Wildly Well is a series of fun Friday chats with the experts (entrepreneurs, coaches, and creators in the culinary, wellness, fitness, and medical spaces) on how to create and live your most wildly healthy and joyful life. People who have wholeheartedly leaned into their wellness journeys to help you enhance your relationship with food, movement, self-care, and holistic well-being so you can live the most joyful life you want. We hope you enjoy our conversations with these amazing people and brands. We know they are going to enrich your lives.

We are thrilled to have Fishtown Pickle Project co-founder, Niki Toscani, RD to share her story and wisdom here! A passionate foodie, Niki’s career started as a Registered Dietitian helping people navigate how to shop and eat to nourish themselves. She and her husband and chef, Mike, began creating pickles together for fun and gave them as gifts for their wedding. Things unexpectedly took off, and together they co-founded Fishtown Pickle Project to meet the demand for deliciousness. Follow along as we learn more about Niki’s journey below and check out our IG chat if you prefer to watch.

[00:00:01.030] - Monica

Good afternoon. It is a gloriously, beautiful Friday in Philadelphia, and I am so pickled to have on this next guest for wildly well today. Her name is Nikki Toscani. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. She is a registered dietitian and also the co-owner with her husband of the Fishtown Pickle Project. And if you haven't tried them yet, they are delicious. So I've been snacking my way through these, the limited Philly batch ones for Giordano. And they have long huts and Broccoli rabbit. All the good things, Philly. But let's see, I'm going to bring Nikki on here. Awesome.

[00:00:47.790] - Niki

Hi, everybody.

[00:00:48.650] - Monica

Thank you. Hi, Niki.

[00:00:51.900] - Niki

Hey, how are you doing? I'm doing well today. Thanks for having me. Absolutely.

[00:00:59.390] - MOnica

I'm so glad that you wanted to be a guest on here. I'm super excited to find out more about you because this is my first time meeting you.

[00:01:06.120] - Niki

Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing. We definitely after this, we'll have to connect IRL.

[00:01:30.930] - Monica

Sounds good to me. And I love your hat.

[00:01:34.830] - Niki

This is my new uniform. Perfect.

[00:01:38.150] - Monica

Yeah. So why don't you tell everybody a little bit about you, maybe your path to becoming a registered dietitian, and then we'll get onto the pickles.

[00:01:48.450] - NIki

Yeah. So I'm co founder of Fish Town Pickle Project. But a dietitian first. I've been in a Dietetic nutrition field for just over ten years. My path was long. This is a second path of education for me. I actually started in communications and journalism.

[00:02:10.360] - Monica

So did I feel like everybody in food did that right.

[00:02:14.550] - Niki

It's a good combo. Hey, I like to talk, and it kind of meshes well because I think at the crux of nutrition and wellness is being able to communicate and clear up some of the mixed messages out there in the world. Relate to people well, guide people well, hold space and be compassionate for people. But it's been a long journey to get here. And I will tell you that 2022, where I am with Fishtown Pickle Project was certainly not part of the plan, but it is now, and it's really great.

[00:02:52.880] - Monica

I love that. So where are you?

[00:02:56.040] - Niki

A dietitian?

[00:02:56.590] - Monica

I couldn't find that.

[00:02:57.920] - Niki

Okay. Yeah. I was reading the interview questions and I realized that I didn't tell you. So I am 100% in Fishtown Pickle Project as we speak right now. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, I made the move. I was pregnant. I went on maternity leave. I was set to go back in September. And around beginning of August. Mike and I were just like, I don't know how this is going to work. So I feel like this is going to change the conversation between the two of us a little bit, but in a good way, because I think it's relevant to taking care of ourselves.

[00:03:39.260] - Monica

Absolutely. Yeah. So that was one of my questions, was how you manage that and continue to manage two businesses, your own business, working for somebody else, a new baby and staying healthy.

[00:03:51.360] - Niki

Well, yeah. The answer was it wasn't possible. We can't have it all. It was possible. But I was going to be sacrificing myself, which is not sustainable. So just to give you a little bit of background, I did work for just about all of those ten years. I worked in clinical for a health care system in South Jersey. And then when I say clinical, I worked in acute care, in the hospital systems, in long term care centers, too, doing nutrition counseling, doing nutrition assessments and intervention in that setting, which is great. It's more in the medical nutrition therapy scope of practice. At the same time, I also worked for a large supermarket chain in South Jersey, and that was a really interesting role, totally different. And for any of you on who are in Dietetics, I feel like it's a wide spectrum of opportunities for careers. Right. So when in our studies in becoming a dietitian registered dietitian, you kind of get experience in clinical, you get experience in food service, and you get experience in community. And a lot of times people are like, I like this. I don't like that. And I guess I blame being a Gemini.

