Elizabeth Stein 0:00
Hi, everyone. I'm Elizabeth Stein, founder, and CEO of Purely Elizabeth. And this is Live Purely with Elizabeth, featuring candid conversations about how to thrive on your wellness journey.
This week's guest is Chef Kim Floresca, who with over two decades of experience in prestigious three Michelin stars kitchens such EL Bulli and Mugaritz in Spain for a stay in New York, and the restaurant and meta widget in Napa Valley, Chef Kim, now Spearhead Culinary Innovation as the VP of culinary at Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Kitchen. Since joining the team in 2020, she has consistently pushed culinary boundaries delivering an elevated dining experience to the guests for the fast-casual brand. I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Kim in the Goop office last month, where we made our collab banana bread that will be on the Goop Kitchen menu from June 20 until the end of the summer. In this episode, we talked about Chef Kim's culinary journey, and her philosophy of creating delicious, healthy, and joyful meals. She shares her experiences in iconic restaurants around the world and is so completely humble about it. We talked about cooking gluten-free for the first time at Goop Kitchen the strict standards that they follow for their ingredients, the importance of textures, fresh sauces, and spices and cooking healthy meals, and the iterative process they use to develop new recipes. Of course with Gwyneth's approval. Finally, we talk about some of the biggest challenges Chef Kim has faced in her career, her must-have kitchen essentials and cooking tips, and the multicourse meal that she would make for Greta. Keep listening to learn more. And if you're in LA, be sure to check out Goop Kitchen and definitely try our delicious banana bread. I'm sure that you will love it. Enjoy.
Chef Kim, welcome to the podcast. It's such a pleasure to have you on it was so much fun to be in the kitchen with you a couple of weeks ago. And we're so excited for the launch of our collab banana bread this week.

Kim Floresca 2:11
Same. Thanks for having us.

Elizabeth Stein 2:15
Absolutely. So I want to start with your background. And I know when we met, I asked how you first got into the culinary world. And you said something about having a terrible meal. And that really being the spark. But I'm so curious, because there's so many kids who have or adults who have terrible meals, and then they kind of like leave it at that. What was it for you that really made you say like, I can do this better. And I want to start to pursue a career in culinary?

Kim Floresca 2:46
So I remember vividly, I think I told you the story. But I was 13 years old, and my aunt had come to stay with us for the summer. And she thought she was a great chef. And she was a great cook and a baker and I was like excited to finally have kind of that piece with us in our household and both working parents there wasn't a lot of time to really sit down and have a meal. And so she would make us dinners in there. Okay, and it wasn't anything spectacular. But one time she made us this, like I told you about those great grade military grade beef with iodized salt and just all of the terrible seasonings you could possibly put in there. And she baked it, but it wouldn't get any criminalization. It was just kind of like that seeping out. And I just remember seeing this chunk of like, gray blob on my plate. And she spooned a little bit of stewed canned tomatoes and some overcooked canned green beans. And that was dinner. And she said, “You can't leave the table until you eat this.” And I said, “But why do people have to eat like this? Is it because they don't know how to cook? Is it because that's all they had. And that generation was very much whatever you could kind of get is what you had for dinner.” And they grew up in a family of nine people. And so I can understand that was a huge family back in the day. And it was just a different generation. And you didn't really know a lot about food. I think Food Network was at the height of its glory with Sara Moulton coming up. And she was really starting to educate people on how to cook at home. And so I took that and I said, I can't eat like this. I don't understand why people have to eat like this. Let me see what I can do. And so I would just learn from that piece. And I found a love for it. And it made people happy. And so that very short turnaround of taking something really dramatic and I to this day, I still tell her. You're the reason why I got into culinary sorry. And it was just kind of like it needs to invoke a memory or spirit on something that is She is joy. And for me, that was that connection of going from something really terrible to making something where everybody could be happy about it, but it made you feel good inside, as well as outside. And I know that food is power. And I know that food is thy medicine, so to speak. And it's so true. And I grew kitchen, we really firmly believe that. And so it's been able to carry me through all of my career, my culinary 20 plus years of career, and just really start to focus on how to bring joy to people, and never have them eat that terrible meal I had as a 13 year old and I don't ever expect that to come from people, but through education, through the power of knowledge, and then through the power of like social media, especially nowadays. You should never have a bad meal. And it's going to happen. And maybe one day you're gonna have a terrible experience, but it's what you make of it. And it's how you feel inside. That really sparked my imagination and creativity to want to give that to everybody else.

