fun and bliss. Yes. We talk about fun not as something frivolous, but as something that we do that brings you back to life. So I'd love to find out more about you. What do you do? What does fun look like for you these days?

David Page (19:16.351)
well, place where I can see the water, my wife and I.

Monick Halm (19:17.289)
I live in a nice place.

my, my Beagle Fred.

David Page (19:23.71)
is dutifully begging my knee at the moment makes me very happy. I in one respect, which is that the thing I've always was what I ended up doing for a living. So, you know

Monick Halm (19:29.294)
I'm kind of boring and I just enjoy doing the most.

Monick Halm (19:37.518)
even if I weren't doing it as...

David Page (19:39.596)
job I'd I'd be in my office on the computer editing stuff or or writing. I have a book pitch out at the moment.

Monick Halm (19:47.438)
I love to entertain.

David Page (19:50.474)
I I like to have people over and to cook for while I can talk to them from my kitchen.

Monick Halm (19:55.672)
for them.

David Page (20:01.464)
And you know the the the the I guess the traditional stuff. I I set up comedy a lot. I'm a big Jerry Seinfeld fan.

Monick Halm (20:04.94)
I like stand.

I'm a fan of great thick movie made

David Page (20:13.582)
Classic, less so of the stuff that's currently being made. You know, on a given day, I'll tell you the best film ever made was Casablanca, or maybe I'll tell you it was The Godfather, maybe it was Citizen Kane. All visual storytelling is starts with making a promise to the audience and is then judged on how it fulfills that promise. There is no film that does that better than Casablanca.

Monick Halm (20:26.998)
Although the film that, you know.

Monick Halm (20:37.238)
and

Moneeka Sawyer (20:41.614)
So I don't think you're boring because you love what you do. I think that's a gift. You know, yeah. If you're if you're spending most of your time doing something that you find is incredibly fun, that's not boring. That's a gift. So

David Page (20:46.114)
Why say?

David Page (20:54.402)
Well I I was I don't know, eight years old, ten years old. I was in the backseat of my parents' car. It was an old Ford and we were about to cross the Thong Fox Neck Bridge, and into the Bronx to visit my grandmother.

Monick Halm (20:54.702)
You wanted to do this, remember.

Monick Halm (21:04.244)
to frog from when I

Monick Halm (21:11.346)
and

David Page (21:12.746)
William B. Williams, a legendary New York disc jockey, was on the radio on WNEW, which at the time was the highest grossing radio station in America, was a major powerhouse. And I later in later years I got to be a copyboy there. It was really cool. Anyway, we're we're

Monick Halm (21:29.208)
getting on the bridge and William B. Williams makes

David Page (21:31.732)
A joke in which he uses a Yiddish word that is actually schatological. William B. Williams was not Jewish, but it's New York, everybody knows, you know, words like that. And I thought he was hilarious, and I said to my father, I want to do that for a living. Now my father, God love him, rest in peace, was a little stuffy as an academic.

Monick Halm (21:46.283)
may he

Monick Halm (21:52.255)
and

Monick Halm (21:57.442)
be initially in. I actually can.

David Page (22:01.89)
Convinced me I wanted to go to as a day student to a local boarding school w when I was approaching high school age. We lived in Massachusetts at the time, because of its superior education. Actually I wanted to go there because they had a student run radio station. And it was by working at that radio station that I got my first professional job when I was, I don't know, fourteen, fifteen, something like that on the weekends.

Monick Halm (22:25.504)
And then I'm old enough that

David Page (22:28.632)
that Watergate happened and Winston happened, I wanted nothing more than to become a journalist and an investigative journalist. And I got to spend a fair amount of my career. I mean I ran the twenty twenty. So I've wanted to do this, you know, sin since I was, I don't know, eight, ten, something like that.

Monick Halm (22:31.406)
Woodward and Burns and

Monick Halm (22:40.654)
The investigative unit at 20.

Moneeka Sawyer (22:51.054)
Fascinating. I want to go back, David, to we don't go back to diners, dive-ins, and dive.

David Page (22:54.248)
I'm sorry we do not go back.

Monick Halm (22:58.496)
do that.

David Page (22:58.894)
Okay.

Moneeka Sawyer (23:01.96)
So, an interesting story. My husband and I do a date night every single week, no matter where in the country I am, I come back to him or vice versa. and when we were early in our marriage, we were dead broke. We made so little money and we just bought this house that took everything we had. So date night was always an adventure and we love to go out eating were major foodies. And so we started this project of finding diners.

and the thing that we loved about the diners was the people that we met, the passion of the people that owned it, and even the cooks, right? Everybody there was fully involved in this project and the food. And the food tasted like nothing you could get at like the the the more expensive restaurants. And I know that this is kind of what you represented in your in your TV show, right? That was what it was all about for you.

David Page (23:53.262)
It's about passionate people who gave a damn.