[00:05:21.540] - Niki

I couldn't make up my mind. I love being in clinical. I also really was passionate about community. And when I say community, that's more like the public health sector, like educating, reaching out to people before they're ill. Okay. So when they're in the hospital, there's something already happening. Is there some prevention education? There is. But when you're in the public health scope, you're really trying to get to people before they are sick. So in the supermarket setting, I was able to do that. I was able to connect with people. And also we were offering free nutrition counseling services, which was really important to me. It was interesting. I mean, it was a free service that was open to the public at the supermarket. Right.

[00:06:20.270] - Monica

So I've never seen that at a supermarket. That's really cool.

[00:06:23.750] - Niki

Yeah. And it was perfect because it was at the point of sale. So, like, where people were making their food purchasing decisions, I was able to educate them and guide them and walk them through the aisles. And if they were confused about something shopping for bread, which we all do often. But at the same time.

[00:06:47.290] - NIki

You go through the aisle in.

Like, a conventional supermarket and you're like, I don't know which one.

[00:06:53.040] - Monica

Yeah. There are so many choices out there, and there's also so much conflicting information about what is good for us what is bad for us. I guess maybe a few of your top tips for people who are kind of looking to change their diet when they're going grocery shopping.

[00:07:11.370] - NIki

Yeah. So I mean, I always recommend speaking to somebody first, Whether that's always a dietitian or a nutrition coach. I'm in the dietitian realm so I'm going to push for dietitian and I also think depending on where the opportunity is. Right. So like if we are concerned about hard health Then that's one individual that I would suggest going to to talk about shopping for heart health. If there is some anxiety around food, around body shape I would recommend talking to another type of individual but my overlying yeah, it kind of all depends and thankfully there's a lot more discussion happening around these topics around anxiety with eating body positivity so this is really coming to light and there are more and more people who are really skilled in this area so I would suggest and dietitians can refer to I would say that too but very top level general advice is we want to try to enjoy our food nourish ourselves first. So that comes with enjoying it and I think that's really important to me Because I feel like so many people have lost touch with the joy of feeding themselves and nourishing themselves and that kind of is its own challenge.

[00:08:59.390] - Niki

Right. Because if we lose touch of that Then we're not being mindful of what we're putting in our body. Right? Yeah, Amen to that. So I think every food can fit and I do think the closer we can get to mother Earth right. So I don't like using the word clean Because there's a lot of stigma and I agree with that. Yeah, but I always say the closer we can get to the source of the food is always best and we know if we're in tune with our bodies we know what makes us feel good in the sense that feeling good like energized well, and then we know what makes us feel good in the sense of oh, that tastes delicious, you know what I mean?

[00:09:53.980] - Monica

Yeah. And then there's bridging the gap into bringing them to get the two together Because a lot of people think that it has to be one or the other. I have to be healthy and eat gross food, but they can be married.

[00:10:07.490] - Niki

They can be. And they should be.

[00:10:09.370] - Monica

They should be.

[00:10:10.630] - Niki

They can be, and they should be. And I think if we're in tune, if we're connecting with someone, our body staying relatively active and focusing on nourishing, then we can get there.

[00:10:23.430] - Monica

Yes, absolutely. And I think that also brings a good segue, too, because I think, well, I am very big into eating as close to the Earth as well and supporting our local farms and regenerative farming because it's so important to provide that access for people as well. And so talk to me a little bit about the pickles and where you source them, and then we'll go back into how you got started, because I like that story.

[00:10:52.310] - Niki

Yeah. So currently we source our cukes from farms in Jersey, South Jersey, Pennsylvania. There are times when the cuz are supplemented from elsewhere only because we don't live in a cucumber year round cucumber environment. But we source locally as often as possible because it's important to us and it's important to our people, too. And we want to make sure that we know our farmers. We want to make sure that we aren't traveling too far to get to our cucumber or to get to our food. We know how they're grown. And it's just been a beautiful partnership. I'm really eager for spring, summer and fall. I mean, we have a bit of a low in between in wintertime in terms of making those really those thriving connections. But we have a ton of produce coming on strong with these spring and summer months, and we can't wait. I mean, whether it's cukes or peppers or the broccoli broccoli, Rob Greens delicious. I'm jealous that you still have a jar of those.

[00:12:03.950] - Monica

Actually, Marcello just gave me another jar, and I'm already, like, halfway through it.

[00:12:08.820] - Niki

They were really good. It's very funny. Sometimes when I talk to him, like, I'm like, we need to make more of that. He's like, all right, slow down.

[00:12:17.570] - Monica

It was so good.

[00:12:18.920] - Niki

Yeah, I know. It was tasty.

[00:12:21.930] - Monica

So let's hear the story about how you got started in pickles. I know you had given them as gifts for your wedding. Your husband is a chef, too.