Elizabeth Stein 6:07
I love that. And I love certainly what resonates so much with what you're doing at Goop Kitchen and purely Elizabeth is that joy like we know that our community, doesn't want to sacrifice on taste. And the amazing thing is that it can be both healthy, delicious, and joyful at the same time. So before we dive into all things, Goop Kitchen, you obviously had an amazing career before Goop Kitchen you didn't just go from being 13 to landing in this group kitchen world. And so we'd love to hear a little bit about some of the lessons that really brought you into Goop Kitchen today. Because you had amazing experiences, being head chef at Meadow Wood, and that's your little bit about that.

Kim Floresca 6:57
Ah, yeah, so I was kind of exploring this world of culinary and I just graduated colors school and the world is your oyster and where do you want to go. So actually went to Colorado Springs, and work the Broadmoor Hotel, a very iconic, very old, classic traditional kind of style culinary. I met my partner there, Daniel Ryan, and he was just like, hey, let's go to Chicago. And let's try and do something else with this culinary dream of ours. So he went to a Linea to help open that restaurant. And I went to 7:30* True, which is also very iconic. At the time, it was Gail Ghana, rich Romano. And then it was like, Okay, we spent a couple years here. Hey, let's go to New York. And so why did I tell and Bushi and ready to go. And it's like, Okay, what's New York got to offer. So went to go work for Thomas Keller at Per Se restaurant. And he went to go work at Alain Ducasse and 11 Madison Park. And we've been writing this is probably about five or six years, we've been writing a letter to this restaurant called Mulberry, which is in the northern part of Spain. And they would accept one of us, but they wouldn't accept the other one. And so every year, it'd be kind of one or the other. And we're like, well, we just won't go. And they told us about a beautiful trip of bringing all of these culinary chefs in. And we're like, let's see what it's about. And they basically bring in a lot of culinarians from around the world, Japan, Denmark, brands, England, and America. And you come in and for two years, you get to train. So you get one month where you get to learn and eat all of Spain, learn about the culture and the history, one month of learning Spanish, and then you get to work in the restaurant. And so we got to work in Mulberry, which was our dream. El Bulli restaurant, which is also closed now, but it's also very iconic where you would go get buckets of seawater, and you would cook your lobsters in it, and you would run back and toss it back out into the ocean. And here and Lady estates are just like, I can't even fathom going into the woods. And then we came back to the States. And we went to Napa, and he worked at the French Laundry. And I worked at the restaurant at Meta Wood. And we were just very fortunate to be in this partnership where we can really take everything that we're learning, and it's almost like you're working in both restaurants because you're getting all of this knowledge and every night we would just talk about food, and textures and flavors and what did you try that was something new and different. And then lo and behold, I landed this position. I don't know how it happened, but it was often the circumstance that I came here and got to work with Gwyneth and this amazing team here at Goop Kitchen. We're been here about three and a half years now. I'm very excited to take over.

Elizabeth Stein 9:54
Oh, what an incredible experience that you had and being able to move around the country the world really being in these top restaurants and honing, your all of your skills to ultimately now be here at Goop. And so how did you first hear about the Goop opportunity? And what did you think about the concept because certainly, it's very different in the same but certainly different than an eating course tasty menu at Meadow wood*10:23, for example.

Kim Floresca 10:24
So when I was approached with this project, it was a, we need to do better about our food systems, and we need to clean up what we're eating, we know you have fine dining experience. And what do you think about bringing some of that to kind of a fast casual pace, and I said I think being able to serve as our guests, it's just a little bit different, you're a little bit farther removed. But I think that would be a great luxury, that we can combine all of these forces to be able to create something special. And had I known what it was going to be today, I probably would have obviously approached in a different light in the beginning. It was very fine dining. And then we started to kind of like mellow out a little bit, and find our own groove and take this path of this three Michelin star fine dining with a very fast casual concept, and merge the two together to create something a little bit more kitchen. I mean, when you see the packaging, and you see kind of all of the branding behind it, you see the level of care that all of our team puts behind it, it really kind of makes me feel so excited to come to work, it's literally the best job I've ever had. And when you get to work with all of your best friends, and everybody that kind of comes together and works in a very constructive way. And that's the best idea when I think it's so empowering to be in that position to say, wow, look at all these people that are here to support every aspect that we do in business, but also in life. And so whenever somebody goes out for vacation, everyone pushes them out, don't look at your phones, don't look at any emails, if you do, we'll remove you from all the threads. I think having that level of support is really incredible that I've never had before. And so building that sense of family and a sense of friendship, really is what it is really kind of translate into the food and the service that we provide.

Elizabeth Stein 12:27
love that it's so interesting, because I think what you would perceive as like a typical high intensity fine dining restaurant would be the opposite of that. So it must match. I don't know if that's true. But that's just my perception. And so it must be really just had been such an amazing experience for you to have the flip side of having this shared mission and culture and values that we very much as a brand tried to instill. And I think that you guys are just doing so incredibly well. And it's all about that balance in your life and your food. And that's all connected.