Moneeka Sawyer (23:55.758)
That's right. And so why do you feel like the show connected so deeply to the audience?

Monick Halm (24:00.696)
Well,

David Page (24:02.424)
There are a number of reasons. One is not to in any way demean what I create because I'm very proud of it. It's really to make noise turn on in the background. You can

Monick Halm (24:09.518)
white. You can put it in the box and watch, you cannot watch. Number two, everybody eats. Most importantly,

David Page (24:20.152)
Pits.

However, as I said earlier, is TV is a sh experience. You want to hang out with people you like. And number four.

Monick Halm (24:32.01)
and we

for full guy, although when I got, is by nature the most intrinsically talented.

David Page (24:39.511)
He was green as hell.

David Page (24:46.698)
and charismatic T V performer I've ever worked with.

Monick Halm (24:50.696)
you know,

David Page (24:51.95)
someone with that talent, I I can you don't do it alone, but I can make him great. Someone who doesn't have a lot of talent, I can't be great to be able to make him good.

Monick Halm (25:01.486)
that might not be. It's the same with, pardon me, with cooking. mean, if you're good

David Page (25:08.918)
If you have it, you have it. i if you're a good cook, I can make you a great cook. Well, not me, but someone can make you a great cook. But if you don't have it, you don't have

Monick Halm (25:17.524)
so I think diners provided companionship. also provided a kind of sensual. I mean, food is, our senses react. I shot that food very careful. it was beautiful. It was supposed to be tremendous. And we did all sorts of other tricks. I very few people agree to which.

David Page (25:24.654)
Who the

David Page (25:29.57)
To food.

David Page (25:36.684)
supposed to be beautiful. We put a

David Page (25:44.952)
People understand the now I'm gonna get technical. Audio sound to visual storytelling that people realize.

Monick Halm (25:51.424)
is so much more important.

If I give you a contiguous back where

David Page (25:57.634)
You a background soundtrack where nothing seems as if it was edited and it all works together. It immerses you. I can get away with all sorts of video cuts. It's it's the sound that that will bring you in black because cooking takes place under a hood usually and you can't really hear very well.

Monick Halm (26:04.195)
Mercy

Monick Halm (26:08.174)
sound.

bring and what so many cooking shows.

Monick Halm (26:17.792)
I spent every episode.

David Page (26:19.68)
I spent twenty three hours in audio post production.

Monick Halm (26:22.784)
including while editorially I insisted everything in the show be true. I did use one particular Hollywood trick called

David Page (26:26.136)
Mr. Dru.

David Page (26:31.64)
trick of what's called foley or sweetening, which is ad sound effects, you may call it, but usually you actually create them in a studio. I would add the appropriate sound to everything you saw on the screen. You know, if if I went to flip that burger, first you heard it sizzle, then you heard the spatula, then you heard the plop. All of the

Monick Halm (26:37.791)
I would A-S-S-S-S-

Monick Halm (26:54.414)
that brought you into experience. you were living an experience that you realized. Remember, food's hard, it's hard to convey the wonders of

David Page (26:58.156)
And because

David Page (27:04.546)
Food without taste or smell. So we use the other tricks to get there. But but let me go back to one thing. All about the people.

Monick Halm (27:07.384)
So we had

Monick Halm (27:11.254)
It's still. These are people you want to hang out.

Monick Halm (27:17.262)
Absolutely. I want to ask you a question about food. Okay. That food is something that's important for you. You talked about it a lot. so what do you think food unlocks in people that a normal conversation might not? When you're eating, you're doing something. When you're eating with other people, intrinsically, unless you're a real

David Page (27:18.584)
Mm-hmm.

David Page (27:37.726)
Mm.

rival.

Monick Halm (27:46.99)
I can't stand people who won't So right off the bat, you're exchanging, you're sharing. It's bringing you closer to people. As far back as ancient times, socialization has taken place around food.

David Page (27:47.65)
You're people share food.

David Page (27:55.768)
closer to other people.

So, yeah.

It's also an opportunity.

Monick Halm (28:08.92)
Fuck anything you want. know, that's the gravy.

David Page (28:12.398)
Pat what'd you think of this? What do you think of that? Or at Thanksgiving, you can, you know, have political arguments with your uncle.

Monick Halm (28:20.024)
But it is historically, meals are the time when people came. And I think we've lost a lot of

David Page (28:21.998)
It is

David Page (28:27.053)
Together.

David Page (28:31.38)
in the 20th and 21st centuries, and I think we're paying a price for that, is everyone lives on a device and doesn't talk to each other. The fact that that families don't in many cases, probably most cases, sit down for an evening meal at which you gotta tell somebody else what you did that day, I think that's a tragic loss for culture and society and human development.

Monick Halm (28:39.192)
yeah.

