 Hi everyone and welcome to Lillian's Vegan World. We're up to episode 13 and I am just loving the shows that we're doing. Today I have another awesome guest here to talk about the plant-based diet and the vegan lifestyle. The last episode I did was with Ellen who happens to be my guest today's other half. So I'm going to introduce you to Oahu's Captain Mushroom. Welcome, Vance. Thanks, glad to be here. Great, thank you so much for coming. I actually met your beautiful Ellen for the first time a couple of weeks ago and was very excited to hear that you are also not only vegan but producing some really excellent quality local produce here that we're definitely going to delve in and talk about. So welcome to the show. Thanks. You're quite fascinating actually because every time I meet a male vegan I kind of have to know how it all happened, where this journey started for you and every person I've talked to so far they actually all say the same thing that it starts from the woman that they're with. So I'm not sure if this is the case with you but we will find out. So Vance, you are Captain Mushroom, this is the name of your company that you have here and you're producing what? Oyster mushrooms primarily. Gourmet Oyster Mushrooms. That's great. If anyone saw the show last week you'll remember that we had some here in the studio and I was fortunate enough to take some of them home and sample them and I must say that they are excellent quality. I think everyone's going to be excited to get their hands on them but... What did you make by the way? So I did make stir fry with tofu and a plum barbecue sauce with walnuts and some cranberries that went over a bed of cauliflower rice. Oh. Those mushrooms I think this fantastic, very, very plain olive oil on the grill, salt and pepper, a bit of fresh lemon juice. You don't really need to do much to them to bring out the wonderful nesting. Yeah, I've definitely crucified a few batches myself by overcooking or an overspicing. Yeah, I don't think you need to. I noticed that Ellen, your partner, made the gyoza, the dumplings with those mushrooms. I would call that very high-end dumplings because you don't really need to use them in that way. So tell me a bit about yourself, Vance. Are you from here or where have you... How did you come to end up in beautiful Honolulu? That's a good story. Well, I was originally from Washington State. I spent the last six years down in the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas. Beautiful place. I had a charter boat company down there, Velocity Boat Reynolds. I had two boats, two people snorkeling, a lot of them had a snorkel and was living a good life. And then the two category five hurricanes hit us a couple of years ago. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that. And really devastated the islands. Puerto Rico is still recovering. Right. And after several months of struggling with no internet hardly, I mean, we had Wi-Fi, but we didn't have Wi-Fi. It was not functional Wi-Fi. It, you know, just a lot of factors had changed. It wasn't as beautiful. There was a lot of chaos and problems. And the tourism was dramatically reduced and everything. So we were really struggling. My boats came through the Hurricane Ok. All the boats around me were devastated. And there was my boats after the hurricane and they were still floating. Gosh, that was lucky, although unfortunate for the other boats. But then our daughter moved over here to Hawaii and she was telling us how great it was. And so we decided to make the move and start something new. We didn't know what we were going to start. But you know, the beauty of capitalism is anybody can start anywhere and make, you know, something happen. If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen. Yes, that's awesome. It's really great to hear that even after this experience that you had to go through, you have come to a new island and to a new life and created something that probably wouldn't have happened had you not gone through that hardship. So yeah, great that you're having fun here and doing good things. But why did you choose mushrooms? It's very different to what you were doing. I wanted to get into something that Ellen and I could both be passionate about. And something that we could believe in and, you know, give back to the world in. And so, you know, I looked at hydroponics. I looked at vegan vending machine business. I was all ready to lay down, you know, for the vending machine business. Ellen didn't quite like that idea, you know, and so I kept looking and I was looking at hydroponics and then I came across mushrooms and I'm like, you know, and I always love mushrooms. I used to pick mushrooms in the wild in Washington State and the Cascade Mountains and up on Mount Rainier as well. And I just, you know, one thing led to another. I got an online course on how to grow them and started studying YouTube videos. And, you know, I'm like, okay, this is something that Ellen can get on board with and we can do and get back to the community and make a living as well. Awesome. Speaking to you just before we went on air, you were talking about how you grow them. It's a very complicated process and it takes a lot of really care and monitoring to get the mushrooms to grow to that, you know, quality that you are actually making them. So, let's just show our viewers now a couple of shots that you have sent in for us. The first photograph is, there you go. They are actually so huge. That one on the left there is eight and a half inches wide. Amazing. It's just kind of a monster. Elm oyster mushroom. Elm oyster mushroom. They do have a nice meaty sort of quality to them, don't they? Absolutely. Yeah, so they would actually be great for people to try as a steak or something like that. Oh, yeah. It's a nice vegan butter, garlic, a little bit of marinade, you know. That's how I like to enjoy them. But I've never seen them that vegan, hearty and meaty, so awesome. Big mushroom burger coming your way. Yes, yes, definitely. You know, if something like that was sold in a restaurant, so many people would be into that, I'm sure, but they don't really exist. Do they, food like that in restaurants? Oh, sure, you know. A nice huge, you know, oyster mushroom burger. I've never seen it before. Yeah. Over in Waimanello, I don't remember the name of the health food store over there. They have mushroom burgers right now, but they're Portobello's. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, Portobello's. They're delicious. Yes, they are. Let's have another look at your next one, Ben. It's their collage of terrible photos. You know, there's blue oyster mushrooms on the left there. Left middle is blue oyster mushrooms. They're called blues, but they start out blue and then they turn brown. And then just to the right of that, the very center is regular elm oyster mushrooms. The one in the lower right is actually a king oyster mushroom. Yes. It was a strange mix up with the lab. And these logs just wouldn't produce for weeks and weeks. Right. And I knew something was up. And I dropped the temperature. They finally sprouted and turned out to be the king oyster mushrooms, which they call them alihi's here in Hawaii. Alihi, yes, that's the Japanese name. Really? Yeah, it comes from the Japanese name. So the temperature is different for the oyster, the king oyster mushrooms as opposed to the elms, the temperature that they're grown in. What is the temperature for the elms, let's say? Around 65 is the optimum temperature for the oyster. For all your oyster mushroom varieties except for the king oysters, they like it down around 60 is even more optimum. There's some flexibility there, but there's optimum growing needs. Okay, excellent. You know what, Vance, we have to show your video because it will give the viewers a better idea of how you grow these amazing mushrooms. I think you're going to enjoy this. Take a look at Vance's video. Hey, are you mushroom lovers? Captain Mushroom here. Today, I want to show you my mushroom grow operation here in the heart of Waikiki. Right here is my incubation tent and over here is the fruiting tent. So first, we put the mushrooms in these logs. These are called logs. These are straw and coffee and you can see how the white mycelium is growing throughout here nicely. And then we poke these little holes in the bags and that's where the mushroom are eventually going to be coming out. These are blue mushrooms, blue oyster mushrooms and they'll be ready here in about another week to be moved into the growing tent. Now over here, we have the growing tent. The growing tent, we have our pond fogger that gives us our humidity and we have, it's very important to have the right humidity in here. Then I built this swamp cooler, homemade swamp cooler, blows cold air in here and keeps temperature at about 65 degrees. Now up here, I'm very excited to introduce my newest crop, the Italian oyster mushrooms. And you can see from a scale of my finger they've just popped out this morning and I'm very excited about them. And if you come in here real close, this is a very nice crop. I have to get in a little closer there. We've got the fogs kind of in the way a little bit, but yeah, these are, I'm very excited about these. This is my first crop of the Italian oysters and the last crop failed due to contamination so I'm very excited. These just came out this morning and I'm hoping to have them ready to ship out to the chefs on Friday or Saturday within the next two days. So to my Waikiki chefs, I'll be calling you soon. How awesome, that is such great footage and I myself as a chef have never seen anything like that before. Really? Yes, I learned a lot watching that. I've watched it several times just prepping for this show and it's very nice footage, yeah. I have to mushroom on a mission. So what did you think of the title? Vegan superhero taking mushrooms to a whole new level in Oahu. Well, that's very flattering. But I like what you said at the end. Waikiki to the Waikiki chefs, I think I make a living cooking as well and these are going to fly out of your tent once you start getting really good production going. Vance, where can we get a hold of some of these mushrooms? How can we get a hold of them? You just pretty much got to call me. My wife and I, we're a one show operation here. There's our phone number, 808-365-2622. Awesome. And you're located now in, is it Kailua? You're over in Kailua? We're on the west side, yeah. On the west side, yeah. Okay, great. So get in touch. Get in touch and get some gorgeous mushrooms from Captain Mushroom. They come highly recommended. Let's have a look at another one of Vance's photos. Which one is this, Vance? These are the golden oyster mushrooms. Yes, they're all very different in color, aren't they? A bright golden mushroom. This particular photo didn't turn out very clear and for some reason we had lost the other photos that we took. They're a little different. They say they taste a little bit like chestnut. Yes, I was going to say I find them to be a little bit more earthy. Okay, you've had them. Yes, in flavor, yes. In Japan, not never here. I've never seen them here, I don't think. In Japan, they carry a very large variety of mushrooms and eat a lot, consume a lot of mushrooms. So