Kim Floresca 13:05
I couldn't agree more. And I can even see it in your team that we got to meet here in Santa Monica, when you guys came to the filming. I mean, you guys are just happy and glowing, and just excited about every opportunity that comes in, you can really feel it, even the correspondence that we have. But it's great to work with people that you really enjoy working with. You’re with them.

Elizabeth Stein 13:27
So when you first started with Goop Kitchen, had you cooked gluten free? Have you cooked clean and healthy before? Was this the first time you were experiencing that as a cook healthy before?

Kim Floresca 13:41
I've never cooked gluten free? And if I did it was by no circumstance, sir. So it was definitely a huge learning curve, which I think for my research and development brain was very exciting to do. And when we approach something like our pizza, for example, we said it took us an extra year to launch because we were just not happy with where we had landed. And a lot of it was let's just create the best tasting product. And if it happens to be gluten free, then great. So we kind of worked backwards with what we knew about gluten and then how to restructure the formulation and the dough. And then how do you take that into something that can be replicated into our kitchen every day. And it was definitely a very large learning process and why tennis racket for us to be able to swing out. But I think overall it was a really exciting time because we really got to stretch our legs. And we got to work together as a team that just really sent us further in development and faster than we had ever expected once we got there. A lot of it is obviously flavor first and then let's see how we can clean this up. And so it was just really incredible to see the team really bounce into in and out of the production of that. So number clicked gluten free before, but now I feel like I'm feeling a lot more confident in what we do. And if not, I have a lot of resources to be able to help support us.

Kim Floresca 15:13
How do you think about sort of the standards that you have at Goop? Everything is gluten-free? What are those other kind of non negotiables that you think about?

Kim Floresca 15:25
Yep, so we can't have any corn, soy, any corn derivatives, corn syrup, corn products. Any sweeteners, the only winners we use are all natural, which is usually maple syrup, or honey, or coconut sugar. And then we're very, very balanced on how we look at labels. And so we do a very big deep dive onto any label that does come in and ask questions, even from the sources to really understand what's behind their label and what they're not telling us specifically, a lot of the factors of how we want to create dishes is what do we want to eat? And how do we feel after we eat it? And really taking a deep dive into what does that look like? If you eat a whole pizza, I mean we have to do it for research purposes. But if you were to eat a whole pizza, how do you feel after that? Do you feel heavy? Do you feel weighed down? And a lot of it is really understanding our guests? Who wants to eat this food? And is it delicious? And how do we make it better for them? This is what it all comes down to.

Elizabeth Stein 16:33
So for somebody who maybe is new, they're just struggling in the kitchen, making something healthy and delicious, you guys, you have certainly mastered that. And I think one of the ways that you've mastered that is with texture and having like really interesting textures throughout your food. And also your sauces are amazing. So can you shed some light on any secrets for sauces, for texture, tips for cooking healthy?

Kim Floresca 17:06
Yes, textures we absolutely love I am why but crunchy for me is my favorite texture. Something where it's like silky soft and smooth, you just want something to kind of give you that bite. So you'll find a lot of crunchy bits and our salads or even our banana bread with a really extra crunchy granola we added last minute, those things really spike a little bit of flavor. So when you can take something of a crunchy like your granola, for instance. And you can add seasoning to that and then add that next layer of flavor. Not only are you adding texture and flavor, you're now you're adding a new bike when you add it to something specific. So a lot of the sauce is when you want to clean it up. For instance teriyaki sauce, it's pretty much soy sauce, mirin and white sugar. It was one of the hardest sauces for us to develop. And when we kind of created it, it was like, does it taste like a classic teriyaki sauce? And how do we remove all the white sugar and the mirin and because we don't actually use alcohol in our kitchen. And so what mimics those flavors and what gives you that sensation is acidity. Is it sweetness. Okay, how much sweetness? Are we talking about here? Is it honey? Or is it maple syrup? Because there's varying degrees of sweetness. And for many people, especially American palates, sweet is their number one flavor that they recognize. And so when you're kind of creating these recipes, you want to understand like, okay, what is my ending goal? I wanted to take just like just a classic teriyaki sauce. And how do we clean it up? Oil uses thickeners like arrowroot versus cornstarch. We'll use sweeteners of honey or maple syrup or a little bit of both versus white sugar. And so there's a lot of reduction in that to get it the viscosity we're looking for. But overall, it's just how do you make it taste delicious. It's kind of up to your own preference. And play around with things. Great, a little ginger grade a little garlic add some toasted sesame seeds. Start to build these layers and textures so that you can create kind of your own recipe and that's kind of how we got to ours. I won't give you the secret recipe but…

Elizabeth Stein 19:24
Do you always have sauces in your fridge? Fresh sauces at home?