Monick Halm (28:42.985)
in a

Moneeka Sawyer (28:58.818)
Yeah. I happen to actually agree with that. I think that was a big piece of what kept my family so close was that was no matter what was going on in our lives, mom and dad insisted that we all sat down for dinner. And and as teenagers, us girls like rolling our eyes and puffing loudly, but we had to sit there and have dinner with our parents. And I I actually really appreciate that.

Monick Halm (29:25.25)
Yeah, and that's gone.

David Page (29:27.035)
Or if people are sick

Monick Halm (29:29.736)
at the table together, they're each reading their phone.

David Page (29:32.064)
Which is just awful. Just awful. Me too, because for food, which is which is

Monick Halm (29:35.608)
You know, and it's funny. Look, I have an appreciation. He's heightened by the fact. I ate myself into a. But a couple.

David Page (29:44.334)
Health crisis. I've always had weight problems. Years ago, my doctor said, You're gonna die. My my blood sugar was like two sixty something. My A one C, for anyone who understands the stuff, was over eight. I, you know, I had to change my relationship with food. I've lost eighty-five pounds, my numbers are great. And thanks to Ozempic, by the way.

Monick Halm (30:01.464)
and

Monick Halm (30:08.563)
but,

David Page (30:12.768)
food if you have a healthy relationship.

Monick Halm (30:17.976)
can give you a tremendous amount of pleasure. Now, be very careful, but

David Page (30:22.936)
For me, I have to be I can still take great pleasure. I mean, I made Philadelphia roast pork sandwiches tonight for me and my wife. There's nothing better on the face of the earth. People think it's cheesesteak that is the quintessential Philly sandwich. It's not, it's the roast pork sandwich. Invented it, John's roast pork.

Monick Halm (30:33.257)
and

Monick Halm (30:44.334)
And, you know.

David Page (30:46.398)
That or you know, go to the west coast, go up to San a cup of meat that people on the east coast don't even know exists.

Monick Halm (30:49.634)
and a barber and have a tri tip.

Monick Halm (30:55.714)
Don't

David Page (30:56.846)
in what Northern Californians well central Californians think of as barbecue. It's not, it's grilling. barbecue is a whole other low and slow thing. But just you know, fo food food can the other things can

Monick Halm (31:06.785)
There's something

take you a place. thing, I mean, my daughter, when she was younger, said to me,

David Page (31:17.592)
We were talking about some country that I had been to and she how come every

Monick Halm (31:20.334)
She said, every time I ask you about food, you end up talking about the food. And, know, your memory.

David Page (31:23.598)
Yeah.

David Page (31:28.108)
I tried to explain it.

some extent it's imprinted by the things that matter a lot to you.

Monick Halm (31:36.488)
And additionally, having first moved overseas, the internet and unprepared.

David Page (31:40.238)
before they cared to know anything about the places I was going, because I never thought I would leave America. I quickly had to figure out what each country was about. And one of the best ways to learn that is through the food, sharing it with people from those places. and I have no idea wh where this ramble started, but next question.

Monick Halm (31:55.022)
and she

Moneeka Sawyer (32:02.958)
David, I just wanted to say that I people so I've been my husband and I have been to seventy two countries together. Yeah, we but we everything, it's all about the food and the people, just like you said. We actually moved to France and lived there for a year and a half so we could eat Well, not anymore.

David Page (32:10.114)
Right.

David Page (32:18.518)
Pink.

Monick Halm (32:21.378)
the

David Page (32:22.656)
Hello.

Moneeka Sawyer (32:23.413)
Leon

Right, you would know that with Hello But I think what was so is so fascinating about food is it really and I think this was because of the sitting around the dinner table with my parents, it gives you this feeling of belonging. There's something that we are now sharing and enjoying and savoring together and we're in this experience and we're having this conversation and whatever it is that we're sharing, we're doing it over something special.

Do you agree with me on that?

David Page (32:56.258)
absolutely. Absolutely. Look, humans want connection. What better a connection than sharing a meal than than handing a plate to someone? It's it's absolutely primal. Okay, seventy-two countries. If you could only have one, what country would it be in?

Monick Halm (32:59.852)
You

Monick Halm (33:08.43)
absolutely.

Monick Halm (33:13.976)
meal.

Moneeka Sawyer (33:15.926)
It would be in France.

David Page (33:17.694)
I'd go I'd go which there's or Japan? Well, you you got me to Asia. I I've been to Hong Kong where I had an incredible meal at a working man's cafe where as they my my my family was with me, we were there for the equestrian side of the Beijing Olympics, which were held in Hong Kong.

Moneeka Sawyer (33:19.68)
Yeah.

Monick Halm (33:21.39)
Thailand.

Monick Halm (33:28.214)
beat there because I don't really know.

