Last week we taped the cooking segments of our thirteenth episode, the first episode of the second year for the Save the Kales! TV show.
Wow.
With impeccable timing, Vance Lehmkuhl (writer of V for Veg column for The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philly.com) called to interview me for an article about Vegan TV shows. I love that the column is about multiple shows – plural, thankyouverymuch – because that many exist now (!!!), and it’s an absolute honor to be included among the much-anticipated Vegan Mashup, shows by Christina Pirello, and The Vegan Black Metal Chef (who, by the way, is the nicest guy ever, and before STK! aired it’s very first show he somehow found out about it and and found me online and wrote, “Just make it whatever YOU want it to be, and it will be a success”.)
You can read the article here: TV Dinners, the Vegan Way
And STK! has some exciting news, and since it’s officially in print I can finally share it:
It has been so hard to keep this a secret!
IT’S TRUE. Save the Kales! episodes will start to air in Seattle & parts of Canada, to a potential audience of over two million households. That number typed out looks like this: 2,000,000. *gulp*
I’ll give more info as everything unfolds, but if you live there or have any friends in Seattle, put in a good word for us, will you? I’m excited about it airing in Canada since I already sort of have the accent, eh?
. . .
Our show, the Little Show That Could, has come a long way in the first year. I’ve had some chuckles with the crew about that first episode (parts of it cringe-worthy), the way creating each DIY episode completely on our own has been such a wonderful lesson in getting more comfortable talking on camera, slowing down, tightening the editing, bringing in more cameras, utilizing help of assistants and interns… and I’ve made some very, very good friends.
There’s his name in the credits! Yay, Matt!
Matt is my right-hand-man, and without his help the show would not exist. He’s a co-producer, the main camera man, the director, and editor. It’s a shame you don’t get to see him in every episode because he puts a tremendous amount of time and work into every single one.
A few days ago, I received this email from Matt (shared with permission):
“This past Wednesday I was reflecting on the fact that the STK! show was a year old. I was thinking of how the quality keeps getting better, how it seems to be growing in popularity and all the positive things that have come out of it. Then I realized something that came out of the show I hadn’t considered…it’s been slowly changing me too.
Obviously, since my daughter came along eight months ago, my whole role in life has been re-evaluated, re-organized and restructured. All though it has all been wonderful it hasn’t always been easy. Somehow, Save the Kales! became this goal…something positive, something that I felt needed to get out to the world…something that would make people more empowered about themselves and happy about who they are (or in my case, happy about who I was becoming).
I’m a pretty sure I’m a different person than I was a year ago. I know a big part of that is my daughter, but I know it wouldn’t have been such a positive, empowering change if it wasn’t for Save the Kales! My transition into fatherhood has been eased a little bit and I’m not as afraid moving forward….and I’m also finding myself eating a lot healthier then I did a year ago 
So, as I was saying, this past Wednesday I was reflecting on all of that and and then suddenly the universe threw me a surprise, as it does from time to time. The blog you wrote at the 10th anniversary of your father’s passing popped up on Facebook somewhere. I only knew what you had told my wife and I in the past, but I had never read the post. I was reminded of a lot of things…emotionally and spiritually…and was very touched. It also reminded me of why we started the show in the first place. You’re a very good, honest person that exudes positivity and somehow makes people comfortable with themselves at the same time. I know we saw that spark in you and thought, “other people need to experience this.”
I know life isn’t always easy and we still have a ways to go with the show, but you should be very proud of yourself…you can and ARE changing peoples lives for the better. There is far too little good in the world that gets exposed and I feel it is our mission to get more good out there to the public.
With that all being said…thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m glad there are people like you in the world and I’m very excited that we’re working with you to make it better.
Happy 1 year STK!TV”
Me, Sarah and Matt three Christmases ago because I can’t find a more recent photo of the three of us together (!). THEY MAKE DREAMS HAPPEN.
And it’s true. We make this show because we believe in it.
.
Listen, if I was a painter, I’d paint. If I was a musician, I’d make music. Or draw, or sculpt, or create whatever it is my abilities lent themselves to in order to do the work that expresses our mission: be kind to yourself, animals, and each other.
.
…As it is, we have equipment and an outlet to make a show on TV and we do our best to make it welcoming and informative while being friendly and inclusive. We make a show because that’s what we can do. We recently got a new sponsor who reached out to us because “the show isn’t pretentious, and [they] like that”. What a compliment!
.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about me, or Matt, or our crew. It really is about wanting to make some positive difference, in whatever way we can, however big or small that turns out to be. Doing something is better than doing nothing. And when I run into people at the supermarket who say “Excuse me, do you host that Kales show?” or get emails from people who are, at the very least, incorporating more vegan meals into their cooking, it’s proof that what we do matters. (“We”, as in, all of us. You too.)
.
On the set of our third episode, performing the ritual of clearing kitties out of the kitchen.
.
Thank you for watching or reading or supporting Save the Kales! in your own way, and supporting what we stand for. Matt said, “There is far too little good in the world that gets exposed, and I feel it is our mission to get more good out there to the public.” Yes, yes, a thousand times YES.
.
We’re so happy to continue to do just that. Cheers to Season Two and heading to the west coast! xo
.
.
… and this outtake video of our second episode, because it makes me laugh every time I see it, and who couldn’t use a good, contagious laugh?
.