Kim Floresca 19:32
Yes.

Elizabeth Stein 19:34
I feel that's the secret to really making you stick to healthy cooking and eating is like if you have those on hand. It's gonna be a lot easier to whip up a quick meal and not feel so overwhelmed with the process.

Kim Floresca 19:52
Yeah, do you have your favorite sauces that you keep in your refrigerator?

Elizabeth Stein 19:57
No, because I was exactly what I just said. And then the problem is I travel so much so then I would make a sauce and then it would go bad and but I've been into an Irby tahini right now, it is kind of one of my go twos. That's probably your favorite sauce to have on hand.

Kim Floresca 20:20
I always have Gochujang for some reason. That's always a great base recipe or miso, like a chickpea Muto* is always in my fridge. Those will last really long.

Elizabeth Stein 20:31
I have a miso also too, for that reason.

Kim Floresca 20:34
perfect. Yeah, it's great for a saute or if you want to do like a really quick stir fry, or a soup that's a little bit hardier. A good trick is being able to portion them into smaller portions and then freeze them. So when you do need that little drop of something, you have that. And especially if you're traveling like tahini will last obviously quite a while. But if you make your frozen like a URL paste or something like that, and then you freeze that. It can be a really quick add in when you come home and you're just like, I just want a home cooked meal. What do I have? Those little blocks are really great to be able to keep, like a little hidden key for you.

Elizabeth Stein 21:14
Love that. Okay, so what is a home-cooked meal for you? And after you're in the kitchen at work all day? Do you want to come home and cook or are you done?

Kim Floresca 21:24
No, I do love cooking. I've now noticed that meal prepping is a big thing for me to be able to be successful. Otherwise, I will go for the terrible things. So I'll do obviously like a quick stir fry. And usually that's a great way to clean out your fridge towards the end of the week. If you have like little odds and ends to use up. I'll do a lot of soups. I'm like, I love soups no matter what time of day it is breakfast lunch or dinner. I will have a soup on the go. It's kind of like just like a Mediterranean style like very simple salad of like really good tomatoes, cucumbers, little bit of sumac, lots of veggies and tons of parsley. I can eat that with like hummus and that's like, probably not a complete meal. But it's like my go to like I feel better about it before I go to bed kind of meal. And I can let it settle. Just marinate. It's delicious.

Elizabeth Stein 22:23
I love that that sounds so good. I need to get them sumac.

Kim Floresca 22:28
I think it's an underrated spice that I don't think a lot of people know how to use and are a little nervous about it. But it adds such a level of acidity to the slightest thing. It's so delicious.

Elizabeth Stein 22:37
What other underrated spices or ingredients should we know about?

Kim Floresca 22:44
This is gonna sound so funny. But Trader Joe's has this really amazing Mediterranean goddess seasoning. It's like dried dill and lemon. So great over real asparagus. I love love*23:00 what they're out of New York City. And they have the most amazing Mediterranean rubs that you can put on anything, chicken, vegetables, fish, it just kind of like goes really well. So I usually have a couple of bottles of any kind of their seasonings on hand. And it's just a great way to grill outside and just kind of get some really good depth of flavor without doing too much work.

Elizabeth Stein 23:22
Love that. Okay, so jumping back into Goop Kitchen. So I've read that you are a self proclaimed perfectionist, which I think makes a lot of sense for a great chef. I forget the number, but how many iterations does it usually take you to come up with a new recipe, such as our banana bread collaboration?

Kim Floresca 23:53
So yes, perfectionism is a factor in how I kind of think about things and perfectionism. I don't think so. Somebody else might say so. But I think it's kind of, we're taking a lot of things into consideration. And it's not just me.

Elizabeth Stein 24:10
That's sort of the whole process for here's a new item like our collab. How does that all come together? Yep.

