Hey, welcome to Beyond the Scenes. Now I've tried to explain what this podcast is. Do you know what this podcast is? This podcast is after you've had a great night in the club and then you go out on the sidewalk and there's a hot dog on a grill. It's not even a grill, it's someone who's created a grill type device. And it's savory, and it's bacon wrapped and it's delicious. It was exactly what you needed. You only left the house to go to the club, but you left with the bacon wrapped hot dog under questionable sanitary conditions. That's what this podcast is all about. And this week I've got food on my mind because we are talking about pizza and how it relates to the criminal justice system. Let's roll the clip. Oh, this is what people in Chicago called pizza. I find decent slice in the city, and so this stupid bull I couldn't find a single place that sold rio pizza, just these deepness dough dumpsters. This isn't pizza, this isn't even human food. After hours of only deep dish, I finally found a place that served delicious, normal pizza pot the Cook County jail. This goal made pizza. It's actually made by and sold two inmates as part of a training program called Recipe for Change. You know rates like it's expensive to incarceerate people, it's not expensive to give him a skill. The man giving them that skill local restaurateur chef Bruno about it, who volunteers this time and expertise to teach inmates how to cook the best pizza in Chicago. That's right. We are talking about food in a piece that focus on an organization called the Recipe for Change Program, and it's a program that helps people that are incarcerated in Chicago's Cook County Jail to learn how to make the best pizza in town and take those skills back out into the world to do something amazing with their lives. To help us break this down a little later, is the CEO and creator of that program, the wonderful, wonderful chef Bruno Abate. But now joining us. It's Daily Show Segment director Sebastian Dinatal and Daily Show correspondent Runnage Hang, I, hey, thanks for having us now, Sebastian, because you are Italian, should I start with you? I don't want to. What's the wocus way for me to do this. Well, usually should start the onscreen talent, but whatever, Well, yeah, but you're not really a talent in this case. The pieces the talent you know that was really relevant to this whole thing. But go ahead, Ronnie. As an ally to our Mari and era Americans, I think it is important that we the first what they feel comfortable with when we're talking about pizza. Fine, sure, go ahead, and yeah, thank you. And we're and we're recording this very close to H. Christopher Columbus Day, so it's very important that we as a people finally have a voice. I'm getting a voice to the voiceless, really, so thank you for having me on and understanding the play of Italians that we faced every day. What is the gist of this piece running? For the people who haven't seen it? Cook County Jail in Chicago had a program where they taught um incocerated UM people there how to make pizza while they were inconcerated, to kind of make use of at time, so they have the skill sets when they leave. That's the top level cliff notes of what we knew of the story going in coming out of it. I mean, you know, I learned a lot more. I'll let you get to it, but that's the kind of almost the you know, the most basic way I could describe what's going on here. And I know when the piece Sebastians, whose decision was it to have Runny destroy all of these beautiful Deep Dish pizzas in the spirit of him going to the jail? And that was my decision and all entirely my decision. I'm a I'm a proud New Yorker and a proud lover of food and pizza and Italian. We were tasked to do a piece about Chicago, specifically because we were doing a series. We were doing a week of shows in Chicago. When this piece came around, Uh, I kind of wanted to start it off as like a Ronnie foodie kind of piece to make people think it was about like, oh, Chicago Deep Dish Daily Show is gonna really rip into Chicago Deep Dish. But we and like every other New York based show has done that a million times. So after the first minute, we realize it's not just a piece shooting on Chicago Deep Dish pizza, which it is, but it has a another layer to it, which is the the rehabilitation aspect that I wanted to explore. But yeah, we had way more takes and different shots of destroying pizzas that sadly I had to cut for time, But I was I took so much pleasure in Ronnie punting those pizzas throwing them in the river. Yeah. In the archives. You gotta have to check the archives. I mean. I was also mentioned this was Sebastian's actual fuss piece out in the field. This when I got out of the office, I managed to managed to get on the field with us. Yeah, how Sebastian, how difficult was it working with the Cook County Jail to speak with people on the inside that were going through this program, Like, what's that process? Because I've never done that on this show. Yeah, I guess one of the advantages of being a first piece, which I really wasn't sure what any protocols for any of it was, so I would just you know, ask a segment producer or my boss or a coordinator like, hey, have we done this before? Can we do this? Can we talk to a jail? And they were like, we can reach out And normally in the past it's been kind of tougher to get inside of jails and film there. But I think when we pitched this um too the Cook County Jail and the Sheriff Tom Dart in his office, we really wanted to focus and make it a point to say, like, this is we really want to highlight this program. It's such an incredible program, and we want to feature, uh, these people that are part of the program as well as the owner. This is something we want to really highlight that we think is really good for criminal justice reform. And that was and they were like, great, Sure, as long as you don't, like, you know, make any jokes about like escaping prison or anything. That was the That was the kind of uh, yeah, that's the only stipulation that they had up top was like, yeah, just keep it to the program and imagine what we the first the very first thing we did was yeah, only a scutch where we escape from Yeah. In October seventeen, Ronnie Chang smuggled thin Crust pizza out of Clock County Jail. Oh. Ronnie loved pizza, but he also hated Chicago Deep dish. He had to find a way to get thin crust pizza to the people of Chicago. All it takes to get pizza out is cheese though in time that in a big gass poster Ronnie Chang, he crawled through a river Maranera and came out smelling like basic but you know you gotta given you Yeah, and they were fine, and they afterwards where they were like, yeah, we wish you hadn't done that, but the pieces great. So thanks. Can we talk a bit about that little segment because I mean it was two seconds in the whole field piece, but it took like hours of filming and it was me crawling in the fall, cold in Chicago, in in in tomato sauce, out of a tube in the middle of a field and that was househole. Um yeah, I was crawling out of this tube covered in tomato sauce, uh, into cold field. And you know, in the field, it's not like there's you know, there's not like a hot room waiting for you. You're just after you crawl out of a tube in tomato sauce, just outside, You're just outside, wet in tomato sauce for about an hour. And Maya Ericson, who works at the show now, she that was one of her first kind of p production assistant jobs and she went to go buy me some sweatpants from the Star. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, the sweatpants that she bought me was amazing, Like, I still use it until today, four years later. I used it for flying. It's one of the best no brand sweatpants um I've ever seen. So shout out Maya for gating me that sweatpants. Former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams. You know, she told me, Ronnie when we first started. She pulls them to the side. There's a lot I can tell you about this job, but the only thing you need to know is that sometimes you're gonna be changing clothes in strange places. You're gonna have to learn how to do that. Often, if you're changing clothes in strange places, it's probably a good piece. Like so then with everything that's going on with this piece running and you're crawling around it, which also, by the way, I didn't know that that was part of the piece, because like when we're picking all of these Chicago pieces, you know, some of us are pitching stuff and we see other Chicago stories that are on the board. That's probably like eight or nine stories that we know we're only gonna get to four or five and I saw Deep Dish and I was like, mmm, I think I want Deep Dish. Like, now, you know what, let me do the gang territory things. And I'm gonna be honest, I'm kind of glad I did the gang territory thing because I remained dry. Well, hey, you know what again that Sebastian said, the context of these were Daily Show was live in Chicago, and so the mandate was we wanted to do a week of field pieces in Chicago. Um, and so that's the context around this piece. So that that kind of motivated the research and the pitching behind this piece. But to be honest, I mean, this piece was great, even if you know, I mean, I'm glad we got an excuse to find this story because of our focus on Chicago for that week. But this was a great story regardless. And I don't want to jump the gun here. I'm trying to answer your questions. Guy got so much to say about this field piece, but I personally learned a lot doing it, you know, um, beyond this the comedy elements. And also I'm not from America, so when there was this like Deep Dish Chicago rivalry, I was like, you know, what. I don't even care. I would say whatever you want me to say. It's not it's not my fight. I was just apparently people hate deep dish. Okay, I'll play that game. I will say that about Ronnie, and I don't compliment him almost ever of the correspondence. All of you guys are are very down, but Ronnie is always the most down to do literally whatever I asked of him, or any of us ask of him. And you know, if I had asked you or Costa or DESI, can you get into this tube filled the marinara sauce, you would eventually do it. But why what is the joke? There be a discussion and I think, can I just crawl through? And then you add saw the computer, yeah, and graphics, And I think what was so good about having Ronnie was he trusts all of us immensely with what our visions are. And he also just doesn't give a shit about like what people are like observing. Because there were a lot of people giving us looks when we were like stomping on pizzas and throwing them against the walls and stuff, but he was just like so down. It's just it helps so much with the process to have a talent that is just on board from the get go, so you can be out in the field and you're not like you're saying roy having these like conversations like all right, throw the pizza out, and then they're like, wait, wait, wait, why am I throwing the what? What is the motivate? La blah blah blah. And Ronnie just has like a complete kind of blind trust, which is helpful to allow us to like get as many crazy kind of moments. Ronnie Chain is the goal standard in the building for how daring are you willing to go? How much? How far are to go to do something? And that's always It's the thing I kind of mumbled to myself sometimes some of the other correspondence too, it's well should I do this? Yes, you have to do this. Never forget Ronnie Chain eight half a stick of butter on live television and swallowed it. I mean, hey, I take off the you guys, So that's right. You didn't get that from me. Hey man, I'm not in Chicago gang territory trying to do comedy. I'm just throwing pizza as the you know, city people who are used to seeing everything. Top three wildest things on the air, in my opinion, in the history of the Daily Show, Top three wildest things Steve Carrell eating a spoonful of Crisco, Runny Chain eating half a stick of butter, and Costa and I when we went out to do the Florida Algae Peace Um in the swamp and Costa was standing with no mask on next to a full green algae plain for the photo. And it's a gorgeous photo. But Bro, that is some toxic ship right there, three ft from your nostrils. What are you doing well? Hey? Daily Show Top three we made it deptifying comedy acts. After the break, we're gonna talk with the founder and president of Recipe for Change, Chef Bruno, about about why he does what he does and what he thinks of Sebastian Slander of the Deep Dish. Joining us now is the gentleman that is the founder and the creator and the president and the CEO and the five star General of Recipe for Change. I'm not sure if those are all his exact titles, But Chef Bruno, about that. I pronounced that right, brother, Yes, yes, yes, yes, you see that. Sebastian. Yeah, one of the few want to say my last name. Everybody said I bought the baby. So before we started everything, I have a question that I never had to Runny for the last four years when I saw you the last time. We'll pay for the sauce of the mozzarella that you have a new tube and new pants. Oh we are got donations for that. Yeah, donation from from the people of Chicago who supported the piece. Okay, that's why I saw that. I said, that's not my mozzarella. Mozzarella was coming from the deep dish pizza and it looks greasy and that and even the marinara. The color, the color was not really red like the Italian to me, it was like a model chef. We didn't want to use your blue. We would never disrespect you. Yeah, we didn't want to use your ingredients because in filming, you know, you go through a lot of them and you destroy them, and we didn't want to Yours are so sacred. We didn't want to use yours are ingredients. Yeah, we're just some public school mari naritive for problem and some of it was blood. It wasn't even Marianna. Yeah, only a chef with critique the food, the quality of the food used. To crawl through that chef high standards. He's got high standards, man. I saw that when I was in his program. He's got very high standards. Roy, I'll let you get into it. But so let's tell talk a little bit about Recipe for Change. Chef. What was the impetus for you starting that program? What did you see? What problem did you see in Chicago that you believe pizza could solve? Well, I I you know, uh, listen, I never see any problems. And why I'm an immigrant. I came in this country to do what all the immigrants do, uh work. I try to make a better future for for the family and uh and be a respectable uh series in so, um, I don't have a no idea uh that you know, this will happened to me about the jail and uh and so, like I say many time, and it's there was there really a call from God and uh so it just happened one night and all this happened to me. And I never been in prison and jail. I don't have a history with my family about prison or jail. So it really was a truly a call and and I started right down of what could I do to change the prison system in America. After I saw this documentary A treator in the morning, there America, there's beautiful country in carcerrated. You know, two thousand, seven hundred kids, you know, uh under fourteen with the life in prison with no pole at the time, think about it, there was you know, American carc kids are ten years old, eleven years old, twelve years old. I don't know if you guys have kids and think about it, just to stop for a second, if you have a kid and and think about a kid at ten eleven years old be life in prison? How do you saying? America? What the fuck? Yeah? I think that's universal all languages right there. But you know, everything makes sense after a while. And I, you know, I was all this miracle happened and I was in uh in juvenile prison after two weeks to start teaching those kids that to make you know, some food. And they don't understand me when I was talking while you see my accent as very strong, my English is not that good, and I don't understand them or why they speak really you know, the American English plus but there was some connection. There was some connection when I was taking the spoon and and and say, hey, taste dry, and they were making faces. So did I start founding the connection between the food and them? And and so every time I was going there, it was, it was, it was a paradise. I