[00:12:31.030] - NIki

Yes. And actually, he and I, Mike and I have a long history in food, clearly, so that's how we met. I'm going to really go back in time here. Back in 2010, he and I met through our local food bank. He was working there as a chef instructor of a program called Cooking Matters. Have you heard of Cooking Matters? Yeah. I'm not surprised. I had a feeling for the viewers on here. Cooking Matters is a program from no kid hungry nonprofit initiative. And I don't know the mission specifically right off the top of my head, but essentially it's education. It's all about education and definitely in areas where there's a lack of access. So Mike was working there. I was in school, and I was a volunteer as a nutrition educator. And he and I taught healthy cooking classes in Camden, New Jersey, and some surrounding areas. So we taught a couple, and we became friends. And then actually, he ended up leaving to work for the supermarket chain where they were looking for a dietitian. And then I ended up going over there. And that's our history. Hey, that's what we're all about. That is exactly it.

[00:14:08.650] - Niki

So, yeah, fast forward. Yeah. We got married in 2017. In 2018, we had a reception, and Mike had been making these pickles for fun because he loved them for a while. And actually, he has funny stories where even premium he was making them and selling them to not to his friends, but his friends would buy a lot and then sell them. It was just like a little underground pickle business. And then we gave them out at our wedding reception, and people wanted more. They were like, can we get more of these? And not just friends and family? Like it was the wedding photographer was like, can we buy these somewhere? We're like, people really like these. And then coincidentally, that fall pickle Fest was coming. It was like the first ever pickle Fest in Northern Liberties.

[00:15:03.100] - Monica

And that was a thing.

[00:15:05.670] - Niki

US either. I don't even remember exactly how we heard about it, but being a newly married couple with this saw that, and we were like, that's fun.

[00:15:16.660] - Monica

Let's try it.

[00:15:18.450] - Niki

We were successful there, and it just kind of went on as a passion project. We thought, this is really something that we have here. So that was 2018. And then we were just going on for fun up until 2020 thing started to kind of get a little real. We were like, okay, I don't know if working full time for both of us. We were working full time both in Jersey. And we're like, I don't know if this is sustainable because people want more. We were at that cross in the road. Do we go this way or do we go that way? And then the pandemic happened and Mike got laid off. So we were like, opportunity, right. A classic lemons into lemonade sort of story.

[00:16:06.640] - Monica

Yes. I love that. Now you're growing in so many shelves. They're delicious. And I'm excited to try the different varieties that you have. How did you come up with or how do you come up with your varieties? Because you have a lot.

[00:16:23.140] - Niki

Yeah. So we have five main varieties. And I'll just to let the audience know, our zesty, sweet garlic flavor is that one flavor that Mike has always made. And it's really unique, really delicious. Yeah. Mal turning vinegar into brine. I love it. So Destiny sweet garlic was that flavor. And how do we come up with flavors, really? It's all about the ingredients. So we get inspired by what ingredients we're working with, what produce we're sourcing. So you'll see that, though, we have those five mainstay cucumber pickle flavors every month we're putting out limited batch items, and those are the items that we procure primarily from farms or from what's in season. So when it comes to pepper times, you're going to see a lot of pepper stuff. And we recently were doing a lot of radish, including radish in our pickles. So we just kind of go about it that way. Well, that's one way and then another way to do it is just by connecting with local businesses and collaborating and getting inspired. So I think one of your questions was about our mission fish technical project. And I'm like jumping into that question without you asking it.

[00:17:51.770] - Niki

But it's relevant here. While we don't have, like a firm mission statement, something I'm working on currently, what came out of this after reflection of where we've been and how we've gotten to this point was our mission is to work with local like, work with local businesses, local farmers, and get inspired that way. So whether that we've done some partnerships with local distilleries to make infused pickles with farms to get inspired that way. And even with different chefs, we recently in December did the pickle party mix, which had seven different fruit and vegetable pickles in it. And that was encouraged from our event that we had to unfortunately postpone due to omacron. But the Feast of the Seven pickles. And Chef E like yeah, chef E, like Cole was there to give us the peppers that he grows on his roof.

[00:18:57.660] - Monica

Yeah. He has such a wide variety, and it's a beautiful garden.

[00:19:02.340] - Niki

I learned about his peppers. I had never heard of some of them. So that was a really fun conversation to learn about the peppers he grew and where they came from. So it's all about where we feel inspired by our partners or by the food itself, which I think adds to the enjoyment. I know it adds to the enjoyment for us. And also I think our customers, our loyal customers can feel that and taste that, too. And we try to share some of this in our story and in the flavor stories, too, so that people can see how they came to be.

[00:19:45.910] - Monica

Yeah. You're so creative, too, with pickles, because a lot of the time people think pickles are just cucumbers, but you have so many different varieties. And also your pickles are vinegar brine. But I did read that you're working on a probiotic fermented, one which would have probiotics. What are the benefits of pickles?