Kim Floresca 24:17
We'll get a product in will taste the granola will say, okay, what are we looking to do here? Is this a dessert? Is this a main course is this a appetizer, for instance. And so we'll take the granola and we'll taste them we'll say obviously, what's the number one thing that everybody likes to do is put it on yogurt. Okay, we're not doing that. Okay, what's the next best thing? Well, we can top it in a salad. Tried it in the salad. It might be too weird. I think for a lot of people so okay, you know what I do, through this. I do like it into salad too. Don't get me wrong. I just feel like a lot of people are like, Oh, you just don't know. Right? Like they let us make it for you. And then we'll taste it. Maybe that'll be our next. And so we're just kind of like thinking like, you know what, we need a dessert we needed to dessert for a little while now. And I said, I absolutely love banana bread. And can we do it into something a little bit more decadent? And it was like, okay, so I did probably about no joke 25 iterations of this. And every day, I do two types of day and so much so that I was like, I don't want to do banana bread, we're moving on. And so you take a break from it, and you're like, no, I can't move on from that. It's so good. But like, what about it is so good? And so it was like, okay, let's make this banana bread. Let's make the bananas chunkier. Because we want to be able to showcase how beautiful of a fruit it is. We want to have some texture in it. Okay, let's take this granola. And let's add a little bit of cashew and pumpkin seeds to it. And now you're adding a little layer of protein and a little bit more like better for you goodness. And then we put a little cashew butter on there because it was like a nice like a barrier because the cake is very moist. The granola is extra crunchy, but we need are missing that creamy factor. And so it just happened I was literally making a different dress. And I actually dropped a little bit of cashew right in front of the peanut butter or cashew butter on top of the banana bread. And that was like food. And so I shared it on there. And I just kind of like took it and had it with some coffee. And I was like, wait a second, came back and read Purina who also works R&D with me was like, “This is so good”. And so we put the granola on top. And we're like, this is really good. And so sometimes you have those aha moments out of something very a funny time or like, oh my god, I can't believe I just dropped this on this. Like, actually, that kind of works for it. So it was a great mistake that came into something very beautiful that we're ready to share with everybody. And I know breathless thing is like, when are we gonna make that again, because I really want one. So we're trading with our team this week. And everybody was just going bananas over this cake. And they're so excited for it. And we're so excited to share with everybody. It's creamy and texturally delicious. And there's big chunks of banana in there. And just all of this goodness of using almond flour that we absolutely love, and we're so excited to share with everyone.

Elizabeth Stein 27:23
It is amazing. And I'm like such a big banana bread eater, my mom, I feel like the two of us made banana bread growing up so much that some of my best memories in the kitchen. But I had never made a banana bread with the chunky bananas. So I love that component. And now I feel like I will forever be a change banana bread Baker and anyone listening, definitely incorporate some chunky bananas into your banana bread. Obviously, if you're in LA, you'll have to try it. But for those who are not, that is such a great tip. So in the process of putting a new recipe together a new item menu together, of course everyone wants to know how involved is Gwyneth in this process.

Kim Floresca 28:03
She is very involved. So obviously she doesn't need to see the 24 iterations, she only need to 25th one. And sometimes we're lucky enough to get away, she comes in to the kitchen and she'll say, what's that? And we're like, oh, we're working on a new pizza. And she'll taste and she's like, needs more pepperoncini, needs more chili flakes, and we're like, okay, so she's very involved. She eats all of our tastings. She'll taste everything. She'll give the final send off. And she quite enjoys it. Unless there's still no dill*.

Elizabeth Stein 28:38
How much did she love the banana bread?

Kim Floresca 28:40
Loved it. 10 out of 10. Jesus, absolutely something she would order. Amazing.

Elizabeth Stein 28:45
Love that. What are you working on right now? What's next for you?

Kim Floresca 28:49
We are working on Thanksgiving and Christmas and kind of like the holiday ideas and then also detox for January, which is the big time for us. And we're actually working on getting all of our sandwiches. I don't know if we can say this right now. Ready for launch on Thursday. So with the banana bread also comes our sandwiches which are gluten free, and so many other fun things in the works that it all be kind of a new category for us as we continue on this year. That's

Elizabeth Stein 29:19
so exciting. So how many items do you change with each season?

Kim Floresca 29:26
Yep, so we'll look at like a lot of data points to really understand what is really selling what's operationally friendly? What are the chefs having a hard time consistently making what do they like what don't they like? And so when I say it's not just myself that I'm cooking for it's everybody involves from us to our guests, obviously to our chefs in the kitchen, how hard is it to make and replicate time and time and time again? We'll look at that, we'll kind of see what's selling what's not and it's no hard feelings if I mean I do get a lot of death threats. So I can't believe he took our visa stand and sell it off. And it's like, well, we need to make room for other things. So when it goes kitchen concept, you're very limited on space and how much you can actually achieve in there. And so we want to make sure that our team is set up for success. But even more so that we're always changing our menu, something new, a little bit relevant and seasonal.

Elizabeth Stein 30:21
As you think about developing the new menu items, where do you draw that inspiration from other than a piece of cashew butter? Whatever it is that you're eating?