discovered that, you know, they were making me bad. Every time I was going out to the teaching the class, I feel bad and bad, I feel with more energy, Oh my god. And that's what I gave me the power to continue and to think more, what can I do more? What can I do more? And and that's you know, Uh, now I am in a Cook County jail and and Ronnie saw everybody saw on TV our beautiful our kitchen is and what we do. Yeah, I think what's really amazing about your program, Chef, is that, you know, on the one hand, of course, it's teaching job skills that are translatable once you get to the outside, because we talk about America's prison system being a place for punishment instead of a real place for rehabilitation to learn skills. But what you also instilling is like this level of dignity, something to create, something to have a sense of pride, and something that you can pour yourself into. And I think that's what makes everything that you do and just talk about them so amazing. You know a lot of people think I do this program, why for a job? People don't understand the job is not the solution. The solution is to restore what's broken inside all these people mhm. The denity, the self esteem, thee believe in themselves. So this is at all the little pieces that we need to connect with them. It's not about the job, but ify provide a job. I mean I used to have with the restaurant to down turn and everybody was coming out, and I tried myself, but my own skin come to work. Soon you get out and they were coming and work. They were like, you know, panic attack, they have being panic attack, they have being problems. They they don't know what to do, and you know, and soon they get some money, they go back to do the same the same lifestyle. So the program is based and give you back to make you believe what you can do. It make you believe that you know, you are a human like anyone and and we make mistake, but you know we can forget the mistake and start a new life anytime we want. And so that's what the problem is about, you know, making them um believe that they can do it and make them understand. I mean, you know, hey, if you sell drugs, how much money you make fifteen thousand a year? Twenty a year? If you got to work, you're gonna make more money and you're not risking to be in prisoned for five six, seven years. So that's what I said to them, I say, how much money did you make yourself in drugs last year? Uh? Twenty? Then you're not a good businessman. Are some bad drugs? You know? Respectfully? It makes sense. Yeah, that's what's so cool about Chef is that he's I found him equal pots, inspirational, aspirational and practical. So the way he approached the program was all of those things. You know. It wasn't just let's all be better people. It's like, you can make more money if you're a bet of us. It's like, this makes perfect sense. Good good will sales better than cocaine. Chef. Another question, well, let me this. Let me ask Sebastian and Running a question first, and it's gonna tie into something I have for you, Chef, Sebastian Running, was there anything in the piece that did not make it in that you had to edit out? Like, ah, because you had somebody like Chef doing all this great stuff, you also still have to balance that with jokes. Yeah, we were pretty lean in terms of what we shot with Chef himself, not only the conversational part of it. I mean there was oh my god, Yeah, we cut a ton of the chef roasting deep dish with Ronnie. They're like they're standing at like a table and yet uh run Chef was like for like a half an hour to forty five minutes, just like insult after insult on deep dish pizza. That like, it was funnier than I could have ever written, any of our writers could have written. Just slamming it, Chef, what do you think about this deep dish pizza? It's it's got to be People shouldn't eat this. It's like a brick. Look at this. Look I mean, I don't know where do you buy this? I don't want to know, but this is shade. That was the hardest stuff to cut because he was like literally figuratively ripping into it and then literally ripping the pizza apart. And yeah, that was the best stuff. That was the hardest to cut because he like and he threw in the trash at all that whole ship. I didn't. I usually am very very controling in particular about what I want to capture on camera, but almost that entire scene where Ronnie's like, well, describe what's wrong with deep dish pizza, Bruno just went off. I didn't give him any direction and he threw in the trash can. I didn't even know that was coming. So we like had to follow that. That whole thing was so beautiful. It was very coming from a very authentic place as well. Yes, yes you know, yeah that and he hates wasting food man, so for him to, yeah, for him to throw away a deep dish, it was like, he doesn't even consider this human food. Yeah. I tried to keep as much of him talking about the program because that's what the piece was about, as best I could. And so yeah, we didn't cut almost any of the program stuff, any of the stuff with the participants. Uh yeah. The other stuff that we just cut were mostly just joked stuff, more pizza stuff, some Ronnie interactions. So sepassion Runnie, what I really wish could have been in the piece, and it is only so much time. I was just I'm always curious when people are doing good things in the community without a doubt. There's always some asshole or some group of people who don't support it or try to find something wrong with it. Chef, what are some of the resistance that you found to your program over the years. Who are your hater? Chef? That's what I'm trying to ask you, very bluntly. Who doesn't like deep dish in the jail? Oh? My god, nobody likes to dip dish it. You know, they call it the deep ship. Uh. Chef Roy is asking you who is opposing your program and are you are you well? Do you feel supported by your community in this program or do you have people that are giving you resistance? I think that we are, you know, we we know, we know that there's some separation and everything. A lot of people they don't care, you know, a lot of people there's just why we have in this situation in America, a lot of people saying, you know, these people should be in jail whatever. There is a criminal you know so, and but we do, uh, we are fortune that we have more people they think different that they think that we should rehabilitate it. The people that should supportal program, you know, and I have to say that. I never personally, you know, here anyone say to me, you, actually I don't like the program more, you should not do it, or something like that. You know, I was pudgement of this to that point. We UH. I was trying to in the beginning look for people opposed to like as the as the first time piece. For me. The the formula as always to find a really cool thing or a good thing and then find someone opposed to it make fun of that person. But for this piece, I was I couldn't find anyone other than some like really fringe like people belong in jail forever and can't be rehabilitated kind of nut jobs that I wasn't in listening and interviewing. But across the board, and I think the Sheriff Tom Dart was a huge UH proponent of this, and he had a ton of Chef Bruno correct me if I'm wrong, But I feel like there were a couple of programs like yours Recipe for change, like gardening program there was there was a good amount of rehabilitation programs going on that seemed to be like overwhelmingly UH supported by most people in the community, which is why for me it was this piece was such a slam dunk. It was like we can really highlight some good Yeah, we found a rare thing in America that I think everyone can get behind. Especially on paper, it's already a good idea, but when you go and see what they're actually doing, you gain another level of respect. Which is what happened to me of what was going on, of the mutual respect happening in the in the kitchen, um, what they were actually doing, the skills do a learning um, you know, even the even even the financial reasons, like chef would tell me like he just bring his own ingredients in so he wouldn't it would have cost to stay any money, you know, in