David Page (33:43.96)
Hong Kong because no one would take horses into mainland China for fear of illness. I mean, they claimed it was there for other reasons. But so really blue collar downstairs huge room with communal tables and we're the we're we're the only non-Asians there. And we're pointing. It basically it's a dim someplace. They walk around with the woven baskets. And I point to one woven basket and a guy behind me who hadn't said a word to us.

Monick Halm (33:51.438)
We're in this.

David Page (34:12.727)
Pipes up in broken English and he says, not for you.

Monick Halm (34:15.201)
That

it was duck foot. But you know, that not for you.

David Page (34:20.373)
It was fine.

Moneeka Sawyer (34:25.483)
Can I tell a similar story?

David Page (34:27.443)
Yeah, go please. Hey, it's your podcast.

Monick Halm (34:30.316)
The very,

Moneeka Sawyer (34:31.463)
First time I arrived in France. I was with my parents. I think I was 20 or 21, whatever. And we had just gone through the channel. was brand new. And there was this big cafe at the station on the other side of the channel. When we got there and we went into this French restaurant, it's huge, it was packed with people. And the we had this waiter. He was the epitome of the French waiter. He was huge. He was like round, he had a bald head, he was wearing his

black and white talks and he had a silver platter literally walking around like this and he gave us our menus and that was back in the days when if you spoke English you were dirt. You had to speak French, right? And none of us

David Page (35:11.67)
I don't think that's changed a whole lot.

Moneeka Sawyer (35:13.614)
I love the French, so I've learned a lot. But in those days, I you know, whatever. So we didn't know anything. so we sit down. This this old gent this gentleman was really, really kind for a French waiter. He gives us the the menu and we just start po pointing. And now he's doing charades for us. And it was so funny. And finally so we all pick our stuff and finally he gets to me and I was like, I want this. And he gets his eyes bug out, they're so big.

And he goes like he's if you can't you can't see my face, but his face is like f full of fear and he starts smacking his head and move.

David Page (35:53.932)
What was

Monick Halm (35:54.686)
it. Okay. know. Not brains. It's pituitary gland.

Moneeka Sawyer (35:55.455)
brains.

David Page (36:00.099)
Yeah.

Moneeka Sawyer (36:02.658)
Okay, yes, but but in any case he's like smacking his head and mooing and we're like, What is going on? We can't help stuff like stop laughing. And finally I'm like, You pick and he brought me a Madame or Miss Yeah, cro a crook Madame, whatever. so that's what he brought me.

David Page (36:16.149)
Crockman Squad.

Monick Halm (36:16.622)
you.

Monick Halm (36:21.344)
I thought you were gonna end up with tripe or blood.

Moneeka Sawyer (36:24.094)
No, no, no. He was kind, like I said. but it was just eventually we were able to like look it up in our little guidebook what this thing was. But I will never forget the look on his face as he was smacking his head, mooing. It was so funny.

Monick Halm (36:40.91)
And then culture are known and reviled. It will fail you.

David Page (36:45.976)
For our waste beard to eat all of the animal.

Moneeka Sawyer (36:50.206)
Yes, I know. But he also knew that his customer was not gonna be okay.

Monick Halm (36:54.936)
Yeah, his restaurant was on the other side of the channel.

Moneeka Sawyer (36:58.71)
That's right. That's right.

David Page (37:00.202)
He'd seen

Monick Halm (37:00.814)
a few of you.

Moneeka Sawyer (37:02.83)
Yeah. But it was so funny, so memorable.

David Page (37:06.606)
No, look,

Monick Halm (37:08.992)
eating anywhere in

David Page (37:10.566)
is with rare exceptional lovely experience. John, if I start a place with no recommendation, what are my odds that it's gonna be good? Yeah. Very high.

Monick Halm (37:15.18)
I you know, I judge a place based. Stumble into a.

Monick Halm (37:23.47)
New York, very American cities where

David Page (37:27.498)
Even Chicago to some extent, there are cities where you stand a really good chance of getting a good meal.

Monick Halm (37:33.993)
the number of places in Europe.

David Page (37:36.748)
where that rule is true is infinite.

Monick Halm (37:40.116)
And you know, tend to forget we live an hour and a half.

David Page (37:44.182)
South of New York City. I t 'cause I don't have a lot of time that we go.

Monick Halm (37:46.574)
tend to forget, because I don't spend a lot time in the city anymore. On the rare occasion that I go in there and I stumble into some place for a meal, it reminds me, oh yeah, everyday food is better than

David Page (37:55.107)
Yeah.

David Page (37:59.116)
what's available where I am. you know, it's that's just

Monick Halm (38:03.342)
the way it is. So speaking of American food, your book, Food Americana, looks at... Yes, available on Amazon by several copies. Yes, don't just buy one copy, should buy at least one.

David Page (38:11.246)
Yeah.

David Page (38:17.051)
Twenty copies at a time. Call me, I'll for you.