[00:20:07.470] - Niki

Yeah. So we actually have one right now available online. That's our Whisky Honey, which is actually it was fermented, not bright. Excuse me. Fermented in a Dad's Hat whiskey. Dad's Hat is a local whiskey, the seller in Pennsylvania. So it was fermented in the barrel. So there's no alcohol actually in it, but it has that whiskey flavor. And then we use keep well, vinegar. They're wild honey vinegar, which also has the mother in it. It's fantastic. So we use that to kind of help flavor the punch there. So that is available right now. We also have a half sour that we put out pretty often when we can get cukes, when they're local, we will ferment half source, too. Probiotics are healthy bacteria that help the gut flourish, thrive. The gut, as a lot of us have been hearing more and more about. Thankfully, the gut is really like the core of our ecosystem, our body's ecosystem. So we're seeing a lot of links between our gut and our brain, our gut and our mood, our gut and immunity, inflammation. So it's really, really important to trust your gut, right?

[00:21:37.100] - Monica

Yes, it is.

[00:21:38.140] - NIki

And more importantly, honor and take care of that gut. And that's what we can do by eating probiotic rich foods.

[00:21:46.960] - Monica

Yeah. That's one of the reasons why I eat a lot of pickles. But also like sauerkraut and other fermented foods, kefir, I usually have kefir at least once a day.

[00:21:56.040] - NIki

Yes. Kombucha, kimchi, all of those things. And we don't need a ton of it unless there's, like some sort of digestive challenge or immune, unless you need the extra. We don't need a ton. We just need a little bit of that healthy bacteria to get in everything, whether it's in foods or vitamin. Yeah. And it has a positive impact on us all. But our vinegar brine pickles, they are quick pickled, and that's simply just because that's what Mike always means.

[00:22:30.390] - Monica

I do that a lot at home, too.

[00:22:32.150] - NIki

Yeah. And they're still very good for you. They might not be as rich in probiotics, but vinegar has a lot of benefits, especially in digestive health. And just the fact that you're getting in veggies. I know I might be a dietitian, and I do really love veggies, but there's sometimes when you're just like, I'm not in the mood for a salad or I'm not in the mood for whatever cooked spinach a lot of times, even with kids, like not getting their vegetables in, having a quick pickle is a really great way to get all of that good nutrition from cucumbers or whatever the produce item is. Pickling either whether it's fermented or quick pickled. It's an ancient art of food preservation and preserving the produce item at its peak state, so that we are still getting all of the vitamins from that. And when we can source locally and then pickle it.

[00:23:42.150] - Monica

You know, where your ingredients are coming from. We're supporting all the great farmers and people around here. We have a lot of amazing farms around here.

[00:23:52.070] - NIki

Yeah. We're very lucky. Some of the ones that we've partnered with, Hill Creek Farm, I forgot if I mentioned them, but they're really amazing in Pennsylvania. There's a lot of really great support in getting healthy food access to people. You know what I mean? That's not to say that the challenges are resolved, but there are a lot of really motivated, inspiring people and businesses just kind of like bridging these gaps. And it's so wonderful.

[00:24:27.690] - Monica

Absolutely. Yeah. I love what FarmerJawn is doing. Krista Barfield over there, Omar Tate with Honeysuckle Projects, doing amazing, incredible work to create that food access. And also Barbacoa lots around Philly. And let's see, how do you stay well, like keeping so busy with a baby business.

[00:24:51.810] - Niki

Yeah, it's a work in progress.

[00:24:56.010] - Monica

We're not perfect.

[00:24:57.930] - Niki

No. And I'll tell you, I just came from yoga and that was like me pushing, slamming down the stop button, the pause button, like, this needs to happen. Boom. Getting there. So that's one of my tips. Right. Notice when you are kind of losing yourself a little bit and you're feeling drained, you can feel drained. That's a symptom. You can feel like you're getting sleep, but you're not feeling rested. You can feel achy in your bones and your joints. So there are signs our body is a lot smarter than we are and it knows. So you just kind of have to have one ear listening and be aware and it'll tell you. And then in that moment, I mean, really, everything needs to stop and you need to take care of yourself. And that is really hard. It's an act of resistance. It's basically anti capitalism, anti everything that we're being told to just keep on going, keep pushing, stay strong.

[00:26:16.710] - Monica

Hustle culture and hustle culture.

[00:26:19.140] - Niki

Exactly.

[00:26:19.790] - Monica

And also quick fixes that are out there, the capitalism that they market on our weaknesses of. Oh, I'm not feeling well. So let me take this powder.