some examples. I don't put you on the spot, Chef, But what I'm saying is that it was all around like a like a good thing for everybody, well the red things in America where it seems like everybody one from this everyone in the Clok County gam wants to be a part of this great program. I learned how to be a I learned how to work with a lot of other people, and basically I've learned how to eat better. Chef, what is it about deep dish pizza that gets you so upset, it makes me upset. Why it's a good idea. It's a good idea. The pizza is a good idea. The pizza the way they want to do it. You know, in Italia we call a focation. So it means, you know, the two dough why you have one on the bottom, one on top, and then you kind of feeling that in the middle. The problem means, you know, when you're using you know, a pound of cheat and then a pound of sauces and equalities also, So it's so bad. And that's what you know. When you come to Chicago, you see a lot of you know a lot of people over weight. Why they eat the pizza. So the I'm against. Why there is a way to make something light, call it deep dish pizza. But you can't do light. You can do with the mozzarelity bu you can do some with the sa Marzano tomato, my pew. Use all these bad ingredients and you put it like, you know, two pounds of the stuff inside. It's become like a brick. Like I said in the show, it's a brick, it's another a pizza. And that's once life it's like, you know, you're eating a brick because the new stomach. And so that's what I don't like about it. The idea is phenomenal, you know. I wish I can make one for you right now and see a lie. It wilcome, you know, if you want to, if you want to stop. It's like you know about quantity and not the quality. And that's what it makes me crazy. Chef. I appreciate your sentiment for good ingredients, but you're talking to a man that eats McDonald's, armies and subway. But thank you. Nonetheless, I have a question about the evolution of your program. Now. I know that your program has evolved since you last talked with Ronnie. Could you talk to us a little bit about the food truck program and what you're doing for women and also the golf Well not only not only that, I mean, you know, um the good things around you say before, and it touch a good point is you know I don't ask no money to state, to government, nothing. This is all private money. I have. I own a restaurant, no millions of people, and that's what I do every day. Please donate a dollar and that's how we we we got the money. In the sense of the show, the Daily show. We have a beautiful kitchen a woman that we create the woman division. So now we all we teach also the woman and we we have like almost seven thousand square feet to kitchen. After that too, before COVID, we raise the money to buy a truck and now we have those beautiful tory feet uh truck that we bought it and uh and now we are in the process to building a kitchen inside. The goal of the truck is um too. This time a little difference. I want to see if I can break these rules. I'm not sure. My would be my dream to utilize the people. They have minimum crime, so they can go out of the jail and the money go on the truck work and when after the finish their work, they go back to the jail. It's a kind of rehabilitation. You know. Now I'm reading and I'm going to work. Then I come back, you know, in the same place, but just to sleep. So from there, if we have a profit, okay, the part of the profit will go in an account for the people. For those people they work, so when they go out, they're gonna have some money. It makes sense what I say that's great, and that's different than what it used to be because when we started there, that was a big conceit of the piece was that you could only sell and give the pizza to incarcerated people, right like you couldn't sell it outside of the prison or the jail. So that's um, that's awesome. That's awesome. And all the profits consider that, you know we have, we don't when I see a profit, we don't have a billion, like uh, you know, we have a little bit, any little a few thousand dollars, but you know, we give you back to the Cook County. It goes in the programs to other to help other programs. Why other programs. They're in jail. They don't have money. So you know the person who comes to read the Bible or other stuff, so we we help them with their money to we found it more programs in Coo County jail with the money we make. So so let me get this right, chef, you self funded program to help people learn how to make pizza, but you're really giving them life skills. Then you set up a food truck that they can go in a plot of pizza skills on and then the money made from the food truck. You're splitting with the county so that they can make other programs better. Oh my god, you might make me hate Deep this. I might hate Deep this pizza for a week on your behalf. Just to honor you, chef, we gotta not to mention making great food as well. If you actually try, the food is amazing. The food is actually amazing. It adds to the culinary landscape of Chicago. The goal is to have in the end, you know, some money that I can puder on the side that when you go out, you have something to start and you don't have to go back on the street and sell drugs to pay your rent or or to eat. Now you're gonna have some money. We're gonna teach you, We're gonna find a job for you. We're gonna see how you cannot go back, you know, in the same system. Indeed, so last question for your chef will get you out of here. What can people that aren't as connected as you or as famous as you, or their restaurant is smaller and they're not and they don't have the same financial capabilities as you. What can people who aren't celebrity chefs do to get involved in their communities. We need more chef brunos. Well, I know, my listen, I've been I'm really I'm not I'm not rich. I'm struggling every day here, I work fifty hours a day. Have you thought about selling drugs? I don't have a lot of money, believe me, I I just do. Know. My goal is always get up in the morney. I pray, I say, God give me the energy to do something good every day, and that's what I want to do. And then I'm worried about my employee, my employee of a family, and uh so every chef can do something. Just connect with uh with your system, connect with jail where you are, go off to yourself and say, no one, I've come once a week. I'm bringing my dreading. Can I teach them people? That's what I done. I used to do a hundred miles away every Monday to go in a prison of Saint Charles, bring my own food and stay there one out and you know, and teach those guys. Finally, we have a problem to find people to work. And you're gonna find a lot of good people in the system. They need a chance. So go there and teach them. You're gonna found a lot of people that want to work. So that's gonna help us also in the restaurant business. Now that we have a big problem, we can fund the dish watch. We're gonna pund chef. We're gonna pand anybody not even to make a diogaly dish pizza, you know. So I think that's what the chef should do, just to be involved with your community. That's how you start everything. It's like a movement that we can start all the chef, the chef movement in America, go and teach people in prison, in jail. It makes sense. So no, sounds great like the chef movement. We should we should got to these words, doc. I just I just copy righted it and I already got t shirts for sale. So thanks thanks for the idea. Though it's called recipe for change program. He is Chef Bruno about brother. Thank you so much for joining us. We got one more break. We're gonna speak with one of your graduates. Actually, but thank you, chef for extending to us a little bit of your time. I will leave you now to the rest of your day where you can slander deep dish pizza on the internet. Thank you for going to be honest. Thank you, Thank you, guys. I really I really appreciated that, you know, you remembered us. And uh, I hope this will be a big Ronnie. I love you. I love you, Chef. I'll see you soon. I'm coming to Chicago. I'm doing a show that I'll come and see you. I'll come by a restaurant. Yeah, please come over. Okay, come