Eating (Like) the Rich with Olivia Tiedemann

In the Booth with Babish

Host Andrew Rea (Babish) sits down with private chef and social media personality Olivia Tiedemann to discuss her culinary journey and upcoming

Key takeaways

• Olivia Tiedemann's cookbook, 'Eat (Like) the Rich', is scheduled for release on September 15th.
• The pair discusses the psychological pressure of YouTube analytics, specifically how the 'fireworks' for high-performing videos can create a cycle of chasing validation.

Main topics

• Cookbook promotion
• Social media pressure

Notable quotes

I am down as fuck.

Conclusion

A compelling look at the intersection of professional culinary skill a

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) This week on Why Are You Like This, I am talking with the one, the only Colin Kaepernick. Colin joins me for a fantastic conversation marking the 10-year anniversary of his protest. We dive deep into his football career, his decision to protest, the work he's been doing with Know Your Rights Camp, and his new memoir. Check out the latest episode of Why Are You Like This wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Speaker 7 (0:25) When I was younger and like a line cook and when I first started cooking, I loved Gordon Ramsay, like loved him. And like no matter how shit I felt to be like, I'm going to be better than Gordon Ramsay one day. I would just tell myself that like a little like not even that I actually thought it was true, just as like something to keep myself there or like keep myself going or like motivated. So then to meet him and have him say that just out of the blue was kind of fucking crazy. Speaker 1 (0:58) Hey, what's up guys? You're in the booth with Babish. Joining me this week is one of my very favorite people on the platform and favorite people period. She's best known for treating her food the way a mobster treats an informant working for the feds, cursing and beating it into delicious submission. She's a private chef turned social media superstar, one of the most delightfully genuine people you will ever meet, and a seemingly endless wellspring of culinary and comic energy. Joining me this week is the inimitable Olivia Tiedemann. Speaker 1 (1:25) Olivia Tiedemann, thank you so much for joining me in the booth. Speaker 3 (1:28) I Speaker 1 (1:28) understand that your favorite tipple, which is one of my least favorite words, I don't know why I used it, is a gin and tonic. Is Speaker 7 (1:35) this a gin and tonic? This Speaker 1 (1:36) is a gin and tonic. Are you Speaker 7 (1:37) fucking kidding me? Ready for your consumption. Babish, you have no idea how badly I needed that today. Speaker 1 (1:41) Let's rock. Speaker 7 (1:42) Cheers. This is why I love you. Speaker 1 (1:46) This is why? I'll take it, honestly. Well, Speaker 7 (1:48) not because you gave me a gin and tonic, but because you're very considerate. Speaker 1 (1:52) Well, and Speaker 7 (1:53) easy to be around person that Speaker 1 (1:55) I would say the exact same thing about you, mostly because not mostly, but one of the big reasons is that you're the exact same person on camera as you are off. Basically, you know, maybe amping it up on camera a little bit, but that's Speaker 4 (2:08) a Speaker 1 (2:08) little Speaker 7 (2:08) meaner. Speaker 1 (2:08) You know, you're much nicer to me than you are to your food. Usually you're quite mean to the food. You've got that same sort of like, fuck it, let's do it kind of energy, you know, where if things are going wrong or if. whatever, just you're, you're, you're down. I'm Speaker 7 (2:23) down as fuck. I will tell you if there's anything I am, I am down as fuck. That Speaker 1 (2:27) should be your, like, I know you've got your new cookbook, which we'll talk about later. Uh, eat like the rich. Um, but that should be your memoir. I think that should be the name of the memoir. Speaker 7 (2:38) Down as fuck. Yeah. Speaker 1 (2:39) Kind Speaker 7 (2:39) of like that. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 (2:41) Mine's called brace yourself. Speaker 7 (2:42) Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What are we bracing for? Impact. Speaker 1 (2:46) It's also just like something I've realized about myself is that like I'm constantly bracing for pain, for failure, for all that stuff. And the slow realization of that and like trying to undo that not. Speaker 7 (2:59) Yes, I understand that not. Speaker 1 (3:01) Yeah, I imagine because we both have, you know, mental health issues, which Speaker 7 (3:07) likewise Speaker 1 (3:08) we'll get into unless you don't want to. Oh, Speaker 7 (3:11) we can get into whatever you want today. Speaker 1 (3:15) Well, we like to start things off with some appetizer questions, nice softballs before we get into the real stuff. Do I Speaker 7 (3:21) also open the menu? Speaker 1 (3:21) Well, you can look at it, but this one has the questions. Otherwise, that would be terribly unprofessional. And I am a