 Welcome to QuackTalk, I'm Crystal here on Tuesday morning. So today we're going to talk a little bit about things you put in food and in your life. You know, when you go and have a steak, sometimes you want to sprinkle a little of, okay, we're going to spice, we're going to put on that, or we're going to have some seafood. I'm going to put a different type of spice. So where do these spices and combinations come from and why do we pair certain types of foods with certain types of spices and what does it mean as a woman to be a woman of spice? There is the link we have today and we are going to dive straight into that with our wonderful guests full of spices, perhaps of quite a spicy person herself. Let's introduce her now, Brittany from Marnamaria Spices. Welcome. Hi, thank you for having me. It's nice to be here. Thank you. First of all, let me just tell everyone how I bumped into Brittany. I went to the farmers market in Warwick, and I was looking at her wonderful spices and I love to cook and try new spices, so that's how it all happened. It just, more importantly, was quite interesting how a person brings about the spice of life, if you will, and where it brought you. So let's hear a little bit about your background and where you're from and why you brought the spice to the table. Yeah, no, I moved to Hawaii initially when I was a little kid. My dad was in the military, and so I grew up here, but my mom is Cuban and my dad is kind of more European. Kind of more European. Can you be a little more specific? He's Caucasian, but his family is very influenced by Europe. They like to travel there a lot. And so I grew up in a household that was really mixed, because we were living in Hawaii, which has a lot of Asian influences, but I had Hispanic influences from my mom and European influences from my dad. And so it was just a house that was always filled with new things and trying new things and new flavors and just bringing different cultures into the house all the time. And that was something that my parents really kind of instilled in me. My grandparents were both like that as well. Okay. They thought it was just really important to try new things and taste new things. And they also, they were very much in the kitchen and creating their own dishes. Yeah, actually, that's kind of where the name for my company came from, Marna Maria. So Marna is the name of my dad's mom, and she didn't love to cook, but she thought it was important, and she wanted to do something fun with her kids and also teach her kids about the world, because it was important that they knew things. Where was she from? She was from, I don't know, Washington State. Oh, okay. Yeah, but her husband and she was also in the military, so they traveled. And so she thought it was important that her kids knew about other cultures. So today we're going to learn about China and we're going to listen to some Chinese music and we'll eat some Chinese food and try Chinese things just so they knew. That's great. And my mom's mom, Maria, was Cuban and food was so central to her life, because that's a very Hispanic thing, and she thought it was so important to cook, and that's how you brought family around the table, and that's how you bring people together. And so I love that idea, and that's kind of what I brought together to create my brand, Marna Maria, and then the spices behind it, so trying to encourage people to explore new things they maybe haven't done before and try new things they haven't tried before, but through something that's really easy and something that you do every day, like eating. Right, right. So, but you personally, do you feel like you're more influenced by the Cuban culture? Yeah. I really have a really big influence on Cuban culture in my life. My mom is Cuban, and my mom raised me like she, and so that was something that she kind of instilled in us. Is there a Cuban community here in Hawaii at all? Not really. It's you. You can come to our house. We have, every once in a while, we'll meet another Cuban, and it's very, very exciting. But there's a little bit here, but not so much because it is really far from Cuba. Right, so you bring it, and that's why you were saying off air is also the importance of holding on to your culture because you're so far away from it. Yeah, my mom is originally from Cuba, and then she came to the United States and then was living in Florida, and then through the military, my family came here when I was a little kid. But she maintained that kind of the values of Cuban culture, and the fun things, and the dancing, but also the food and the family. What are some foods that we need to know about that are, you know, just... Yeah, so actually that was the first spice blend that I made. It's called carne creolla. And it's to make that roasted Cuban pork. Perhaps you had it on the stand, which is the slow roasted Cuban pork and citrus juices. And so that was the first blend that I made just to share with my friends, because