Transcript

Something Better, The Restaurant of the Future: GW Chew at TEDxBentonville

[Music] what I want everybody to do I want everybody here to start chewing with your mouth if you can just start chewing all right now what do you begin to think about when you begin to chew some of you all probably start thinking about that delicious blueberry cobbler that your grandmother makes I know me I start thinking about that delicious sweet potato pie my mother has a delicious sweet potato pie that she makes at Thanksgiving but we start thinking about what we start thinking about food we start thinking about what what we eat now ironic again as I as was shared my last name is chew c h e w and as I always say going to give you something to chew on now believe it or not gets more interesting actually when I was a baby I was actually adopted at Birth into a family that had this last name cheu so I said I was born with a mission born with the purpose and born to change lives one one chew at a time so just think about this how much food does an average American eat every single year an average American eats about 1,000 pounds of food every single year you break it down an average American probably spends about let's say three3 to5 per pound for this food so you spend 3,000 to 5,000 a year on your food but going past this the question that we want to ask ourselves is why do we eat oh I guess I like to say why do we chew you think about it is that chewing literally is a is a scientific process now let's look at the human body the human body is made up of about 66 chemical elements they include uh Boron you have calcium in the bones you have phosphorus you have potassium you have hydrogen you have oxygen now ironically these same chemicals that make our make us up who we are is actually found guess where inside of the soil all of these things that make up the human body is found inside of the soil so let me ask you a question I'm give you two options to choose from let's say I had a delicious mango that came all the way from the Jamaican Islands M or and it had was I mean literally was Dripping of his juice and it was just right off of the tree or you had a choice to choose between a delicious pastry that came all the way from France from a French pastry chef it was filled with about two cups of white flour one cup of butter and about one cup of sugar which one would you choose the sad reality is that we probably some of us may not even know what a mango is today believe it or not it's an actual reality people don't know what fruits and vegetables are you ask them what is the Cucumber what is this uh avocado they've never heard of it so this mango sadly to say based on ignorance is a lot of times it's not chosen and many times the pastry would be the number one choice because of its taste and its flavor so we find that this this pastry that we're choosing is what is actually is malnourished it doesn't have the the the the nutrients and the and those again doesn't have those uh those chemical elements that we need to build up our body bodies that mango is what it's grown in the soil and it provides the body with what it needs now here we see right here up on the screen we have a brain now this brain friends have been has been attacked and guess what it's been attacked by I call it the junk food crisis you find that the foods that we eat it says we are what we eat I like I like to say we are what we chew like my name huh so we are what we choose so when we eat the food that we eat actually makes the blood that we have again this scientific process so the blood that we have actually forms cells so one of the most principal organs of our body besides the heart is our brain it's the control center so think about this so when we eat our food it makes blood and it goes to make the neurons and the the cells in our brain if we eat bad food what kind of brain that we do we get I call it a junk brain it's being attacked oh no let's look next at a healthy brain now I made a little song I call it the eating to live song here you have a brain that's being nourished by the good food the song goes like this says fruits and Grains and vegetables nuts and seeds is all I need it tastes so good so good to me let's not live to eat but let's eat to live so fruits and Grains and vegetables so here we sit fruits and Grains and vegetables nuts and seeds is all I need it tastes so good so good to me let's not live to eat but guess what let's eat to live all of these Good Foods friends come from the soil and what does it do it provides the body with what it needs now what I've created you find that many people who when they think about healthy eating you know you kind of it's like this is not going to taste good it's not going to be good for me but today I stand today friends I am what I call a herbivore I actually I'm actually a a vegan you you may have not heard of that term I don't eat any any meat no eggs no Dairy no cheese I eat everything everything that is plant-based and when I say that I'm a a vegan people look at me with a strange eye especially in Northwest Arkansas we're the chicken capital of the world so here I come with this vegan healthy food it's like man what are you talking about so I had to figure out a formula or a process to get an individual to transition from an unhealthy diet to a healthy diet and what I've called I call it the Fe formula I call it what the Fe formula and we're going to break this down the Fe formula and we have two fs and then we have two e the first F stands for Flavor now when I come to somebody with a healthy uh dish of food a person says man this is not going to taste good look at me with a strange eye so I have to make sure that what it has great flavor next you have familiarity the next f is familiarity now again imagine eating that pastry and somebody gives you a healthy pastry and it feels like a brick you're like man I'm not going to eat it it has to have what great texture and also has to look like something you're familiar familar with sad to say sometimes healthy food doesn't always come out the best so it doesn't be it's not always something that someone wants to actually eat so it has to be what familiar in its look and has to be familiar in its texture next I have the E we have the E the first e we say encouragement encouragement is so critical many times individuals may suffer from disease and they want to eat healthy but they don't know where to begin so you have to encourage an individual to want to have a change get them excited sing songs think about it have fun that's a very important ingredient and lastly the found I like to say is education I always say we must educate educate educate when you show an individual why and how it gives them a reason for their existence when they understand the why and the how they