[00:26:31.230] - Niki

Yes. That's diet culture right there. Yeah. We as a civilization have gotten really far from ourselves and our humanity. And rather than listening to what we need, like looking right here, right there, right in here for what we need, we're looking externally and we're spending a lot of money and we're spending too much money and we're listening to other people that don't know us and we're paying them. And it's like there's a problem here. So anyway, that was my long winded answer. How do I take care of myself? It's really taking time. And also, that's a work in progress, but you put forth the effort when you can. And another thing that's a work in progress is asking for help, asking for support. That's been, for me, a really tough but rewarding lesson in practice after having a baby, I'm sure. Yeah. Because I've always been very much and this is my conditioning that I will be okay. I can do it. I can power through. I got this. And then all of a sudden it's like.

[00:27:53.400] - Monica

No.

[00:27:56.470] - Niki

You need your time. In fact, practical tip. Thankfully, I have Mike, who commits to taking our son on, watching him, caring for him on Friday, so I have a little bit of flexibility to either get work done or go to yoga and take care of myself. So I think that it's just you need to make time for you.

[00:28:23.110] - Monica

Yeah. I mean, it's hard. It's hard when you're just doing. And you might also not even or people might not even realize that they're feeling out of sorts because they're just kind of going through the motions and doing it, but they're not necessarily feeling at home in their bodies and they aren't paying attention to it. So it's really important just to make that time.

[00:28:44.090] - Niki

Oh, my gosh, it's everything. It's everything. And I think for me, it's really important, especially now we're with our son. I want to make sure that we're setting this example for him, because, again, you're not going to find these messages externally. I mean, you're going to hear you need to work harder. And if you don't have time to shop or Cook, then you order from over here. And we've got an answer for that. It's only going to cost you this much money. So it's just like, again, you kind of like, pause, close tears, take some time and take very good care and get back to basics.

[00:29:24.300] - Monica

That's exactly what it is. It's back to basics. It's not this big overhaul. It doesn't have to be a huge reset or detox. And those things, they don't set you up for success because you have this grandiose, overwhelming thing.

[00:29:40.810] - NIki

Right. Amongst many other things. Another problem with that is that we're not learning how to be reliant on ourselves with that. And maybe, I guess I kind of alluded to that earlier with that. There's no education. That's what I'm passionate about as a dietitian. There needs to be education there. We need to hold ourselves a little bit of accountable, too, to know how to nourish ourselves at some point. If we don't have the role models, then hopefully we can have some peers to show us away or know an expert in the field to show us away. But, yeah, those quick fixes, they can be very dangerous in the long run. And it's unfortunate. I just saw I'm part of some Facebook groups for moms support.

[00:30:35.860] - Niki

Support there's beyond helpful. But I did see a post. I see posts sometimes about moms, like, really feeling down about not losing the postpartum weight and looking for a quick fix. And it's like, just screw that stuff. Love yourself. You just pushed a human out. And even if it was five years ago, you pushed a human out. It's a huge feat.

[00:31:02.920] - Monica

It's an amazing thing. And appreciate what your body can do.

[00:31:06.910] - Niki

Yeah. And we've got to stop listening to people telling us that we need to look a certain way. Yeah. We are really fantastic creatures and just celebrate that.

[00:31:25.030] - Monica

I absolutely agree. And with nourishing yourself, it doesn't necessarily mean only the food, because nourishment can come in so many different forms like what you're talking about here. You're doing your yoga, you're spending time, good quality time with your baby. What are some of the ways or things that you do to bring you joy and feel nourished in other areas of your life?

[00:31:47.260] - Niki

I love getting in nature, going for wash. I'm actually super excited that the weather is turning. Me, too. Yeah. And you know what? Our son is at a good age now, too, where we have a longer stretch of wake time so we can take him with us. And he's loving it. He loves touching the trees, touching the dirt. So that's one thing. And then I really love and this is still admittedly a work in progress over here, but I love to Cook. Mike and I both love to Cook, and we love to eat. And that is certainly something that after the baby, we're still trying to nail down what our system is over here, but we get it in and. Yeah, that's important to us, actually. I never really had family meal time. My mom was a single mom, so it was very much like, do your homework, sit in front of the TV while I finish working, and not by her fault. So that's important to me is having that quality play time, meal time, getting outside, all of that stuff. It means everything. It's kind of like fulfilling something that I didn't have.

[00:33:07.990] - Monica

And that's special that you want to give that to your son. What are some of your and Mike’s favorite things to cook?

[00:33:17.050] - Nikie

They're different. I'm going to tell you right now. I'm going to tell you right now that Mike and I, as much as we love food and each other, we can't be in the same kitchen at the same time. Most of the time we just do any cooks in the kitchen. Well, he went to culinary school, and maybe you can relate to this. I'm sure you can because of your baking history background, too. But he is very much do things a certain way. And I am more like kamikaze. Like, I just get in there and I'm like putting weird things together, and I'm like taking the stuff that's like on its last day. And I'm like using it in a weird way.