Kim Floresca 30:35
To be honest, I was actually making my smoothie for lunch, and I put a little bit of cashew butter on there and it fell over. So that's kind of weird. But it's a lot of kind of, like conversations with women. We know, we're thinking of fall, what are you feeling? Is there something we're missing on our menu? How are you feeling about X, Y, and Z? And so we'll have an honest discussion about it. And she'll give us she's been traveling around, really how this really delicious tomato salad? For instance, can we do something with that? And so we'll look into that and kind of like come to like this, like really great collaboration on how to move forward with a particular idea that maybe sparked from one side or the other. And then also just kind of what are we missing? What do people want? You know, we'd love to hear from people, “I'd really love a Caesar wrap”, or “I'd really love a turkey for Thanksgiving.” I don't know if something like that. And then we'll see if it's feasible for us to be able to replicate time and time again. So it's a lot of kind of factors of what do we want to eat? That's kind of where we start, what are we missing on our menu? And then what's to come.

Elizabeth Stein 31:45
Love that. I think the like getting that inspo from traveling, as we were talking about earlier, my travels, it's that's for me, that's definitely an area of inspiration of being on the road and just experiencing different tastes and textures and how can you incorporate that into your eating. So as you think about all the items that you've had on the menu, is there one in particular that you're most proud of? Or your favorite?

Kim Floresca 32:13
most proud of? Oh my gosh, it's like asking, like, what, who's your favorite dog? Do you have your favorite dog?

Elizabeth Stein 32:19
I kind of do. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna say it out loud, though. Because I don't want to hurt their feelings.

Kim Floresca 32:28
We won't tell them. I think honestly, I think it's the pizza for me, just because it's been such a hard thing to manufacture and just manifest into a reality that the team is doing such an amazing job at doing. I think a lot of our things that we do, I mean, I kind of go in and out of certain things like a spotter that's coming on and literally have every single night before I go to bed. It's made with cashews versus like the traditional bread, that squirrel. Living in Spain for a couple of years, like you definitely learned about stacho in different parts of the region. But I think ours is like so delicious. And it's like herbaceous and creamy and thick. So it makes it feel like a whole meal in the summertime it is really delicious. I actually really love our detox menu. It happens only once a month, once a year for one month in January. And it's food that you don't feel upset about eating when you're trying to clean up your habits, and you're trying to really kind of do a deeper dive into what you're actually consuming. It's one of my favorite times because it's also the hardest time for us to be like this salad is kind of boring. How do we make it more exciting? What do we bring to it? Textures, flavors, acidity.

Elizabeth Stein 33:50
So what are the guardrails that you put around what needs to be part of a detox menu?

Kim Floresca 33:55
So we can't do dairy, or eggs. And then we're very limited on some other kind of guidelines and really just kind of looking at it as a whole count. So that eliminates all of our pieces right there and then cleaning up the amount of sugars that we use for any recipe like first sweetener. So it'll be more of like a basic kind of vinaigrette. But it's also a great challenge because I think this is a great opportunity for us to take our culinary minds and really kind of unwrap it hold diverse menu that we've been waiting for and pent up for 11 months out of the year to be able to release some kind of good anxiety in a way.

Elizabeth Stein 34:35
As you think about challenges in the kitchen, what have been some of the biggest challenges that you have faced in your career, not just like Goop but whether it was at per se or meadow would love to hear some of that past. Any personal or career challenges that you really faced and how you kind of work through the difficult times of that, because I'm sure wasn't always easy getting to three Michelin star.

Kim Floresca 35:08
Definitely not always easy, and I think is being the…

Elizabeth Stein 35:11
And you are most humble person. So you also, I think seemed like you take it all with grace.

Kim Floresca 35:18
Sometimes. No, I think honestly, it was kind of coming up in this man's world of really it's so male dominated and so male saturated that having to be a woman in this field, you kind of lose a little bit of femininity, because you want to fit in. And you want to feel as tough as you are with all of the other guys that you can run as far and chop as far and cook as hard as any one of them. I think for me, that was probably the hardest piece that I ever had to overcome. And just really understanding like who I was as a chef, and I didn't need to be one of the guys and I didn't need to prove myself because I felt like I was good enough. A lot of it came through obviously just work and time and just being quiet and really understanding what is the chef looking for in each restaurant? How can I help support the team in the restaurant that I'm at? And then a lot of it is kind of like, through quiet confidence? How do you really start to push forward in an industry that is so male dominated? Well, it's just hard work. And really being humble about who you are, and never having to step over anybody's needs or wants before yours and actually showing support for that. Really, it gave me this extra boost of confidence throughout all of the restaurants that I've ever worked for. Because you're only as good as your team, right. And so if you can be that person to really connect everybody together, I felt like it was more powerful, from my perspective, than it was to be like the coolest, hardest working person in the room. And I felt like I was that. But I wanted to find another path for myself and how my personality was to be able to kind of mesh it all together. Because there was a lot of younger women that would come up, and they would be very nervous and delicate and want to cry in front of everybody. And it happens, we all have those moments where that happens. And you go into the walk and you're like, I just need to calm down for a second, just leave me alone. But at the same time, if you're not supportive of the other people, then you're not growing as a team. And for me, it was kind of like that challenge of finding that voice, which finally came to me later on in life, of being that supportive voice and being that supportive role for whoever I was working with, whether it be in life or in work as well.