Monick Halm (38:21.582)
I'll sign it by several times. So, you know, your book, it looks at the culture, the history, the communities of American cuisine. What surprised you most while writing it? How many myths?

David Page (38:38.574)
But

David Page (38:42.754)
persist in terms of origin stories. No, the first hamburger wasn't made at Louis Lunch. No the first ice cream cone was not produced at the World's Fair in St. Louis.

Monick Halm (38:46.328)
No.

Monick Halm (38:49.885)
no.

Monick Halm (38:57.102)
I think the past

David Page (38:58.658)
Yeah.

the cat stories interesting than the real stories. Suddenly I'm not sure I was surprised by I was fascinated by the built a cuisine out of the cuisines of other countries and cultures. Most brought immigrants and Native Americans, such as our use of lobster which kept the pilgrims from dying.

Monick Halm (39:05.036)
are far less. Second, but I hated Bob to agree to it. Look, we don't.

Monick Halm (39:22.146)
here by some from.

Monick Halm (39:30.456)
But I was by the evolution.

David Page (39:31.771)
i is fascinating about the of these foods into American food. You know, you go to a Chinese restaurant with some snobby guy and he'll say, Well, this isn't authentic.

Monick Halm (39:40.492)
No, it's not authentic food that you'd get in Beijing, but it's authentic Chinese

David Page (39:44.344)
Chinese American food as it evolved in the United States. Well, in the case of Chinese food, after the gold rush in California, where a bunch of guys came from Canton province to to pan for gold, and along with them came some restaurateurs and merchants to keep them supplied. And those restaurateurs realized pretty quickly that Americans weren't going to eat the stuff that they would eat because we didn't eat nose to tail. So they invented something called chopper.

Monick Halm (39:48.098)
United States.

Monick Halm (40:13.696)
So either an evolution of a different kind of.

David Page (40:15.342)
dish that was made in China using innards or there's two schools of thought on this, or maybe just a whole new dish invented for Americans only, but and in its first Chinese food in America was Chopsui and then it evolved from there.

Monick Halm (40:27.091)
Incarnate.

Monick Halm (40:31.476)
and I got to tell you, I'm a real fan of General. But,

David Page (40:34.718)
General Cho's Chicken. There's a great documentary and book called In Search of General Cho, written by Jennifer H. Lee. Back to Taiwan to find the guy who invented General Cho's Chicken, and she showed him a picture of what it became in America, and he was like aghast. So it involved things.

Monick Halm (40:42.338)
where she went to

Monick Halm (40:53.678)
It's, you know, we have all, you would never find American Italy.

David Page (40:58.37)
Pizza in it. Italians came over here.

Monick Halm (41:02.764)
to find a different kind of wheat that...

David Page (41:05.932)
That has a different protein percentage, different kinds of ovens, coal versus wood, so that the the crust came out different.

Monick Halm (41:14.75)
and more importantly, an abundance.

David Page (41:17.026)
Do you use the Italian word about danza of

Monick Halm (41:19.15)
of ingredients available to poor people here because being poor here was not as poor as being poor in the south of Italy.

David Page (41:23.586)
Not as where you couldn't even afford pasta, except maybe if you were lucky on Sunday and where pizza was nothing more than dough with some tomato on it, and if you had a really good week a pizza was hard. Why Italian American cuisine?

Monick Halm (41:35.342)
which is why

quickly became huge and filled with

David Page (41:45.494)
meat, why the pasta sauce, or as we know it in Jersey, you know, Sunday sauce, elsewhere in the country they call it Sunday gravy, why why it i is now built around immense amounts of of pork and beef. Because it could be that that's what we add here, hence cuisine.

Monick Halm (42:00.382)
but we had and we created a new, I'm fascinated by, how we've done that with, all sorts. Mexican American began,

David Page (42:11.862)
All sorts of of chicken American food. Look, American food.

as an entity in the United States after the Mexican War when we took half a Mexico and there were a bunch of Mexicans who suddenly were stuck here who were American, and they, like the Chinese, realized that they weren't gonna sell traditional foods to Americans 'cause many of them were spicy.

Monick Halm (42:22.126)
American Warfare.

Monick Halm (42:31.394)
do real well going there.

Monick Halm (42:36.586)
spice and secondarily now they couldn't get many of the ingredients changed and splintered into many many directions of Mexican American cuisine is terrific.

David Page (42:40.61)
That they used to be able to get some Mexican food.

David Page (42:49.048)
Which is interesting is it's one of the cuisine

Monick Halm (42:52.686)
that there's now been a resurgence.

David Page (42:55.506)
in Mexican food as eaten in Mexico. Americans lately develop an interest in what have been called authentic I hate the word authentic, but I tend to refer to it as food as eaten in that country. Look, for my book, I was taken to this mall in Queens in Flushing, which is ironically where I was born. it was heavily Jewish at the time, now it's heavily Asian. There's a mall there

Monick Halm (42:58.186)
and

Monick Halm (43:02.691)
would

Monick Halm (43:09.068)
I mean.