professional first and foremost. Fuck, marry, kill. Microwave air fryer sous vide. Speaker 7 (3:36) That's a really good question. Wow. That's Speaker 1 (3:38) a Speaker 7 (3:38) fun question. Speaker 1 (3:39) I ask almost everyone that one. Speaker 7 (3:40) Really? Speaker 1 (3:40) Because it's different for everybody. Speaker 7 (3:41) That's very fun. Okay. Fuck, marry, kill. Microwave, air fryer. What was the last one? Sous Speaker 1 (3:45) vide. Speaker 7 (3:46) Sous vide. Hmm. Speaker 7 (3:49) I'm going to fuck my air fryer for sure. Like out of the three of those, that is the most useful item. Speaker 1 (3:54) It's the, it's the one that it's the dirtiest and the, and the, the, the quickest and the, the, the, you know, the grossest, if you will. So yeah, that's Speaker 7 (4:02) a Speaker 1 (4:02) good fuck one. Speaker 7 (4:03) I think I'm going to marry my sous vide cause the sous vide has a little more self-respect. Wow. Speaker 1 (4:07) And Speaker 7 (4:08) I'm going to kill the fucking microwave for sure. Speaker 1 (4:10) This is the first I've heard that. Speaker 7 (4:12) Really? I've Speaker 1 (4:12) not heard anybody marry their sous vide just yet. I've had people fuck it or kill it, but not marry it. So that's interesting. I Speaker 7 (4:19) mean, I, I came out of the gates like fucking my air fryer and then I double thought that. And I was like, damn, now I got to marry either the microwave or the sous vide and neither are great options, but the sous vide does indeed have more self-respect. It's a little bit of a more advanced item. You know, you could go a long way with it, do a lot of things with that. So I'm, I'm going to have to stick with what I originally said because I said it very confidently. Um, and now I have to marry my sous vide. Well, Speaker 1 (4:43) you heard it here first folks. It is, it's, it's, Matter of public record now. That's that. What's your favorite thing to sous vide? Speaker 7 (4:50) Probably like a really nice beef tenderloin. Like I feel like that does well in a sous vide. Speaker 1 (4:56) Oh, absolutely. A Speaker 7 (4:57) lot of steaks that don't really benefit from it, but like tenderloin gets really nice in there. Speaker 1 (5:02) Yeah. Do you have a, do you have a chamber sealer or just the vacuum sealer? I Speaker 7 (5:07) have a vacuum sealer. I Speaker 1 (5:08) recommend highly getting a chamber sealer just because like. It's an opportunity to instant marinate. Like you can set the pressure as such that it instantly sort of infiltrates the stuff that you got in there. So I've done that with like zucchini and different vegetables. Yeah, it's pretty nifty. That Speaker 7 (5:29) sounds like a large tool. Speaker 1 (5:31) It is. It's about the size of two bread makers. Speaker 7 (5:34) Okay. Where are you keeping yours? Speaker 1 (5:37) Oh, God. You're harboring your chamber. All the... All the shit's up there. I think it's just on the floor somewhere. Speaker 7 (5:43) Okay. Speaker 1 (5:43) Mosquito. Speaker 7 (5:45) Wow. Very good reflex. Did I just Speaker 1 (5:46) catch it and let it go? Speaker 7 (5:48) I saw it fall down dead. Speaker 1 (5:50) Oh, then no. Speaker 7 (5:51) You did get it. Got Speaker 1 (5:52) it. That's two now. That's an issue, and I have to call somebody. So next up in the Fuck, Marry, Kill pantheon, we have New York, Austin, or the Hamptons. Speaker 7 (6:02) I'm killing the fucking Hamptons. I'll tell you that much. The Hamptons this year. Every single year since I've started going out there to work, I've noticed that the weather has been shifting. Have you been hearing about this? That like New York is becoming a subtropical climate? I've Speaker 1 (6:16) been seeing it just because we get these freak rainstorms. We'll catch, you know, two inches of precipitation in like a few hours. Speaker 7 (6:22) Yeah. No, it's crazy. And out there for some reason, I mean, I don't know why. I'm not a weatherman, but it's getting like way worse. Like I first started going out there to work four years ago. First year out there, it was like the nicest summer, like so perfect. And every year since, it's gotten like incrementally worse. And it's so humid, so wet, rains so many days out of the year. Like this past summer, the entire month of July I was out there, it rained almost every single day. Speaker 5 (6:50) Or Speaker 7 (6:50) every single day it was like unbearable to be outside. It was wet, it was disgusting, it was hot, humid. Like it's becoming like, I mean, I've never been to Thailand, but I can only imagine like a tropical climate. I'm thinking like Thailand. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's so, so, so gross. I have a theory that the Hamptons may start to suffer soon because who is spending the amount of money it costs to like stay out there, be out there, like do things out there and just get like rained on every day. The Speaker 1 (7:17) amount of money out there, I feel like they're going to come up with some insane, horrible solution. Like Speaker 7 (7:22) a gigantic umbrella. Yeah, Speaker 1 (7:24) or like a Speaker 7 (7:24) mister Speaker 1 (7:25) that is, you know, 10 square miles or something. uh something something awful and wasteful um but yeah we've been feeling that here too and the worst part in new york and we'll finish your your question in a second uh is the smell heat and humidity in this city. I think what it does is it, uh, amplifies the smell of rat shit because it starts to smell like a farm Speaker 7 (7:50) out there. Speaker 1 (7:51) And you're like, where's the manure? It Speaker 7 (7:52) toasts the garbage. It's Speaker 1 (7:54) the garbage. And it's the rat shit. There's so much rat shit. It's insane. Speaker 7 (7:58) Anyway, Speaker 1 (7:59) I'm hungry. Um, so, okay, we're killing the Hamptons. Oh, Speaker 7 (8:03) we're fucking killing the Hamptons. Murdering Speaker 1 (8:05) the Hamptons. We're doing it Speaker 7 (8:06) tonight. Actually tonight. Speaker 1 (8:08) Yeah. Okay. Undercover of darkness. We'll see you there, Hamptons. You're dead. So that leaves fucking Mary, New York, and Austin. Speaker 7 (8:20) That's a tough one. I'm still bitter at New York ever since I left. Speaker 1 (8:24) Sounds like a hate fuck situation. Yeah. Speaker 7 (8:26) I think it's Speaker 1 (8:26) a Speaker 7 (8:26) hate fuck. Yeah. I think it's a hate fuck New York and I'll marry Austin. Hell yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 (8:30) Okay. All right. Well, I completely understand that. Um, and I've, I've seen some commenters online be like, fuck you for not liking New York. And you were born here. Speaker 7 (8:43) You're allowed, I Speaker 1 (8:44) think, you know, I Speaker 7 (8:46) would agree. If Speaker 1 (8:46) you come visit New York and you're like, fuck New York. then fuck you. Speaker 7 (8:50) But if Speaker 1 (8:50) you grew up in Bay Ridge and you went to school in like the Lower East Side, Speaker 7 (8:54) I think Speaker 1 (8:55) you have license. I Speaker 7 (8:56) absolutely do. I've never even questioned it once. I don't give a shit who tells me I can't hate New York. I want to make one of those shirts. You know, they have the I heart New York shirts. I want an I hate New York shirt. Like I'm so fucking over it. Every time I come back here, it's like it's worse and worse and worse. And just within my lifetime, and I'm sure you know this too, like it's it. gets worse every year. Like there's just more people here, more people here, more people here. It's a different place every three days. Speaker 1 (9:21) Yeah. Speaker 7 (9:22) And it's like you have no actual like home to return to in a way. And Speaker 1 (9:26) now that the weather's getting more extreme in the winter, there are days when you just can't go outside either because there's too much snow to move or because it's so bitterly cold that you want to die. Or like this past week, we have 95 with 100 % humidity and the smell of... of the farm of rat shit that's happening out there. The Speaker 7 (9:47) rat shit farm. Yeah. No, it's like you're dying either way. You know what I mean? The winter is nine months long. Gray, dark, terrible. Yeah. And then the summer is like three months of horror. Speaker 1 (9:58) Yeah. Like there's no Speaker 7 (10:00) good in between left. Speaker 1 (10:01) I'm coming to the end of my, well, I don't know. I'm getting to the point where I'm like, I don't know how much longer. Speaker 7 (10:07) I have here. Speaker 1 (10:09) It might be five years, might be 10 years, but like. Five years, Speaker 7 (10:12) 10 years. Oh, I was thinking you meant like you might move to Texas next month. I was ready for that. Speaker 1 (10:17) I wanted to keep it a surprise, but I've been here for, how long? I've been here for 15 years now. There's this thing that happened recently where three heinous events happened in the course of a week. Somebody, a human took a shit on my front steps. So there was a big pile of human shit that I had to clean up. And that was one of my least favorite activities. I can't recommend it. Dude, Speaker 7 (10:40) no way. How do you know? Speaker 1 (10:44) It was just human shit. It was on the steps. Like, I can't imagine somebody opening my gate, walking the dog in, being like, shit here on the steps. That seems like a very conscious decision. Speaker 7 (10:53) So Speaker 1 (10:53) it felt human to me. I Speaker 7 (10:56) swear it wasn't me. Speaker 1 (10:58) That's a relief. Because as soon as I saw it, I was like, team then? Are you, did you do this? That's terrible. That happened. Then we had an epic biblical flood that just like we were down here shooting and the back office door, water started gushing in this high off the floor. Like, so the, the, here's the floor and here's the, here's the door jam. It was just rushing in like almost a foot off the floor. Speaker 4 (11:23) Really? Speaker 1 (11:24) Because so much water had built up in the backyard that all the drains had