[00:33:59.560] - Monica

I totally do that, though, right?

[00:34:01.820] - Niki

Yeah. Okay. He's just like, you're going to put that tuna fish on a Taco wrap. And I'm like, yes, I'll go to the same place, but what do we like to Cook? Some mainstate. Mike is really good at cooking pork. I love his pork. I thrive in cooking vegetables and all of them and seasonal vegetables especially. I can't say that we have one favorite thing, but, like, it's definitely more like compartmentalized. He's protein guy, and I'm the veg one.

[00:34:48.070] - Monica

Oh, that's awesome. Sometimes I lose my train of thought.

[00:34:56.090] - Niki

I do that at least 50 times a day.

[00:34:59.820] - Monica

Yeah. Yesterday I walked down to my basement to go get something, and I got down to the basement and I was like, I have no idea what I came down here for. So I just started doing stretches on the steps until I remembered I thought Wednesday was Tuesday until like noon. Yeah, that happens. Let's see. So how about more about your pickles? I want to hear why it's important for you to use the local and reduce our carbon footprint and top.

[00:35:34.560] - Niki

Yeah. So that's something that's really important to us and always in our house. I mean, what you'll see is a lot of our values in Fishtown Pickle Project are mirroring our values at home. So like I said earlier, while I don't have a formal mission statement for the company, really, that is it. We're doing things that we practice as people in our day to day lives, and that's what's important. We are in talks. We're trying to get into composting. I'm kind of working backwards, but for right now, what we do is we minimize our food waste as much as possible. If you've had a jar of our cucumber pickles that are speared, you'll notice that there's tiny little bites that are awkward looking on top. And that is because we don't waste any part of the Cube. So you're going to get funky little pieces in there. You're going to see maybe some blemishes here or there. And that's because we just it's still good. We appreciate that. And we don't want to waste anything. It's important to us to contribute in whatever way that we can. And that's why we source locally whenever possible, too, wherever we can minimize our carbon footprint and take care of Mother Earth who nourishes us.

[00:37:01.880] - Niki

So. Well, we're going to do that, and that's what we do in our day to day lives. When I'm eating things that I probably shouldn't be eating because I should have thrown them out. But don't do that. I didn't say that.

[00:37:15.550] - Monica

But I also repurposed things like that all the time. I compost. But any scraps that would be great in stock, I save a baggie in my freezer and then I scrap stock. What are you doing at home that people could put into practice?

[00:37:35.080] - Niki

Too, and it's money savings. Yeah. So even if you're not in it for the Earth, you should be. But I know get in for the Earth, but also know that it's something that can help you in the long run, budget wise. And that's something I always tried to push to, even though it was a little bit anti supermarket. Use those bones and make your stock and then you don't need to buy your broth tomorrow.

[00:38:07.350] - Monica

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I always say my shrimp shells. I have a bag of shrimp shells in there now. Not quite enough to make stock, but anything like that.

[00:38:16.200] - Niki

Yeah. And it's rewarding and it's still nutritious and it's a beautiful thing. Especially when you see, like, when you start to source locally, sometimes things can be a little bit pricier. And the reason for that price you're paying for a lot of that hard work, labor and quality we have gotten so far away from, like, we being like.

[00:38:47.800] - Monica

Our country, our government.

[00:38:49.550] - Niki

We don't subsidize, we don't send money to local farmers. We want fast, we want quick, we want bigger, better. And with that, it takes away the quality of our food. So when we pay or shop local, we're getting better quality food to nourish ourselves. And we're also supporting those businesses that worked so hard on value admission based models, which is great. So wherever you can get. We work with a farm in South Jersey. I'm going to shout they were on here. I don't know if they still are. Triple C Angus. I see them. Yeah. They're incredible. And we have actually sourced half a pig from them. We actually traded pickles for half a pig.

[00:39:47.730] - Monica

That's a great trade.

[00:39:50.790] - Niki

It feels good to do that. It feels like, really like getting back to humanity's roots right there. When you trade goods like that, it really is. Yeah. And like, wherever we could save bones to stretch that stuff again, when you source locally, see if there's an opportunity to stretch those items. And a lot of times, too, obviously, we do eat meat. I'm more so honestly, since I was pregnant and postpartum before that, I really wasn't eating so much meat. But my body's telling me I need meat. So I'm needing meat.

[00:40:26.020] - Monica

You got to listen to it.

[00:40:27.850] - Niki

But there are ways to stretch meat. And so you're not over consuming it. Right. Like, you don't really necessarily need or I don't need a steak or a pork chop the size of my head. So there are ways to kind of look at your plate and make it more veg. Right. And then have that protein meat piece be a little bit smaller. And not only does that stretch the food item, but it also gives you a lot more fiber, a lot more vitamins. Yeah. It's plant forward when you make your plates focused on plants. And then the protein is kind of like the Sidebar, which is really different than what we've been told for a lot of our lives are just like, you have this big piece of meat and then a little piece of broccoli right there.