David Page (43:22.22)
the a food court, the massive food court that that makes food the way you'd find it in China. And I loved it. You're not going to get most Americans to chow down on tendon and artery. And it was look, the food was phenomenal. And read my book. I I tell you all about it.

Monick Halm (43:29.602)
What your

Monick Halm (43:41.144)
But that's not Chinese And more to the point, even Chinese food, we don't understand the country. There is no, with rare exception, there's not a

David Page (43:44.354)
Chinese American food.

David Page (43:51.222)
Under for the most part as as that

David Page (43:56.918)
National cuisine anywhere. There are a series of regional cuisines that developed out of what was available based on the climate conditions in that part of the country. You know, this I I've I've read, I think there's like arguably 28 different cuisines in Italy. So and yes, that have now, you know, Peking achieved mythical status as the national dish of China. It's still not eaten by most people in most places in China.

Monick Halm (43:59.352)
theory.

Monick Halm (44:13.602)
Yes, there are some dishes.

David Page (44:24.332)
For one thing, it's a very complicated and often expensive dish. it is terrific. But y it

Monick Halm (44:29.737)
Cuisines are regional.

David Page (44:34.686)
They're local. You know, it's kind of funny to see now we're being asked to spend more money at expensive restaurants for stuff from down the road as opposed to stuff that came in from Cisco or US foods. So

Monick Halm (44:39.522)
more money.

Monick Halm (44:44.43)
Okay.

Moneeka Sawyer (44:47.534)
I feel like I could talk to you forever because food is probably one of my favorite topics in the entire world.

Monick Halm (44:53.902)
I got six or seven. My wife's watching the movie and my dog's here eating his snack. What the heck?

Moneeka Sawyer (44:56.962)
Say we

Moneeka Sawyer (45:02.718)
so yes, I would love to do that, David, but we do need to kind of get to tie this up, unfortunately. So I want to ask you, this show is all about fun and bliss. And we talk about something called blisciplines, which are small habits or rituals that make life feel more joyful and alive. Could you share some of your blisciplines?

David Page (45:28.125)
Read. Open book.

Monick Halm (45:30.894)
I don't care if it's a cat. I do my reading on my iPad. I heard weed.

David Page (45:37.4)
What's the

Moneeka Sawyer (45:47.544)
When you're on weed, you get to eat more, just saying.

Monick Halm (45:51.118)
It's weird, I'm old enough that I remember, I came of age in the 60s. Believe me, I know my weed. Now that it's like everywhere and everyone's doing it, it doesn't really interest me. What's the fun? I bought some edibles.

David Page (45:58.478)
sixties and seventies. So

David Page (46:07.438)
Good idea.

David Page (46:19.374)
And

Monick Halm (46:20.398)
Uh, you kind of went to Mars for 10 minutes and thought, nah, that's plus.

David Page (46:24.92)
Who knows when it's gonna kick in? I mean, so

Monick Halm (46:27.638)
I didn't mean to distract you. I didn't mean to distract you. Read. I'm a book- I love reading. I'm- So, which I Reading, and it doesn't have to be Moby Dick. It can be just a bad crime novel. It can be Elmore Leonard. It can be James Patterson.

Moneeka Sawyer (46:34.26)
I love

Reading.

David Page (46:39.564)
Yes.

Moneeka Sawyer (46:48.736)
It can be Monique's book, fun as the way. My book, too.

Monick Halm (46:56.062)
You know it saddens me I was listening

David Page (46:59.462)
to sports radio sports radio station and one of the hosts really dismissively said i don't read poor so b you don't create you don't paint your own pictures you have to have the pictures shoved at you so yeah read

Monick Halm (47:03.691)
Literally

And I thought you

You don't use your mind on pictures

Monick Halm (47:16.974)
Secondly, think.

David Page (47:28.652)
I won't get political, but we're in a time where everyone's down our throats.

Monick Halm (47:31.126)
Everyone jamming stuff. And then it

David Page (47:36.142)
Every now and then it would be good just to tackle a topic and say to yourself, Let me figure out what I really know about this and let me learn something about it and come to an informed understanding of things. I I feel like stuff has become tremendously devalued. As I think I mentioned earlier, I I I was successful as a journalist because I have a tremendous sense of curiosity.

Monick Halm (47:46.167)
And let me.

on the of

like learnings.

Monick Halm (48:05.478)
being curious especially in an age where there's google now you find out you know did of the accumulated knowledge of all of mankind over all the millennia in small

David Page (48:07.342)
Yes.

can f out almost anything. You know, the old joke is we've invented a a device that puts all of

David Page (48:24.974)
into a small device and we use it to watch cat videos.