to the I want to see you. Okay, we'll do. Thank you, guys, Thank you, God bless you by the Chef movement. Ronnie is still here with me, segment director Sebastian Dina tal is still here with me and joining us now. Uh. This brother is a graduate of the Recipe of Change program. It was also featured in the original segment with Ronnie Dion Gillespie. Welcome to be on the scenes. Thank you, thank you, happy to be here. Good to hear from you, man. Thank you. An Now, I'm gonna be honest. You know, as one of Ronnie's many black friends, you know, anytime a new one gets added to the rotation, I'm like, you know, who is this, Ronnie? You know it's this person all about gotta make sure folks on the square. Uh, talk to us a little bit. What was your experience like dealing with the Recipe for Change program. Um, it was a life changing experience from me. Uh, I was going through a really tough time in my life. It was a dark time put it because I was in custody, UH, and I was dealing with a lot of self guilt for letting like a lot of family of friends down, a co workers, down the community. So I was like carrying at that burden on my back. So when I got the opportunity to joying resci people change, it was almost an escape from that dark place. And uh it became something that provided some hope um in a hopeless moment for me at that time of my life. So rest people changed really changed my life. When let's talk, we didn't get a chance to really get into it with Chef Bruno, but you know, there's when we talk about incarceration and the idea that it's supposed to be a rebilative process where when you come out, a business should be ready to hire you on the assumption that you learned some skills and that you were better than when you went in. Walk me through that process of just trying to find a job once you got back out on the outside. Well, actually, for myself, I've been fortunate. Um. I found the appointment almost immediately upon my release, and it's partly due to UH resources that was invaded the Rescue for Change because of certifications I received for food sanitation, restaurant management. So I found the company that was wanted to give me a chance and UH investing me. Um. It's pretty good company. Um, you know, especially the center. The fact that I was just released like a little three months ago, so benefits for one k Um it's a union job and this is just a stuff of stone. This is not my career. This is a stuff of stone to what's next for me. So for myself, it's been a pretty smooth transition. But it's usually and I like that for many others. So that's why programs like rest people changes. So yeah, because because I'm listening to where you are right now, dear, and it sounds like you in transit as we speak. Are you headed to work? Yeah? I appreciate you've got for band with me. Man, this this uh, this commute on public transportation is really rough for that, So I apologize to you guys. Oh no, man, you a man on the go. We appreciate you making a little time for us while you sit there on the train. So let me ask you real quick, Jeff Bruno said, the job skills are important, but not as as important as being able to offer a positive space for people to work while they're locked up. Could you speak a little bit about that part of the program for you. Yeah, I unequivocally agree with with Chef Bruno because right um, I was saying like that, I don't I think the most difficult part about me transitioning back to to the workplace and society it's my ability to perform and do my job. It's been like the communication aspect of soft skills, the things that people don't usually talk about because as you guys will may well know, like nowhere is you're any games to test it then at the workplace, but when you're trying to do something that you're super bad to come and be like hey stop right now and do this and you just sit there like okay. So those soft skills that uh I learned the recipe to change it has really been valuable tools that I've been able to implement into the DNA of the core man who I'm trying to become as a man like the compassion, uh, the integrity, just the winning iss to just do the right thing at all times and not take anything personal. I learned a lot of those things at Rescipe for Change. Like I said, Chef Bruno's changed their lives along with the rest of the staff that works. One a mom, Chef Abel, our nutritionness, his son Adriano. Like it's a wonderful forul amazing program. Man. Because of that program, I've been able to be a part of a platform such as The Daily Show like man, this is such a humbling experience for me. Man, So I'm really great for to be a part of this. Man, So we'll get you out of here. On the last question, Dion, do you stand with deep dish pizza? I did, but I was directed by Jef Bruno, So the thing a crust pizza is the best less less get more. So I'm not going to gloy against the brain. And I will say before we let Dan go, I have to mention, uh, Dion has I think my favorite line from the whole piece, which is where you're going with the pizza just Teacha is genuinely awesome. It was that people running up on the blocked by this. Actually it's only for inmates, guys. We're gonna rescue Chicago from that book just pizza. Like I know, the piece is great, but this is not how you deal with conflict. All right, I'll be right back. Hey, what are you going? Out of line? We me and the editor of that piece of mark will still yell at each other while if we leave, or if we like you know, taking lunch somewhere else, we'll just what are you going with the pizza? It's a it's a great line. So thank you Dion for incredible delivery. Problem. Thank you guys. Well, brother will let you get back to your commute. Man, thank you for making a little bit of time to go beyond the scenes with his brother. Thank you, Thank you guys, you guys to be peaceful. Blessed man. Thank you sir. All right, bye bye? All right man, Well, Ronnie Sebastian, we did it. We went beyond the means on your piece. You look so excited like you because I thought that someone would stand with me in defending Deep Dish pizza, and here I stand alone. You're all alone, man, Why do you even why are you on the side of deep dish because I'm to do with that stuff. I like pie, and this is closer to pie brought the cubs for some reason, you're from Alabama. Like pie. It's a casserole. If anything running, I will smashup like whatever it is, it's delicious and it's better than let me stop because I don't want New York City on my ask. Thank you so much for going beyond the scenes. I'm gonna get both of you the funk out of here and then slander then Chruss once you're off the air. Thanks for having us right, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, get it, get out of here. Love you see in the building. Guys in the building. Mh hey. I can assume you're enjoying yourself because you're listening to me right now. So if you are enjoying yourself, why don't you do some of them podcast things, you know, like liking us, subscribing to the podcast, and leaving nice notes a little review. Tell everybody how nice you think my voice is? My voice? Mm hmm