[00:41:27.190] - Monica

And everybody typically planned their meals around what the meat was going to be.

[00:41:32.080] - Niki

Exactly.

[00:41:33.070] - Monica

Last night, I made myself a duck breast, and I ate half of it because I don't need the whole entire duck breast. And I was very satisfied at a lot of carrots and a beaten cheese salad.

[00:41:46.930] - Niki

That sounds delicious. Yeah. And another thing, while we're talking about practical cooking tips and budget saving tips, one thing that I always try to tell people and share is when you're cooking or preparing food, if you could prepare some things, like really close to their original state and real plain ish. So rather than doing, we hear about, like, one pot meals, like easy. And that's great, too. There's a time and a place for things like that. But I always like to prepare everything kind of like separate. And then you leave yourself with the opportunity to turn something that was once this into that. So you can have your starch might be potatoes and your protein might be I'm still harping on pork. So piece of pork. And then you have your cooked roasted veggies. And that could turn into a Taco. Or it could be a salad or it could be a sandwich. Or you could Cook up some pasta and make it whatever soup. Because that was one thing I think I was always asked or maybe not even ask, but it was more of a statement, like my husband or whoever my kid doesn't eat leftovers it's like there is a way to do it.

[00:43:13.700] - NIki

And that was always my suggestion for meal prep. Like, rather than do the same meal in containers and kind of get tired of having that same meal over and over again, Cook almost like I want to say, your macros, Cook your macros, prep your macros, have them. And when I say macros, your macronutrients. So, like your protein, your carb, Cook them, store them separately, and then they're done. And then basically what you're doing for dinner is just kind of like putting them together in a different way. Yeah.

[00:43:45.050] - Monica

It's a great way to set yourself up for success. Because what if you have a long day at work and don't feel like cooking, but you already have those things prepared and then you can quickly turn them into something totally different than what you ate last year.

[00:43:56.900] - Niki

Exactly. And that's always kind of a fun challenge for me, too. Again, saves time, saves money and gives us quality time to spend time together, which is most important.

[00:44:14.890] - Monica

Very important. And also just enjoying the food and enjoying the cooking process because you're going to get more out of the food if you're putting that love into it. And if you're enjoying it.

[00:44:26.610] - Niki

Absolutely.

[00:44:29.810] - Monica

Yeah. So let's see more questions. I have so much that I wanted to ask you. I always forget things.

[00:44:38.880] - Niki

Well, and I kind of threw you a curveball. You're going to ask me about my job, and I was like, oh, I don't have that job anymore.

[00:44:46.490] - Monica

You still have tons of great tips from being in that field for ten years.

[00:44:51.400] - Niki

Yeah. I'm so happy to be in the food production space right now. But my work in counseling is not over. It's just kind of on hiatus for the moment, just while I create a solid foundation here at home with Fishtown Pickle project and still adjusting to our new transition family.

[00:45:19.030] - Monica

Yeah, I do have something.

So how are you bringing wellness to your employees or encouraging them to take care of themselves as well, because as you know, in the restaurant industry or the production industry, we're often overworked, overwhelmed, stressed out. And what ways do you think that can transfer to the larger whole of the industry that we can help?

[00:45:42.440] - Niki

I love that question so much. And I will say, Mike and I, without calling out any past work experiences, we've seen not so healthy treatment of people. And that's kind of what inspires us to take very good care of our people and ourselves. We know we are well aware that we would not be where we are right now without our team. And that's like pushing 90 retailers at this point.

[00:46:23.840] - Monica

That's amazing.

[00:46:24.920] - Niki

Yeah. And we only have it's just me, Mike and Liz, Dan and Sam. So it's five of us. And I'm just constantly in awe of what we can do. But, yeah, we encourage we're very big on two days at the minimum off per week. That's huge for us, which is especially in the culinary world, is not commonplace.

[00:46:50.570] - Monica

Many times I work seven days a week.

[00:46:53.300] - Niki

Yeah. And I do, too, in different aspects of my life. And it's not healthy, it's not sustainable. So we really encourage the two days off per week. We encourage breaks. We are constantly checking in with our people to make sure that they're happy in their role in what they're doing one on one time with each one, just to make sure, because we recognize too, like we're a team of five in a small but growing company. So things really change and things aren't as structured. And we are adapting all the time. So it's important for us to just check in and say, hey, how are you doing?

[00:47:47.190] - Monica

Yes.

[00:47:48.450] - NIki

Are you enjoying this? What do you want to do in the future here? And that's simple, practical things. We do staff meals as often as we possibly can. We actually just went to Laserwolf on Wednesday. It was bladed holiday team meal. We didn't have it during the holidays. The Foam Accord.