Monick Halm (48:28.75)
You

David Page (48:31.5)
Yeah.

Monick Halm (48:32.716)
thing also and I'm not going to pretend I go to a lot of museums.

David Page (48:37.986)
But I I'd like to see us rekindle our art.

Monick Halm (48:40.62)
are interested in. When I go to France, yeah.

David Page (48:45.326)
Yeah, it's the food, but it's also the musée d'Orsay and the impression.

Moneeka Sawyer (48:49.823)
my gosh. And just the building.

David Page (48:52.279)
Yeah.

Monick Halm (48:52.622)
I but you go into that Degas room with all those and you're in another and I just, see, and again, I'm not a highfalutin snob. don't go to a lot, but when I'm in Paris, because that's not art.

David Page (48:56.396)
All the all the past found.

David Page (49:02.283)
Existence is

David Page (49:12.14)
Museums.

So I I I go there.

I'm supposed to see. That's art I want to see.

Monick Halm (49:23.762)
That moves my soul. The Mona Lisa does not move my soul. The statue of David, while impressive, does not

David Page (49:25.996)
Move my soul.

David Page (49:29.854)
Does not move my soul.

Moneeka Sawyer (49:31.17)
That one does move my soul.

Monick Halm (49:34.318)
Good. I want to see you on the Musee d'Alsace. That is my favorite. For me, its impression is art. And the pointillists, mean, Siroat and so on. But those are wonderful for me.

David Page (49:46.658)
Sunday in the park and all of that. But yeah, those those those are th that's joyful.

David Page (49:55.788)
Really good classic rock.

Monick Halm (49:57.664)
I came of age as music was culture and I get great enjoyment out of

David Page (50:00.148)
Rock music coming of age.

David Page (50:06.198)
out of Steely Dan and Elton John and obviously the Beatles, 'cause I'm old.

Monick Halm (50:12.04)
but it,

David Page (50:14.198)
I really appreciate that stuff. That that so yeah, that that's right on.

Monick Halm (50:18.106)
So we love to leave our listeners with a tiny experiment, something simple, meaningful and doable. So here's a question. If someone wanted to bring more fun and aliveness into their week, maybe with food or something else, what would you invite them to try?

David Page (50:39.736)
Canolies.

Monick Halm (50:41.358)
Okay. Canola or maybe hollow vol.

David Page (50:42.552)
Okay.

But I think can these resonate with more people. A good

Monick Halm (50:50.296)
fresh made cannoli

David Page (50:52.568)
From Ferrara's Bakery on Long Beach Island across the bay from where I live is truly a thing of art. It it's calories, damn it. and the other thing they could do is listen to my podcast, Culinary Characters Unlocked. Wherever you get your podcast, it would make them very happy. Did I mention Culinary Characters Unlocked? Yes. Can I promote the podcast?

Monick Halm (51:00.098)
That's worth the count.

Monick Halm (51:07.241)
available

Moneeka Sawyer (51:15.102)
Yeah.

David Page (51:17.442)
That a shot, that'll make you happy.

Monick Halm (51:20.159)
Alright.

Moneeka Sawyer (51:21.39)
So we wanna do a really quick laser round. We're just gonna ask you three quick questions. Give us a one sentence answer that comes to your mind immediately, okay? Okay. Finish this sentence. Bliss for me looks like

David Page (51:30.945)
Okay.

David Page (51:35.948)
My wife. No.

Monick Halm (51:37.9)
I love that answer. years of me saying whatever you want, dear.

Moneeka Sawyer (51:42.786)
Good. You are a smart man.

David Page (51:44.45)
No.

Monick Halm (51:47.798)
What's your go-to when you need an instant joy boost?

Monick Halm (51:53.651)
these days?

David Page (51:58.602)
Uncrustable. Uncrustable.

Monick Halm (52:02.446)
straight from the freezer. Peanut butter and jelly uncooked.

David Page (52:05.656)
Crostable straight from the fruit.

Moneeka Sawyer (52:07.118)
My favorite

Monick Halm (52:09.614)
Okay, I don't know what these are. This is on my list now.

Moneeka Sawyer (52:12.43)
It's a pre

Monick Halm (52:16.202)
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich with no crust. It's round. Smuckers makes them. They're frozen. And over the last few years, they have become the go-to protein boost for pro football players. The NFL buys them literally by the ton.

David Page (52:30.062)
Yeah.

Moneeka Sawyer (52:33.11)
And I will send you some, Monique. Okay, good. Okay, we got time for one more. Which one do you want?

Monick Halm (52:34.882)
Alright.

Monick Halm (52:39.694)
You go for it.

Moneeka Sawyer (52:41.164)
Okay. what is the tastiest little bite you have had recently?

David Page (52:48.3)
Well I I hate to be repetitive, but it would be Hall of Art.