people always wanted to try Cuban food. Which one is that? Oh! We have a big smile here. Okay, I'll find it later. It's in here, but it has some oregano and citrus juices and some onions and garlic and cumin, and a lot of people think that Cuban food is really spicy because the people are so spicy, but it's an island of sugar, so they tend to be sweeter, yeah. I got a backtrack. That island of spices and spicy people. Why is it that Cubans are associated with being spicy? And do you think that the concept of being spicy is only relevant to women? Because, you know, you don't say to a hot guy, oh, he's so spicy. But when we're a girl, you see them go, oh, yeah. Well, okay. Zuri begs to differ. We'll ask her later. I don't know. I think what's really fun about the Cuban culture is something that I've really appreciated, is that they just like to have fun, and you know, there's not these inhibitions of that's not what we should do or this is not kind of what's cool or anything, but it's like a deep love for your family, a deep love for the people around you and know, like, shame to show it and just to express how you want to be and what you love and to share that. So to be spicy is associated with somebody who is carefree and very, very comfortable with expressing themselves and full of passion. Yeah, I don't know if I would say carefree so much because, I mean, one really big attribute of Cuban culture is that it's very hard working. Okay. But also, like, totally know how to have a good time and then, like, I don't know, just let loose, yeah. But is spicy necessarily hot? Like, is it just spicy? Yeah, you know, when somebody's spicy, is it that, what makes somebody spicy? I don't know. I think it's just, so I lived in France for a while and it's just that je ne sais quoi. Like, you don't know what that is, but some people have that kind of fire in front of them that drives, like, my mom, for example, she's always defended what we wanted to do and defended us just with this passion from inside of her. And I don't think that's something you teach and that's something that she's instilled with me that went really well with helping me start this company is nothing was too hard or nothing was too big or you could really do what you wanted as long as you thought you could do it. Do you think this attitude is something that's innate in particularly Cuban culture or every culture has their own kind of version of spiciness? Oh, I don't know. I can't speak to other cultures so much. Well, but you're a great grandmother, said, you know, Chinese food lessons. It was really quite interesting that I think that yeah, I think what's really interesting is when I've lived in a bunch of places and when you kind of look at all different people and where they come from, everyone has a different thing that they're kind of really good at just that that's what's really important to their society. And I think it's so cool when you have a group of people coming from all different places like Hawaii coming together, you have all these different attributes that are awesome and then you get a product at the end, which is just really great. Do you have a Hawaiian spice? Yeah, I actually have a whole Hawaiian line because Hawaii is like so close to me because this is where I live. Right, you're up here. Yeah, so I do. I have six or seven different kind of spices that are just Hawaii flavors. What are Hawaii flavors? So one that these were kind of suggestions that people gave to me. So one was for stir fry. Because that's something that kind of happens here. So I have some ginger, like some peppers and so a little bit of spice in that. But then I also have a little sweet thing. So I have like an everything seasoning that has some ginger, but some sugar as well to like pull on some other attributes. Do you make these spices yourself or you get them from all different? So I source the spices from across the world. I try to look where they originally come from. Like if cinnamon originally comes from Sri Lanka, I source it from there. And then I bring them all together here and do all the cutting and blending and mixing and testing and everything here. Testing. So who's your guinea pig? Your family. You go, so try this one. This one's yours. Yeah, so it's been a pretty fun thing. And I really like the idea that the culture, the influence of a culture into a spice, we take it for granted. We have, there's so many blends out there on the shelves that you just go, OK, I need something for seafood. And then they take that. But you don't think about the source, the origin of it and why that is. Oh yeah, so many things come from behind that. And I've lived in a bunch of different places and because of that I have friends from a lot of different places. So I've had a lot of fun like, hey, I want to make an Indian seasoning. So I'll call up my friend from India and be like, can I ask, can you try this? Like, is this right? Is this really true to what you guys have there? And