[00:48:13.410] - Monica

We love Laserwolf, such good food. And Mike's, actually, I have Mike scheduled to come on here soon.

[00:48:18.490] - Niki

Oh, nice. That's awesome. Yeah. It was an incredible dinner, just spending time together. Basically, we work hard in the kitchen, but we also listen to podcasts and listen to music, and we talk about movies and TV. It's kind of like working with your friends. And that's an environment that's proven us pretty well. So while there's some things that we can't offer our people yet, being that we're a small business, like, gosh, we're not getting a 401K. And right now we're self pay on medical benefits. We can't provide benefits just yet, which is something that we intend to do as soon as we possibly can. So things like that, we want to make it so important that they get a livable wage, too, and that their mental health is taken care of as well, actually, we just hired and we've been interviewing. And one of the prior to hiring, obviously. And one of the things that I love to tell people, how we hold space for our interviews is we are going to tell you a lot about what the day to day looks like for Fishtown Pickle Project because we realized that we might be interviewing you, but you are interviewing us just as much.

[00:49:44.020] - Monica

That's so true. And a lot of the times when you go for interviews, it doesn't feel that way. And it just feels that you need the job as opposed to they also need you.

[00:49:54.290] - Niki

Right. If you're looking at it from a purely a business standpoint, which we're not, it's a little bit of we want a happy family. But all of the issues with and I'm speaking based on past work experiences, all the issues that you hear about with turnover, it's like you got to take care of your people. That's the problem. If you're not taking care of them and feeding the ecosystem of your workplace, then you're not going to thrive. So it's very important to us to make sure that anybody who starts to come on board, that we're listening to them and that we're telling them right up front what to expect. And in fact, before we hire our people, we always have them come in by Shar, thank you for joining. Yes, thank you. We always have them come do a trial run. So we have them come in. Here's what we do. We stand on our feet. We pack cucumbers and jars. It's not glamorous. So let's try it out. And if you feel like it's not for you, then totally fine. And that's a paid work day for them.

[00:51:08.600] - Monica

That’s great that it's a paid work day for them.

[00:51:10.280] - Niki

Oh, yeah. No free labor in our kitchen.

[00:51:13.570] - Monica

No, I've done way too much of that.

[00:51:17.610] - Niki

Oh, girl. I mean, in culinary and in Dietetics. Oh, my gosh. Now I'm blanking. I want to say it's 1800 hours of internship work just to become a registered dietitian. And I did it while I was working, so it took me years to get that.

[00:51:42.810] - Monica

But I love that that you're treating your employees are important. They're very valuable to you. They help grow your company and make you who you are.

[00:51:52.340] - Niki

And they're proud to work with us. And that is so rewarding to us. We do silly things like when I get customer messages through the website or Instagram saying how much they love our pickles, and I read them out loud to the team and they know that so that they can hear. These are your hands making this product that's bringing so much joy and happiness to people. And they love that. I love that. So that's why.

[00:52:22.810] - Monica

That's why I got into this.

[00:52:24.430] - Niki

Yeah, exactly. Same. So that's important for us to share that with them. And thankfully, we've got a strong team and nobody's going anywhere, which is great. It's our family. I'm like stay with us and they're like why would you even worry about that? That's a good problem to have. It is. Yeah.

[00:52:50.790] - Monica

Well, thank you so much for joining me here and I want to schedule some time to actually come visit.

[00:52:59.230] - NIki

Yes, please do. We just moved to a new space this week yesterday. It's in the same building. It's just two doors down and three times bigger so please get in touch. We'd love to have you. Thank you for your time. Thanks for bringing me on. This was fun.

[00:53:18.980] - Monica

Yeah. And can people find you or your pickles in stores outside of Philadelphia?

[00:53:24.710] - Niki

In Pennsylvania? Yeah, we're in Jersey. We're in Delaware. So go to our website that's www.fishtownpickles.com. Www.com. I think I missed it but you know what I mean? Fishtown pickles.com. We definitely shop local shops but we do sell pickles online so you can get them shipped nationwide. We just started offering pickles classes starting this month so if you want to come learn pickles, sign up and yes, stay tuned in on Instagram because that's where you get the latest and greatest on our limited batch flavors.

[00:54:03.290] - Monica

Yeah, definitely. And I have one last question, listeners our readers what does wellness mean to you?

[00:54:14.030] - Niki

Wellness means nourishing myself. Nourishing myself thriving so that I can be the best me for me and for my loved ones.

[00:54:24.830] - Monica

I love that. Well, thank you so much, Nicki and I look forward to seeing more and eating more pickles.

[00:54:31.270] - NIki

Yeah. Thank you, chef. So great speaking with you. Take care of a good weekend, everybody.

[00:54:35.650] - Monica

Bye, everyone. 

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