Moneeka Sawyer (52:51.906)
Which kind of halo? Is it the Indian or Jewish?

David Page (52:54.432)
The Jewish. The the the especially the stuff brought back from the old city by a friend.

Moneeka Sawyer (52:59.854)
Perfect. Yeah. So tell us about your podcast and your books and your resources. How can we reach you?

David Page (53:07.398)
well, yeah, I'm on all the socials. the book is Amazon, it's got its own Facebook. the unlocked is available on all platforms and on YouTube. it it's a video podcast or you can listen to it. Or or you can do both. I mean run two screens at once.

Monick Halm (53:09.198)
Food Americana, you can get it on Amazon.

Monick Halm (53:16.174)
The podcast culinary characters are off.

Monick Halm (53:28.878)
On it I talk with the most interesting people.

David Page (53:34.506)
Of the most recent I think there were thirteen or fourteen competitive James Beard Award winning chefs this year, I booked twelve of them. When the Michelin stars come out, I book a ton of those chefs. But I'm also booking

Monick Halm (53:37.898)
in a competitive winning share of

Monick Halm (53:48.61)
But mom and pop and just anyone who I think is doing interesting stuff with food and is an interesting. And they're they're really enjoyable, I mean, the.

David Page (53:56.734)
Interesting, entertaining person.

David Page (54:01.878)
And the the one that's up this week with Kevin O'Donnell, he's the chef in Rhode Island who who's doing mostly what he calls L Italian, but he's he he

Monick Halm (54:08.44)
Freestyle. His life story is, fascinating. Interned in and then worked as an.

David Page (54:16.622)
executive chef in Italy. Then he came back to the States. then he got a call from a friend and he moved to Paris. And he opened you know the place, Lo Fice. Okay, well he opened he was the initial chef at L'Office.

Monick Halm (54:21.932)
in Europe and where he and maybe you.

Monick Halm (54:30.882)
At the time that LaFigaro named it the best new bistro in Paris, he was the And now he's back home in Rhode Island, making mostly Italian food and he runs a pizzeria and he's raising his family where he was born. It's those kinds of stories that I'm telling and that you'll find at color. Love it. Well, thank you so much for being here and sharing

David Page (54:36.12)
The guy.

David Page (54:45.102)
He's right family.

David Page (54:49.982)
stories that that I enjoy telling culinary characters on lock.

Monick Halm (54:59.598)
story with us. It's been conversation. Me too. Thank you both.

Moneeka Sawyer (55:08.142)
David, we would love to find out. Do you have one URL, like one place that people can find all your information?

David Page (55:19.116)
Yeah, called dot com.

Monick Halm (55:19.63)
Summoning characters on lock.

Moneeka Sawyer (55:22.21)
You got it. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you for joining us. All right. We'll take care. Take care. We'll see you soon. Okay, bye.

David Page (55:25.986)
Thanks so much.

 

About David Page

David Page is a two-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer, internationally experienced journalist, author, and culinary storyteller.

He is best known as the creator of the Food Network phenomenon Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which he developed and executive produced for its first eleven seasons. Through the series, David helped reshape food television by placing the people, communities, and stories behind America’s restaurants at the center of the experience.

Before entering culinary media, David worked in network news for NBC and ABC. Based in London, Frankfurt, and Budapest, he covered major events throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, including the fall of the Berlin Wall.

David is also the president and executive producer of Page Productions, where he specializes in creating entertaining, story-rich culinary and lifestyle programming.

His award-winning book, Food Americana, examines the evolution of American cuisine and the immigrant, regional, historical, and cultural influences behind many of the foods Americans love.

David currently hosts and produces Culinary Characters Unlocked, a podcast featuring substantive and entertaining conversations with chefs, restaurateurs, culinary innovators, and other fascinating people shaping the world of food. The show explores not only what people cook, but also the personal histories, challenges, creative decisions, and cultural influences behind their work. New episodes are released every Tuesday.

Connect with David

Follow David and Page Productions on Instagram:

@pageprod
https://www.instagram.com/pageprod/

Follow Culinary Characters Unlocked on Instagram:

@culinary_characters_unlocked
https://www.instagram.com/culinary_characters_unlocked/

Listen to Culinary Characters Unlocked wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn more about David, the show, and its featured culinary guests at Culinary Characters Unlocked.

Look for David’s book, Food Americana: The Remarkable People and Incredible Stories Behind America’s Favorite Dishes, wherever books are sold.

Join the Fun & Bliss Movement

Fun does not have to wait until the work is finished, the vacation begins, or life finally calms down.

It can be found in the meal you savor, the story you ask someone to share, the new restaurant you explore, or the dessert you decide you are absolutely allowed to enjoy.

Inside the Fun & Bliss Collective, we practice bringing more play, pleasure, connection, and aliveness into everyday life.

Come join us and discover how fun can become your practice and bliss can become your lifestyle.