Hey, welcome to Beyond the Scenes. Now I've tried to explain what this podcast is. Do you know what this podcast is? This podcast is after you've had a great night in the club and then you go out on the sidewalk and there's a hot dog on a grill. It's not even a grill, it's someone who's created a grill type device. And it's savory, and it's bacon wrapped and it's delicious. It was exactly what you needed. You only left the house to go to the club, but you left with the bacon wrapped hot dog under questionable sanitary conditions. That's what this podcast is all about. And this week I've got food on my mind because we are talking about pizza and how it relates to the criminal justice system. Let's roll the clip. Oh, this is what people in Chicago called pizza. I find decent slice in the city, and so this stupid bull I couldn't find a single place that sold rio pizza, just these deepness dough dumpsters. This isn't pizza, this isn't even human food. After hours of only deep dish, I finally found a place that served delicious, normal pizza pot the Cook County jail. This goal made pizza. It's actually made by and sold two inmates as part of a training program called Recipe for Change. You know rates like it's expensive to incarceerate people, it's not expensive to give him a skill. The man giving them that skill local restaurateur chef Bruno about it, who volunteers this time and expertise to teach inmates how to cook the best pizza in Chicago. That's right. We are talking about food in a piece that focus on an organization called the Recipe for Change Program, and it's a program that helps people that are incarcerated in Chicago's Cook County Jail to learn how to make the best pizza in town and take those skills back out into the world to do something amazing with their lives. To help us break this down a little later, is the CEO and creator of that program, the wonderful, wonderful chef Bruno Abate. But now joining us. It's Daily Show Segment director Sebastian Dinatal and Daily Show correspondent Runnage Hang, I, hey, thanks for having us now, Sebastian, because you are Italian, should I start with you? I don't want to. What's the wocus way for me to do this. Well, usually should start the onscreen talent, but whatever, Well, yeah, but you're not really a talent in this case. The pieces the talent you know that was really relevant to this whole thing. But go ahead, Ronnie. As an ally to our Mari and era Americans, I think it is important that we the first what they feel comfortable with when we're talking about pizza. Fine, sure, go ahead, and yeah, thank you. And we're and we're recording this very close to H. Christopher Columbus Day, so it's very important that we as a people finally have a voice. I'm getting a voice to the voiceless, really, so thank you for having me on and understanding the play of Italians that we faced every day. What is the gist of this piece running? For the people who haven't seen it? Cook County Jail in Chicago had a program where they taught um incocerated UM people there how to make pizza while they were inconcerated, to kind of make use of at time, so they have the skill sets when they leave. That's the top level cliff notes of what we knew of the story going in coming out of it. I mean, you know, I learned a lot more. I'll let you get to it, but that's the kind of almost the you know, the most basic way I could describe what's going on here. And I know when the piece Sebastians, whose decision was it to have Runny destroy all of these beautiful Deep Dish pizzas in the spirit of him going to the jail? And that was my decision and all entirely my decision. I'm a I'm a proud New Yorker and a proud lover of food and pizza and Italian. We were tasked to do a piece about Chicago, specifically because we were doing a series. We were doing a week of shows in Chicago. When this piece came around, Uh, I kind of wanted to start it off as like a Ronnie foodie kind of piece to make people think it was about like, oh, Chicago Deep Dish Daily Show is gonna really rip into Chicago Deep Dish. But we and like every other New York based show has done that a million times. So after the first minute, we realize it's not just a piece shooting on Chicago Deep Dish pizza, which it is, but it has a another layer to it, which is the the rehabilitation aspect that I wanted to explore. But yeah, we had way more takes and different shots of destroying pizzas that sadly I had to cut for time, But I was I took so much pleasure in Ronnie punting those pizzas throwing them in the river. Yeah. In the archives. You gotta have to check the archives. I mean. I was also mentioned this was Sebastian's actual fuss piece out in the field. This when I got out of the office, I managed to managed to get on the field with us. Yeah, how Sebastian, how difficult was it working with the Cook County Jail to speak with people on the inside that were going through this program, Like, what's that process? Because I've never done that on this show. Yeah, I guess one of the advantages of being a first piece, which I really wasn't sure what any protocols for any of it was, so I would just you know, ask a segment producer or my boss or a coordinator like, hey, have we done this before? Can we do this? Can we talk to a jail? And they were like, we can reach out And normally in the past it's been kind of tougher to get inside of jails and film there. But I think when we pitched this um too the Cook County Jail and the Sheriff Tom Dart in his office, we really wanted to focus and make it a point to say, like, this is we really want to highlight this program. It's such an incredible program, and we want to feature, uh, these people that are part of the program as well as the owner. This is something we want to really highlight that we think is really good for criminal justice reform. And that was and they were like, great, Sure, as long as you don't, like, you know, make any jokes about like escaping prison or anything. That was the That was the kind of uh, yeah, that's the only stipulation that they had up top was like, yeah, just keep it to the program and imagine what we the first the very first thing we did was yeah, only a scutch where we escape from Yeah. In October seventeen, Ronnie Chang smuggled thin Crust pizza out of Clock County Jail. Oh. Ronnie loved pizza, but he also hated Chicago Deep dish. He had to find a way to get thin crust pizza to the people of Chicago. All it takes to get pizza out is cheese though in time that in a big gass poster Ronnie Chang, he crawled through a river Maranera and came out smelling like basic but you know you gotta given you Yeah, and they were fine, and they afterwards where they were like, yeah, we wish you hadn't done that, but the pieces great. So thanks. Can we talk a bit about that little segment because I mean it was two seconds in the whole field piece, but it took like hours of filming and it was me crawling in the fall, cold in Chicago, in in in tomato sauce, out of a tube in the middle of a field and that was househole. Um yeah, I was crawling out of this tube covered in tomato sauce, uh, into cold field. And you know, in the field, it's not like there's you know, there's not like a hot room waiting for you. You're just after you crawl out of a tube in tomato sauce, just outside, You're just outside, wet in tomato sauce for about an hour. And Maya Ericson, who works at the show now, she that was one of her first kind of p production assistant jobs and she went to go buy me some sweatpants from the Star. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, the sweatpants that she bought me was amazing, Like, I still use it until today, four years later. I used it for flying. It's one of the best no brand sweatpants um I've ever seen. So shout out Maya for gating me that sweatpants. Former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams. You know, she told me, Ronnie when we first started. She pulls them to the side. There's a lot I can tell you about this job, but the only thing you need to know is that sometimes you're gonna be changing clothes in strange places. You're gonna have to learn how to do that. Often, if you're changing clothes in strange places, it's probably a good piece. Like so then with everything that's going on with this piece running and you're crawling around it, which also, by the way, I didn't know that that was part of the piece, because like when we're picking all of these Chicago pieces, you know, some of us are pitching stuff and we see other Chicago stories that are on the board. That's probably like eight or nine stories that we know we're only gonna get to four or five and I saw Deep Dish and I was like, mmm, I think I want Deep Dish. Like, now, you know what, let me do the gang territory things. And I'm gonna be honest, I'm kind of glad I did the gang territory thing because I remained dry. Well, hey, you know what again that Sebastian said, the context of these were Daily Show was live in Chicago, and so the mandate was we wanted to do a week of field pieces in Chicago. Um, and so that's the context around this piece. So that that kind of motivated the research and the pitching behind this piece. But to be honest, I mean, this piece was