because that's really my intent is to do a good representation of what's authentic. Well, that's a good question though. Where do you kind of cross the line? Do you want something that's authentic or do you want something that's blended that represents the multiculturalism that we live in today? Well, I think this, for example, is a box full of essentially all different countries. So they're all together here. But you're having different separate things. And one of the things that I like to say is your favorite fruit is one you've never tried before. And so maybe you think you don't like something, but maybe it's because you haven't tried it before. And so just because you might think, oh, I'm not really into that culture. I don't really like that. It may not be true. You just haven't experienced it in a way that you can connect with. It's an ignorance, too, to do something. But it's just, it's that. But it's also, I mean, we can't know everything right now. But if this can help someone kind of learn a little bit further than where they are and have more enjoyment in their life, because they've discovered that they didn't enjoy something before, I think that's so exciting. And to learn a culture from a spice or a flavor. Do you have any particular flavors that you've discovered in your life that was like, whoa, this is something I had no idea I was out there? I've had a few of those kind of moments where they're on just small things where I'm like, oh, I don't like fennel. I'm really not a fan of fennel. And then you have it prepared in a different way. And you're like, fennel is the best ingredient. OK, so what do you put fennel in? I've had, so I was eating at a restaurant in Seattle and I had a fennel foam on hamachi. So I didn't like raw fish and I didn't like fennel. Was it fresher dried fennel? It was, so they had infused the fennel into like a cream and then put it into like a foam. So it was very pungent of the fennel, but very smooth from the cream. And to this day, this was one of the most favorite things I've ever eaten. And so you can transform things to, do you just have to look at things in a different way? And I think that can be applied to lots of different. Well, I'm going to sidetrack here. I don't know if this is even appropriate, but there is a site where they have all this cooking, these meals prepared, but they infuse it with things that have to do with the source of marijuana. Have you seen that show before? I have not. And then they make it like a whole gourmet thing and then they do these special smoking techniques with that. And then there's just so many layers of different types of pot, if you will. And Rob's like, oh yeah, I know that show. So I'm just saying that right now, everybody has like a, it's just brought up to a level where we can use our influences in whatever our life, whatever that means, to make it into a very cultural or interesting creative experience in eating. Yeah, and I mean, I think that's true in a lot of things. Like you, if you wrap something up in a certain way, you can really convince people of whatever you want. Okay, that's another angle on it. Do you have a favorite spice? From my, from my thing. Yeah, and you have so many spices here. This is crazy. I don't even know where to start. Well, it's, you know, people just Florida fish. Come up to me with an idea and I say, let's try it. Yeah, that one is actually one of the most popular ones. Really? It's a fish seasoning. As opposed to like a normal fish. I think I bought a fish seasoning last time, but it didn't say Florida fish. It was, maybe, so that the only reason that one's called Florida fish is it was initially a wedding favor for my cousin's wedding and she was getting married in Florida. And so that's why I named it that. Oh, is there a different thing in it? It's great on fish that are from the Florida coast, but it's also great on lots of fish. It has some lemon, it has some dill and parsley and a little bit of pepper. It's really nice. We've had that, what other things do you think that are interesting to bring? To French. Well, French always, yeah. Yeah, the French herbs are great because that's kind of the heart of, people will disagree with the French and I semi-agree. Claim that's kind of where cooking started. If you look at wine as well, all wine kind of rules are based off of French wine rule. And so I think it's so crucial to have such a base as a French because they're classically trained in that combination of herbs for a lot of different things. Yeah, and they've been doing it for years and years and years. All right, well, I don't know. I'm not gonna challenge that, but I'm gonna, we'll see. But lamb, well, you know what I think is sometimes, since we're going on with the concept of women of spices, is that what's a man of spice? Are there certain herbs that you think are more associated with a man and a woman, okay? Well, I would say yes, just because I'll get people, I sell at the farmer's