Elizabeth Stein 37:50
As you talked about you and your partner, which I think is super interesting that you are both in this culinary world, but you don't hear about very often. And so that must have been a really wonderful dynamic for you being able to come home at the end of the night and bounce things off one another and just have somebody else who really understands the level of stress and hard work that goes into every day of being in the kitchen.

Kim Floresca 38:21
Yeah, I mean, it was great, because you can bring work home with you. And you don't have to say anything, sometimes the other person would just know, but it was always a 70-30 kind of relationship. So if you had 70% to bring to me and I had 30%, thank you for covering thank you for being able to support me and thank you for just being that ear to listen to. And if you had 30% one day and I had 70% I got you don't worry about it. That was always a great relationship that was always understood between the two of us that throughout the support of each of us, there has to be that level of somebody getting your back because you know that it was a hard day or you know that you just needed someone to understand what you were going through. And a lot of that is that's kind of your only time to be able to talk about things and it always happened to be about work. But we were okay with that. And we were okay with being able to say I'm having this issue with granola for instance, let's talk it through and having somebody to bounce those ideas off of also made me a stronger person too to be able to communicate that verbally and then also be able to execute that at work.

Elizabeth Stein 39:30
Who would cook in their home kitchen more?

Kim Floresca 39:33
Oh, we would both.

Elizabeth Stein 39:36
Who would make Thanksgiving?

Kim Floresca 39:39
I'm a better chef, but I won't say that out loud. No, we're always good at the other person's, I guess what they weren't so great at ,so it was good to be able to kind of bounce ideas off of that.

Elizabeth Stein 39:57
We're gonna jump into some rapid-fire Q&A. Three things that you're currently loving it could be anything a product of restaurant, podcast, TV show.

Kim Floresca 40:17
Oh, Goopgenes’ Face Cream. I am not saying this because I work there but it is the easiest thing to put on in the morning. It not amazing? I love that's like my number one. My number two obviously, just really kind of like, oh, God, there's million things. I'm terrible at rapid fire. I'm loving our tofu rolls. Right now I'm kind of going through this phase of, I just want something quick and easy to eat. It's got this cashew butter miso dressing with like this BBQ tofu and a bunch of raw vegetables and a brown rice paper. Easy to go, easy to depth. I'm loving on that right now. I've kind of had three this past week. Just slow down. And then loving. How's the dragon this coming on? I think it just started last night. So I'm kind of like excited about that.

Elizabeth Stein 41:11
Do you like to watch any cooking shows or not?

Kim Floresca 41:20
I can't do it anymore. Do you watch cooking shows?

Elizabeth Stein 41:21
I do. I love Top Chef. Most underrated US city for food.

Kim Floresca 41:31
Raleigh, North Carolina. They have some of the best pizza. Some of the people. And such a great influence of like Indian meats, Southern meats. Just as really delicious like hodgepodge of really creative chefs. I love everybody down. There's so many.

Elizabeth Stein 41:56
A favorite cookbook. You can pick three cookbooks.

42:03
Jeremy Fox’s ‘On Vegetables’ is so good. It's like probably my favorite go to nostalgic book. Christopher Castells the restaurant Mattawa*42:12 just because it's such a warm place in my heart and how we got there. And just it was a really creative way for me to see how a new cookbook could be written in a very artistic way. I really love that.

Elizabeth Stein 42:29
Did they open the restaurant or not?

Kim Floresca 42:31
No, I don't know. I hope so. He's got some other projects going on, which I hear are equally delicious. So maybe you go try those. And then kind of like a I love a good giusta*42:45 book like they're so simple recipes, California cuisine. Loving that like there, right? Doing a cookbook. Love Giuliana.

Elizabeth Stein 42:56
If you were going to like re interview and you're going to interview with Granite and you're in May one multicourse meal what would be in that meal?

Kim Floresca 43:12
Definitely no dill. That was my first mistake. I don't know probably something very like of the season. Probably like just a very simple shaved asparagus salad with really great Parmesan, a lemon anchovy dressing. I know she loved anchovys. That probably be the first course main course or probably like be like a grilled branzino or some kind of grilled white fish for her with like a very simple like pea shoots salad I don't know some other kind of like fun things probably with that lemon caper, very basic, done really really well. And then honestly for dessert probably be like a rite page like that you cannot go wrong with like the best tasting ripe peach of the season. And it just like gives you this burst of like flavorness but that’ll probably also be my last.