that's where my love for these fungi or fungus started. But I love mushrooms too. When we get back from the break, we're going to talk a little bit about the nutritional value and how mushrooms are good for you. But basically they're tasty, so that's why we should be eating them as well. What's your favorite mushroom dish? I like, Helen makes a mushroom soup to die for. Mushroom soup, I love that too. There's something so comforting about a big bowl of chunky, creamy or whatever mushroom soup. Oh yeah, the mushroom is crunching on your palate and absorbing into your... Yes. Stay tuned, we've got lots more to talk about with Captain Mushroom. I'm just going for a quick break and see you after it. Hello. Thank-Tek Hawaii is live in Japan. Hello, I'm White, host of Kunisei Ikari. Every Monday, Monday to Monday, we have a host, in the audience, in the Japanese language. Hi, I'm Rusty Kumori, host of Beyond The Lines. I was the head coach for the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championship. This show is based on my book, which is also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence, achieving and sustaining success, and finding greatness. If you're a student, parent, sports or business person, and want to improve your life, and the lives of people around you, tune in and join me on Mondays at 11 a.m. as we go Beyond the Lines on Think Kakaway. Aloha. Welcome back, everyone, to Lillian's Vegan World, the show where we talk about everything veganism and the plant-based lifestyle. Today, I have my awesome guest, Captain Mushroom, who is taking Mushrooms to a whole new level right here in Oahu. We just showed some of Vance's beautiful photos and footage from the place where he makes all this magic happen and creates these beautiful mushrooms right here in Honolulu. So do contact Captain Mushroom if you do want to get your hands on some of these gorgeous things. Vance, I would like to talk a little bit about what I have been doing on the island. So if I could have my first photo. This month is all about Serbian cuisine. In all of my Vance, I'm doing vegan Serbian cuisine. This is some vegan feta that I made using tofu, which resembles the texture of regular feta cheese. So it's a good way to make the vegan version. My dad was actually Serbian and that's why I have this love affair with Serbian food. So I use feta a lot, the vegan feta, and this is one of the recipes that I was doing in my cooking demo at Down to Earth yesterday. Have a look at another one of my pictures. As you all know by now, I'm a vegan chef and cooking instructor. I also do private catering for families and this is every week I do cater for a couple that asked me to prepare five dishes once a week. This is an example of one of the things I did. The bottom left Vance has your king oyster mushrooms in it. This is the one with the plum sauce that has a bit of a barbecue sauce concoction going on. Some tofu and kale, lots of good stuff there. Roasted, what have we got at the back there? What are those vegetables called at the back of Vance? Take a guess. I can't think of the word in English. Brussels sprouts. In Japanese the word is mere cabbage. That means small baby cabbage. And that's the word that was coming. I couldn't think of the word in English. But anyway, there's an idea of... And the soup actually in the middle is a mushroom soup, a creamy mushroom soup with corn that I made. Let's have a look at one more. This is my Serbian menu for this month. Top left is a biver, which is a red bell pepper sauce. That is very, very popular over there in Serbia. Some beans, also beans, very popular there. Spinach and tofu, phyllo pastry pie. Again, everything has feta cheese in it. Down the bottom right, which you and your beautiful wife Ellen are going to sample, is some Serbian cornbread with broccoli and vegan feta cheese. So very interesting flavours going on in Serbia. Would you say it's spicy food? No, not at all. It's actually quite mild on the palate. Very similar to all the countries in the Balkans in that area all have similar dishes using lots of paprika or paprika. Yeah, lots of feta cheese again. But Serbia is definitely a meat-eating country. So had my dad still been here with us today, I think he would have been... I don't know if the word is... I don't know what the word is, but probably very surprised I'd gone and veganised his whole country's cuisine. But you've got to do what you've got to do. For the planet. For the planet, yes. And for our health. And for our health, yes. So one more of mine, if you don't mind, Haley. This is some upcoming events. So next week I have more cooking demos featuring the vegan Serbian cuisine. My seven course dinners as usual. And next month I'm going to be doing four course vegan brunch as my cooking demos and cooking classes. And also we'll be doing that down to earth. So lots of vegan events I'll be holding and looking forward to. And thank you to everyone down to earth who came yesterday to my demos. I really appreciate it. So captain mushroom, getting back to mushrooms. They are actually very good for you. Oh, absolutely. Yes, very good for you. So I did prepare a little bit of a nutritional profile of the mushrooms. Most mushrooms, there's obviously a large variety, but basically they all have about the same sort of nutritional value and calories. So about one cup of chopped or sliced mushrooms comes to only 15 calories. Zero grams of fat. 2.2 grams of protein. 