want to do what they want to live out this healthy life style so this is the principle that I utilize for my business I'm actually the owner of a company called something better Foods International and we specialize in giving healthy gromet food and also lifestyle education and I'm just going to show you how put this into practice and actually as Chef Chu I actually as I said I was born with a purpose and born with a mission and I've actually become an inventor and we've developed numerous numerous numerous Foods over the years in the last seven years I created one of my favorite products I call this fake steak says it looks like a steak tastes like a steak but guess what it's not a steak you ask you what does it make what do you make it from we make it from Beans they said that's some bad beans I tell you it literally when you look at the product it has a look that's like what like Stak steak it has a texture like steak and it tastes pretty good it's pretty amazing now if you go to the next slide we're going to find that I actually I make a something I call it after me I call it my barbue sauce and again I'm having fun I'm making encouraging slogans encouraging names but giving people again a reason to want to eat this way so you can make delicious wraps that are healthy you can make pizzas you can make stir fries all the things that Americans love you can actually make them in a way that can be healthy if you but learn how to do it so here we looking at what the flavor we also looking had what familiarity our next slide we have another actually cool item this is our better I call it my better than chicken I actually I learned and I invented a plant-based chicken now again we are in the chicken capital of the world you say man what is this stuff look at this next we have something called our Friess chicken says it looks like chicken tastes like chicken but guess what it's not chicken crispy on the outside and white in the middle oh it's delicious so it's pretty cool you know so again what is it made from it's made from plant-based so sources is made from Beans can you believe it I make chicken from garbanzo beans I make chicken from brown rice I make chicken from soy beans n GMO soybeans so I use natural products to make things what taste good now here we see again flavor and familiarity but we're looking next even further what are we doing here right here in Northwest Arkansas we can go to our next slide here we have right here we're in ozok natural foods and health food store and what are we doing we're teaching individuals and encourage them encouraging them how to what eat healthy we actually this class he was making a delicious cheese making cheese out of cashews and carrots can you believe you can make cheese out of cashews and carrots and carrots it's amazing so you can take healthy foods and healthy items and make things that doesn't have the cholesterol doesn't have the fat and all these bad things next we also have another you see right here we have a uh a class that we're doing inside of an individual's home right here in Northwest Arkansas so again we want to make it mo mobile we want to go into people's lives showing them how to cook this way how to eat better where when somebody says listen you're you've been diagnosed with diabetes or you've been diagnosed with heart disease there's a way out and what is the way out science has proven that eating a plant-based diet a healthy diet can literally reverse these lifestyle diseases so the question is where do we go from here now there's one group I don't want to miss today right here in Arkansas we literally in Arkansas has one of the leading uh states of childhood obesity statistics show that over 37% % of our children in in in in Arkansas are overweight or obese that is astounding numbers the national rate says it's 18% of of our children are are overweight or obese this number has literally tripled in the last literally in the last two decades this number has literally tripled we look at this here I was actually I'm keep on going forward I was actually at a convention and I'm actually teaching kids how to make some healthy delicious granola right here you see the next slide I'm teaching a little kid how to mix mix the ingredients together he's mixing Mak and granola putting his sea salt and his raisin his nuts and his oats learning how to make the foods you see him right here in the next slide putting this together they're mixing these ingredients and these kids are excited about eating healthy now again can you blame a child for being obese or overweight is it their fault not at all the fault lies with the parent and the one who was feeding that child now I'm I'm really excited my first child will be born in about 120 days I'm counting my hours my wife's belly is popping out I'm like man she's looking at her belly like man this thing is getting bigger every single day it's amazing but in about 2880 hours My First Son Caleb is going to be born sad reality is the sad reality is that within this same time frame 175,000 people will die from heart disease 175,000 will die from heart disease 40,000 th000 will die from a stroke and 20,000 is going to die from diabetes all are which what lifestyle related and also preventable so the thing is this what can I do as a parent I have a I have a Time clock that I'm looking at when my when my baby is born I have to make a choice on how I am going to feed my son and I'm here today to say to encourage each person in here to become a healthy eating Ambassador I want each person here to become a healthy eating ambassador meaning that we can give our children life or we can give them death and I'm hoping that each of us would say that if we can change this cycle of of of death by what by giving our bodies what it needs giving it more plant-based Foods more Whole Foods more live Foods so I'm making a challenge to each of y'all today take one day out of the week and become an herbivore does that sound okay make one day out of the week and become an herbivore and see the benefits watch watch how you'll be able to think better watch how you're going to actually if you're trying to we always say we don't say nobody's fat we always say we're either over blessed or under blessed so watch how you may lose some blessings you know and that's one of my friends who gave me that as well but the point is that we can lose some of those blessings and I tell you friends today is that it's possible but we have to be encouraged we have to be educated and if you go in the kitchen especially you mothers out there start making some good foods and even you guys who may not like to cook go in the kitchen and see what you can do so I'm encouraging y'all let's choose life my name is Chef Chu and as I always say going to give you something better to chew on thank you