Elizabeth Stein 44:11
Just got peaches last night and just made a peach and raspberry Chia jam. And I haven't had breakfast yet and I'm thinking about putting that with some cottage cheese and our granola of course, but there's nothing better than good peaches.

Kim Floresca 44:29
Do you eat your granola every single day?

Elizabeth Stein 44:32
I wouldn't say every day, but maybe like four days a week. Well, I switch it out and have a savory egg morning. And then right now I'm in total granola cottage cheese and making some fresh homemade jam.

Kim Floresca 44:49
Oh, that sounds delicious. Do you only eat the granola in the morning? Or do you use it for like salads and other like savory kinds of applications?

Elizabeth Stein 44:59
I definitely am snacking on our cookie granola because it is my ultimate afternoon sweet treat snack and then I do put it on as a cruton salads not I need to do it more to be honest, I forget about being able to do it, but when I do it, it's like, oh, this is so good. Some feta cheese and that salty, sweet combo.

Kim Floresca 45:26
Or like everything kind of like crunchy like everything seasoning crunchy?

Elizabeth Stein 45:30
Oh, that would be I think we need to put that on the Goop.

Kim Floresca 45:36
I think we do. Let's go. Let's do it.

Kim Floresca 45:40
Oh, love that. Okay, three pantry staples. And then where's your favorite place to do your grocery shopping? Like you mentioned, great Parmesan, where would you go to get a great Parmesan?

Kim Floresca 45:53
If you're in LA, the Beverly Hills cheese shop is by far like you think you're going on in there for one thing. And you get sidetracked by really good olive oil or really good vinegar or Dominique will probably be like hey, try this. And you're just like now you've come out with hundreds of dollars of things that you only went in for a good piece of parmesan for. Love going to the farmers market I just discovered the Torrents farmers market in the South Bay, they had the most delicious strawberries and cherries and the season right now and plums and we had for breakfast not too long ago. A really good olive oil and lemons are always two things I always have in my house. I think just having also really good salt. I know this is four things. A really good salt that you really like to use really elevates salt. I love a good maldon because of the big chunky flakes. But a good Florida sell of any kind, I think is really fantastic. And where I go shopping, it's kind of the same thing. Places I go shopping is mostly for food. Yeah, it's just whatever's inspiring at the moment and of the season, chase the seasons is the best way to eat.

Elizabeth Stein 47:07
And you guys are so lucky in California, because you've got fresh Farmer's Market all year round, which is so lucky and amazing. I need to visit often for sure. And lastly, what is your number one non negotiable to thrive on your wellness journey?

Kim Floresca 47:27
That is an excellent question. And non negotiable is don't give in for the now. Give into the what I can be. And that's kind of been a struggle of I really want to have cinnamon roll for now. But is that what I'm going to be in the future? And so really understanding that kind of relationship with food and the balance that you need. Because every once in a while, a good treat is good to have. But then what is your wellness journey like? And what don't you love about that wellness journey? Can you fix right now? And so for me, it's kind of eat the food you want to be feeling like. Feel the food that you are actually eating? And what does that say about you at the end? And how do you get better every day? You're gonna make mistakes, it's gonna happen. And it's okay, just get back on the bike and keep pedaling. And keep going down that road. Because eventually you'll get there to a journey where you feel so good about yourself and proud of where you've come from.

Elizabeth Stein 48:31
I love that. That's such a great tip. Well, Chef Kim, thank you so much for being here. This is so much fun. In closing, where can everybody find you and Goop Kitchen? And I need to come back out and visit you guys soon.

Kim Floresca 48:46
Yes, please is great talking to you. And thanks for having me.

Elizabeth Stein 48:49
And where can everyone find you on Instagram?

Kim Floresca 48:54
You can find me at @kimfloresca on Instagram or @Goopkitchen. And please come visit me in LA anytime you're around. We'd love to show you around our kitchen and cook for you here in our headquarters in Santa Monica. But please let us know what you guys want to see on our menu. Drop us a line, let us know.

Elizabeth Stein 49:14
And you can get our banana bread starting on June 20.

Kim Floresca 49:20
Purely Elizabeth banana bread with extra crunch on top.

Elizabeth Stein 49:25
So good. Thank you for all your amazingness

Kim Floresca 49:29
Thank you. Bye.

Elizabeth Stein 49:33
Bye. Thanks so much for joining me on Live Purely with Elizabeth. I hope you feel inspired to thrive on your wellness journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to rate, subscribe, and review. You can follow us on Instagram @purely_elizabeth to catch up on all the latest. See you next Wednesday on the podcast.