2.3 grams of carbohydrates. And it also includes 0.7 grams of fiber and 1.4 grams of sugar. So basically there are five things that I found according to most research and studies. Basically mushrooms are known to lower cholesterol levels, alleviate inflammation. They are also obviously packed with antioxidants. May block cancer growth and boost brain health. Yeah, and your immune system. Oh yeah, the lion's mane mushroom in particular. They're used for all-timer patients and as well as dementia patients. They're getting positive results. Yes, definitely. So this boosting brain health that I think is something that maybe not a lot of people know about. Maybe people should be eating more mushrooms or incorporating more mushrooms into their diet just to be sure. Oh yeah, we had some lion's mane, Ellen and I while back and we were just sharper. We could remember things quicker. Oh really? We noticed a significant difference. Okay, awesome. I might have to up the ante on the mushrooms. There was an article by the Medical News recently that talks about mushrooms and as regards to cancer, what you just mentioned earlier on mushrooms are very high in antioxidants, just like carrots, tomatoes, green and red peppers, pumpkins, green beans, zucchini and other whole foods. Antioxidants are chemicals that get rid of free radicals, a type of chemical that can harm a person's body cells potentially leading to cancer. Did you notice fans that in this little quote that I just mentioned, nothing says that you need to eat more animal product? Nothing there for that. They don't need it. Our bodies weren't, the creator didn't design our intestines with, you know, as much length that we have to be eating meat, you know. Yeah, that's right. The shape of the teeth, there's no fangs. The claws, not strong enough to really, a baby would not be able to attack a chicken on its own and get into it probably, but would eat an apple that had fallen off the tree. Yeah, all the carnivore animals and testines are way shorter than ours. Yep. You did mention to me earlier on fans that, let me go back a step. How did you become vegan? Well, Ellen got me into veganism. She started cooking. Waved the magic wand with her little wooden spoon. That's how we do it fans. We cook for you guys and then you fall in love. Did you not know that? Well, it worked anyway and you ended up with your beautiful wife. So she sort of, she was vegan before you became vegan. She was, she eased me into it. She's like, you know, I'm like, I could really use a steak. I haven't had a steak since we've met, you know, because she was cooking almost every night. She goes, oh, I'll cook you a steak, you know, if I have to. And so she was, she's like, we're non-judgmental, you know, and she cooked me the steak, even though she's like, it fills me inside, but I'll do it, you know. That's love. Yeah. And so, I mean, she eased me into it. And, you know, as time went on, you know, she, you know, 90% of the time she cooked. So, you know, all this good vegan food. And I was just so surprised that vegan food could be so delicious. Right. You know, I always thought it was rabbet food, you know. And yes, yes. I think, I think that stereotype is slowly starting to disappear now that more and more vegan food is becoming, you know, sort of mainstream. And a lot of people, a lot of fast food restaurants. Have you seen the Burger King just came out this week? Yes, with the impossible burger. This week, we had him, we went straight down and drove the first time we've been in the drive-up window in a few years now. Uh-huh. Yes, I know. How was it? Oh, they were just like a whopper. Delicious. Flame broiled taste. You couldn't tell the difference. In fact, Helen's like, I think they put meat in here. They're selling them as possible because they ran out of them. Yeah. So a lot of people are saying that. Because they taste the same. I know yesterday I was at Down to Earth. I had just finished my demo. Sitting outside, I was drinking iced tea. A person next to me had bought the impossible burger and was sitting down eating it and just going through how, what he thought about it. And he said exactly the same thing. He's like, dude, I swear there's meat in this. I hope they didn't make a mistake. Yeah. Well, convincing this product is, I mean, it must be very, very close. What's the other mean? Beyond. The Beyond burger also is exceptionally delicious. Yes. And that's so great. I mean, there are some people, there are some vegans who sort of criticize that sort of food, calling it unhealthy or a bad example of vegan food. But in my opinion, I support these products, whether I eat them or not. They're awesome for people who are transitioning or people who are trying to learn how to eat more plant-based food. So I definitely support all of that alternative food. When you're at a barbecue, you know, it's good to just throw a couple vegan patties on the barbecue and join the party. Absolutely, yeah. And that, yeah, you feel more part of the social team, don't you? Fans, see how quickly the time's gone. We are running out of time and do have to close. Would you like to say something quickly before we close? Well, I don't know. I mean, we're starting out small right now. But we'll be having more mushrooms available in time. So if you want to give us a call, our phone number is 808-365-2622. And give us a call. And will we either have mushrooms in or we don't. We're applying a couple of restaurants already. So we may have them. But within the next few months, we'll have a lot more mushrooms. We'll be a lot better off. And you'll be lucky to get your hands on them before I do, because I'll be there calling you for more of your excellent produce. Thank you, everyone, for watching Lillian's Vegan World. I hope to see you in a couple of weeks. Have a great weekend and aloha.