market. And so you have kind of some guys who'll show up. Don't do the rub. I'm gonna buy that rub. Rub, like they like the chicken rub, the steak rub, barbecue rub, those are easy. And the hot, spicy Cajun spice. Yeah, exactly. You know what? Hold on to those thoughts. We're gonna come back after that and think about what spices you like in your life and whether you are a woman or a man of spice because it is, it kind of identifies who you are or where you come from. And when we come back, the mom's gonna come and join us too, so we'll have more spice on the table. See you soon. Aloha, my name is Justine Espiritu. This is my co-host, Matthew Johnson. Every Thursday at 4 p.m. on Seantech, we host the Hawaii Food and Farmers series. We like to bring in folks from the whole realm of the local food supply and agriculture, anyone working on these issues, any organization or individual that has plans or projects. What kind of people have we had on? So we've had farmers, we've had chefs, we've had people from government, larger institutions, everyone who's working to help make Hawaii's local food system that much better. So you can see us every Thursday and join the conversation on Twitter and we hope to see you there. You're watching Think Tech Hawaii, exploring the world we live in, recognizing the changes around us and looking into the future of our lives together in these islands. Great content for Hawaii from Think Tech. Aloha, my name is Danelia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We are the co-host of Keys to Success, which is live on Think Tech live streaming network series weekly on Thursdays at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha. To the women of spice, today's talking about the spices of life and how women are spicy and how spices represent who we are as women and men. So we have Brittany here from her beautiful source of creative spices and her mom's joining us right now. Milta, welcome. Thank you so much. So Milta, I understand that you're originally from Cuba and you came here. And let's talk a little bit about the Cuban culture because in Hawaii, it's actually not the specialty. Right. I immigrated in 1967 in the freedom flights, the Kennedy freedom flights. And we come from a very hardworking family. Cuban cultures, Cubans are very hardworking people. And like many immigrants, they want the best for their kids. And I think what you need to know about Cuban culture is that we're very family oriented. We're faithful people. And you were talking about spice before. And I think the thing that makes us really spicy is that we really love our family. We love our friends and we love getting together, needing good food. And so when Brittany started this, she started with the Cuban spice. And I think it just took off from there. You found the Cuban spice. Yes. Yes, it's one of our favorites, carne criolla. Ooh. What is in that wonderful name? Yeah, so this is, I based it just on how my mom taught me growing up, how we make our traditional foods, so our traditional Cuban pork. So it's tons of oregano, tons of garlic, onion, cumin, and then some citrus flavor. So this has some dried orange, some dried lemon, and you can also do some dried grape. I put some dried grapefruit in there sometimes. But yeah, and then we'll marinate that down just for up to like, you can do it to like three days and then you just roast that in the oven. And the smell, you can smell it down the street. Any kind of meat? We do pork. But you can do it. Like a pork shoulder kind of? You can do anything with it, but Cubans tend to eat a lot of pork and we marinate it usually with this type of spice and also some lemon juice and fresh orange juice and garlic and such. So it's a slow bake, isn't it? Yeah, it's almost like Kahlua pork. Right. We also have, we also put it under the ground. We do that in a pit, where we do it on, you know, just over the ground and we'll have a pig roasting. Yeah. That's very traditional. And you just peel it apart and it just comes out. Yeah, it's just a little different where the Hawaiians have the smoke and the salt. We tend to have garlic and other spices. But isn't that interesting? It is. We're comparing the different cultures but the similarities. Yes. And we do the rice and... Well, it's very funny as well because there were a lot of Chinese immigrants to Cuba. Right. There are some kind of connections. We rice every day. Cubans eat rice every day. Yes, white rice. And we also have, which is very big for us, is the black beans. So we do rice, black beans and plantains. Oh, yeah, oh, I love plantains. And then your protein. Right, right. So what do you bring it over? Because I have a very good Mexican friend who I met in Hong Kong and her mother, who is from Mexico, would just swear by having the authentic ingredient that she would hand deliver to her. She would refuse this for her to buy, store, bought, prepacked spices. Do you feel the same way about... We have definitely done that. We've