great, even if you know, I mean, I'm glad we got an excuse to find this story because of our focus on Chicago for that week. But this was a great story regardless. And I don't want to jump the gun here. I'm trying to answer your questions. Guy got so much to say about this field piece, but I personally learned a lot doing it, you know, um, beyond this the comedy elements. And also I'm not from America, so when there was this like Deep Dish Chicago rivalry, I was like, you know, what. I don't even care. I would say whatever you want me to say. It's not it's not my fight. I was just apparently people hate deep dish. Okay, I'll play that game. I will say that about Ronnie, and I don't compliment him almost ever of the correspondence. All of you guys are are very down, but Ronnie is always the most down to do literally whatever I asked of him, or any of us ask of him. And you know, if I had asked you or Costa or DESI, can you get into this tube filled the marinara sauce, you would eventually do it. But why what is the joke? There be a discussion and I think, can I just crawl through? And then you add saw the computer, yeah, and graphics, And I think what was so good about having Ronnie was he trusts all of us immensely with what our visions are. And he also just doesn't give a shit about like what people are like observing. Because there were a lot of people giving us looks when we were like stomping on pizzas and throwing them against the walls and stuff, but he was just like so down. It's just it helps so much with the process to have a talent that is just on board from the get go, so you can be out in the field and you're not like you're saying roy having these like conversations like all right, throw the pizza out, and then they're like, wait, wait, wait, why am I throwing the what? What is the motivate? La blah blah blah. And Ronnie just has like a complete kind of blind trust, which is helpful to allow us to like get as many crazy kind of moments. Ronnie Chain is the goal standard in the building for how daring are you willing to go? How much? How far are to go to do something? And that's always It's the thing I kind of mumbled to myself sometimes some of the other correspondence too, it's well should I do this? Yes, you have to do this. Never forget Ronnie Chain eight half a stick of butter on live television and swallowed it. I mean, hey, I take off the you guys, So that's right. You didn't get that from me. Hey man, I'm not in Chicago gang territory trying to do comedy. I'm just throwing pizza as the you know, city people who are used to seeing everything. Top three wildest things on the air, in my opinion, in the history of the Daily Show, Top three wildest things Steve Carrell eating a spoonful of Crisco, Runny Chain eating half a stick of butter, and Costa and I when we went out to do the Florida Algae Peace Um in the swamp and Costa was standing with no mask on next to a full green algae plain for the photo. And it's a gorgeous photo. But Bro, that is some toxic ship right there, three ft from your nostrils. What are you doing well? Hey? Daily Show Top three we made it deptifying comedy acts. After the break, we're gonna talk with the founder and president of Recipe for Change, Chef Bruno, about about why he does what he does and what he thinks of Sebastian Slander of the Deep Dish. Joining us now is the gentleman that is the founder and the creator and the president and the CEO and the five star General of Recipe for Change. I'm not sure if those are all his exact titles, But Chef Bruno, about that. I pronounced that right, brother, Yes, yes, yes, yes, you see that. Sebastian. Yeah, one of the few want to say my last name. Everybody said I bought the baby. So before we started everything, I have a question that I never had to Runny for the last four years when I saw you the last time. We'll pay for the sauce of the mozzarella that you have a new tube and new pants. Oh we are got donations for that. Yeah, donation from from the people of Chicago who supported the piece. Okay, that's why I saw that. I said, that's not my mozzarella. Mozzarella was coming from the deep dish pizza and it looks greasy and that and even the marinara. The color, the color was not really red like the Italian to me, it was like a model chef. We didn't want to use your blue. We would never disrespect you. Yeah, we didn't want to use your ingredients because in filming, you know, you go through a lot of them and you destroy them, and we didn't want to Yours are so sacred. We didn't want to use yours are ingredients. Yeah, we're just some public school mari naritive for problem and some of it was blood. It wasn't even Marianna. Yeah, only a chef with critique the food, the quality of the food used. To crawl through that chef high standards. He's got high standards, man. I saw that when I was in his program. He's got very high standards. Roy, I'll let you get into it. But so let's tell talk a little bit about Recipe for Change. Chef. What was the impetus for you starting that program? What did you see? What problem did you see in Chicago that you believe pizza could solve? Well, I I you know, uh, listen, I never see any problems. And why I'm an immigrant. I came in this country to do what all the immigrants do, uh work. I try to make a better future for for the family and uh and be a respectable uh series in so, um, I don't have a no idea uh that you know, this will happened to me about the jail and uh and so, like I say many time, and it's there was there really a call from God and uh so it just happened one night and all this happened to me. And I never been in prison and jail. I don't have a history with my family about prison or jail. So it really was a truly a call and and I started right down of what could I do to change the prison system in America. After I saw this documentary A treator in the morning, there America, there's beautiful country in carcerrated. You know, two thousand, seven hundred kids, you know, uh under fourteen with the life in prison with no pole at the time, think about it, there was you know, American carc kids are ten years old, eleven years old, twelve years old. I don't know if you guys have kids and think about it, just to stop for a second, if you have a kid and and think about a kid at ten eleven years old be life in prison? How do you saying? America? What the fuck? Yeah? I think that's universal all languages right there. But you know, everything makes sense after a while. And I, you know, I was all this miracle happened and I was in uh in juvenile prison after two weeks to start teaching those kids that to make you know, some food. And they don't understand me when I was talking while you see my accent as very strong, my English is not that good, and I don't understand them or why they speak really you know, the American English plus but there was some connection. There was some connection when I was taking the spoon and and and say, hey, taste dry, and they were making faces. So did I start founding the connection between the food and them? And and so every time I was going there, it was, it was, it was a paradise. I discovered that, you know, they were making me bad. Every time I was going out to the teaching the class, I feel bad and bad, I feel with more energy, Oh my god. And that's what I gave me the power to continue and to think more, what can I do more? What can I do more? And and that's you know, Uh, now I am in a Cook County jail and and Ronnie saw everybody saw on TV our beautiful our kitchen is and what we do. Yeah, I think what's really amazing about your program, Chef, is that, you know, on the one hand, of course, it's teaching job skills that are translatable once you get to the outside, because we talk about America's prison system being a place for punishment instead of a real place for rehabilitation to learn skills. But what you also instilling is like this level of dignity, something to create, something to have a sense of pride, and something that you can pour yourself into. And I think that's what makes everything that you do and just talk about them so amazing. You know a lot of people think I do this program, why for a job? People