done that, I have a Cuban pot. So many things. I have a lot of Cuban things and also we have a Spanish market here in Hawaii. How authentic is that? They're called de la raza. They're called de la raza on Baratania, I believe. And we do go there for a lot of ingredients. Yes, she brings in a lot of good things before that. Like, as I was saying, we go to Florida every year. We would bring back... Like what? Pops, mops, sort of like... Yes, I mean, I would bring guava. My daughter just brought me pastries. Cuban pastries. Guava pastries, Cuban pastries. Do you think guava here? Well, it's different. It's a guava paste. It's a guava paste that you have for dessert. Do you have that here? No, we bring Cuban bread. We bring... The Cuban bakeries do all these different things. We bring like... What is Cuban pastries? Delicious. It's a lot of it is like cakes and very much like French pastries, almost. They're very similar to French pastries. And they have a lot of that milfoil. Right, right. The little papery stuff with the different champs inside. Was that influenced by the French or it was just... I don't believe so. I'm not sure about that, but we like our sugar. You just got like a little Southern accent come out. Where did that come from? Well, I grew up when we immigrated to New York and then I grew up in South Florida. Okay, okay. But isn't that interesting? You traced, because you said you traveled all over the world for whatever reasons. And how does that put an extra spice onto your plate? Oh, so much, right? Because you have such an influence from people. You've met her things, you've tried. And so you kind of like, she just had her little accent come out. Like, you have who you are, but then there's these little things that you've also learned that you kind of add. Right. You're, I guess, more spicy in a way. Because... Your boyfriend says you're a spicy woman, right? Yes, he does. Do you think you're a spicy woman? What does that mean? She is. She's got a lot of energy. She's very smart. She has a lot of energy. She can go non-stop. And I think that's infectious and people like that. They know that she's very knowledgeable and she knows a lot about many things and especially food and cooking, because she has her master's in food and wine from France. But obviously the family, the home was the biggest influence you were talking about before. Yeah, I mean, that was what built the foundation. Right. Because I mean... Your interests. That was kind of what my parents influenced on me. Like, go do what you want to do. There's so many things out there, go learn them. When you were very young, you started going in the kitchen and cooking? Yeah, I've always questioned my mom ever since I was little. Well, my mother cooked and my aunts cooked. Everybody cooked. Right. And my sisters a big cook and... Do men cook in Cuban culture? Yes, absolutely. The men do cook and they're great cooks. Right. Everybody cooks. My father was a great cook. My mother was a good cook, a great cook. And she grew up in a household that cooked. I cooked all the time. I made breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And my kids... Right. And you just grew up in that... Yeah. You just breathe in. It's like, that's what brings the family together. And she was talking about that. You're talking about passion and passion for family and defending a family. And that's kind of where it all starts from. Because you are really close to it. It's very organic that you fight for your family and defend your family. You're with your family. You want to be with them. It reminds me of a good film. Do you have a favorite cook food film? A favorite? You love that show. Which one? I love Chef because Chef is very... Yeah, it is authentic. It's very human, too, without the issues. It's pretty authentic. A lot of times I see films that represent Cuban culture, not so much. But I really enjoyed that show. And the food was right on. And so I was excited about that. But it's interesting about food, though. Do you think that the food, the spices that you personally like reflect who you are? Can we trace it like that in terms of personality? And just... I think so because I think that my husband grew up in a totally different household than I did. And when we were first together, he's like, well, how many people in your family? And even though there were only four people in our family when I was growing up, I said there's like 25 people because I'm so used to having the large family very much the culture. And he was like, what? He was just about... His family was a small knit family. So I think we grew up very much with that feeling. With an abundance. Abundance, right. And the food and family. So I'm sure your plate was full of... The worst thing you could run into is not having enough food for the people around you. That's like the Chinese. You always have to put more. Yeah, yeah. But Chinese culture is so broad. People think, oh, what are the things that Chinese eat? It depends. If you're in the South, you eat... They're more steamed foods. But if you're in the middle, you eat more spicy foods. So it's kind of like culturally you needed to be educated on how the environment influenced your choices of foods. So going back to Cuban culture is the citrus. I don't know maybe because you needed to offset the spices. Yeah, I think you can determine almost how adventurous you are, how spicy you are on some level by kind of what you eat. Like are you willing to try new things? Or are you kind of just really happy with what you're having? And it's not right or wrong one way, but I'm like, go, go, go, yeah, we have to try this. We have to do this. And I think that's one of the reasons that my boyfriend thinks I'm spicy is because I'm always like, I've never had that before. Like we have to have that. You make him try weird things. Oh, he's anything. Like he's totally, he loves it. Because he loves to eat. He's a great guinea pig. Yeah. And he's really kind because he's always like, this is amazing. See, that's the passion there too. Yeah. But you know that the saying, you are what you eat, is that something that's overrated or do you believe that? Oh, I mean, I think there's definitely exceptions to that. But yeah, I mean, like I was just saying, like I eat lots of things. I like to do lots of things. Like that's very descriptive of me as a person and my personality. And so I think that totally reflects that. Right, right. And people who have simple diets, not because of health reasons, but people who prefer simple things, maybe they do kind of simplify their lives with them. Yeah, and there's something wrong with that. Right, exactly. Oh, it's just like, there's very, some people like to go out and do lots of things and other people are so happy, you know, chilling out with a book. And that is like, that is their thing. And that's not a bad thing at all. It's just different preferences. And I mean, not everyone's into spices and not everyone's into traveling. But I think a lot of people are. They just don't know how to. Yeah, and that was what I was trying to do with this, is make kind of big things, small, literally, smaller. And like more accessible. I can't go to India, but I can spend 15 minutes. And that was kind of, this was to give people a 15 minute immersion experience. So I can spend 15 minutes. I can go on her website. I can read the blur about India. I can read the recipe. I can make the recipe with her spices. And I've had a semi-authentic kind of journey to this place that I've never been. And that was what I wanted to do for people and that not everyone has the ability to travel or can't or doesn't want to do that whole thing. Because that is a big thing. But this is an easy way to kind of expand where you are. It's a culture and a pot. I mean, you really put your resource. I think the people that have come back to buy her spices all say the same thing, that they're good, because they're so fresh. And also that they make cooking so easy. So someone who doesn't know how to cook can just put the spices on, follow the recipe. And it's really simple. And don't go to Costco for the same old lens. You know, you get something that's a little bit more particular. Yeah. The different colors will tell you everything. So keep us in the last minute of the show. What are some tips that you can give our audiences on how to embrace spices as we should? Yeah. I think I like to cook a lot. And I would always kind of disregard seasoning ones, because I'm like, I don't need that. I can add all the ingredients myself. But really, this is a way to add tons of flavor at one time. And the ingredients are incredible quality. I have a spreadsheet this long just trying to source the best thing. And so it's great for the kind of the novice who doesn't want to cook and who just wants to add, because it makes you look amazing. And then it's great for people who like to cook or chefs. I've had a lot of chefs come back to me, because the ingredients are great. And a lot of thought and time and research has been put into making these blends. So they're really what people would use. So it goes across the spectrum. And it's really accessible and a quality product, no matter who you are. And can people purchase them online? Or do they go to your farm market? Everything's available online. We have different packaging sizes. And a few more options online on marnamaria.com. And then as well, I sell in the Kakaoka Farmers Market on Saturdays near Ward Warehouse. And then also, these are available at Magnolia at the Halla Mall. OK, wow. OK, well, you heard it from Brittany and Milda. So thank you so much for sharing your wealth of spices. You had a little, in the beginning, what was the quote you used? Oh, what's it? Well, I can't remember. Trying to eat. Trying to eat the world? Yes, yes. I love it. Try to eat the world. So take that with you today and have a wonderful day. And eat and be spicy. Thank you.