don't understand the job is not the solution. The solution is to restore what's broken inside all these people mhm. The denity, the self esteem, thee believe in themselves. So this is at all the little pieces that we need to connect with them. It's not about the job, but ify provide a job. I mean I used to have with the restaurant to down turn and everybody was coming out, and I tried myself, but my own skin come to work. Soon you get out and they were coming and work. They were like, you know, panic attack, they have being panic attack, they have being problems. They they don't know what to do, and you know, and soon they get some money, they go back to do the same the same lifestyle. So the program is based and give you back to make you believe what you can do. It make you believe that you know, you are a human like anyone and and we make mistake, but you know we can forget the mistake and start a new life anytime we want. And so that's what the problem is about, you know, making them um believe that they can do it and make them understand. I mean, you know, hey, if you sell drugs, how much money you make fifteen thousand a year? Twenty a year? If you got to work, you're gonna make more money and you're not risking to be in prisoned for five six, seven years. So that's what I said to them, I say, how much money did you make yourself in drugs last year? Uh? Twenty? Then you're not a good businessman. Are some bad drugs? You know? Respectfully? It makes sense. Yeah, that's what's so cool about Chef is that he's I found him equal pots, inspirational, aspirational and practical. So the way he approached the program was all of those things. You know. It wasn't just let's all be better people. It's like, you can make more money if you're a bet of us. It's like, this makes perfect sense. Good good will sales better than cocaine. Chef. Another question, well, let me this. Let me ask Sebastian and Running a question first, and it's gonna tie into something I have for you, Chef, Sebastian Running, was there anything in the piece that did not make it in that you had to edit out? Like, ah, because you had somebody like Chef doing all this great stuff, you also still have to balance that with jokes. Yeah, we were pretty lean in terms of what we shot with Chef himself, not only the conversational part of it. I mean there was oh my god, Yeah, we cut a ton of the chef roasting deep dish with Ronnie. They're like they're standing at like a table and yet uh run Chef was like for like a half an hour to forty five minutes, just like insult after insult on deep dish pizza. That like, it was funnier than I could have ever written, any of our writers could have written. Just slamming it, Chef, what do you think about this deep dish pizza? It's it's got to be People shouldn't eat this. It's like a brick. Look at this. Look I mean, I don't know where do you buy this? I don't want to know, but this is shade. That was the hardest stuff to cut because he was like literally figuratively ripping into it and then literally ripping the pizza apart. And yeah, that was the best stuff. That was the hardest to cut because he like and he threw in the trash at all that whole ship. I didn't. I usually am very very controling in particular about what I want to capture on camera, but almost that entire scene where Ronnie's like, well, describe what's wrong with deep dish pizza, Bruno just went off. I didn't give him any direction and he threw in the trash can. I didn't even know that was coming. So we like had to follow that. That whole thing was so beautiful. It was very coming from a very authentic place as well. Yes, yes you know, yeah that and he hates wasting food man, so for him to, yeah, for him to throw away a deep dish, it was like, he doesn't even consider this human food. Yeah. I tried to keep as much of him talking about the program because that's what the piece was about, as best I could. And so yeah, we didn't cut almost any of the program stuff, any of the stuff with the participants. Uh yeah. The other stuff that we just cut were mostly just joked stuff, more pizza stuff, some Ronnie interactions. So sepassion Runnie, what I really wish could have been in the piece, and it is only so much time. I was just I'm always curious when people are doing good things in the community without a doubt. There's always some asshole or some group of people who don't support it or try to find something wrong with it. Chef, what are some of the resistance that you found to your program over the years. Who are your hater? Chef? That's what I'm trying to ask you, very bluntly. Who doesn't like deep dish in the jail? Oh? My god, nobody likes to dip dish it. You know, they call it the deep ship. Uh. Chef Roy is asking you who is opposing your program and are you are you well? Do you feel supported by your community in this program or do you have people that are giving you resistance? I think that we are, you know, we we know, we know that there's some separation and everything. A lot of people they don't care, you know, a lot of people there's just why we have in this situation in America, a lot of people saying, you know, these people should be in jail whatever. There is a criminal you know so, and but we do, uh, we are fortune that we have more people they think different that they think that we should rehabilitate it. The people that should supportal program, you know, and I have to say that. I never personally, you know, here anyone say to me, you, actually I don't like the program more, you should not do it, or something like that. You know, I was pudgement of this to that point. We UH. I was trying to in the beginning look for people opposed to like as the as the first time piece. For me. The the formula as always to find a really cool thing or a good thing and then find someone opposed to it make fun of that person. But for this piece, I was I couldn't find anyone other than some like really fringe like people belong in jail forever and can't be rehabilitated kind of nut jobs that I wasn't in listening and interviewing. But across the board, and I think the Sheriff Tom Dart was a huge UH proponent of this, and he had a ton of Chef Bruno correct me if I'm wrong, But I feel like there were a couple of programs like yours Recipe for change, like gardening program there was there was a good amount of rehabilitation programs going on that seemed to be like overwhelmingly UH supported by most people in the community, which is why for me it was this piece was such a slam dunk. It was like we can really highlight some good Yeah, we found a rare thing in America that I think everyone can get behind. Especially on paper, it's already a good idea, but when you go and see what they're actually doing, you gain another level of respect. Which is what happened to me of what was going on, of the mutual respect happening in the in the kitchen, um, what they were actually doing, the skills do a learning um, you know, even the even even the financial reasons, like chef would tell me like he just bring his own ingredients in so he wouldn't it would have cost to stay any money, you know, in some examples. I don't put you on the spot, Chef, But what I'm saying is that it was all around like a like a good thing for everybody, well the red things in America where it seems like everybody one from this everyone in the Clok County gam wants to be a part of this great program. I learned how to be a I learned how to work with a lot of other people, and basically I've learned how to eat better. Chef, what is it about deep dish pizza that gets you so upset, it makes me upset. Why it's a good idea. It's a good idea. The pizza is a good idea. The pizza the way they want to do it. You know, in Italia we call a focation. So it means, you know, the two dough why you have one on the bottom, one on top, and then you kind of feeling that in the middle. The problem means, you know, when you're using you know, a pound of cheat and then a pound of sauces and equalities also, So it's so bad. And that's what you know. When you come to Chicago, you see a lot of you know a lot of people over weight. Why they eat the pizza. So the I'm against. Why there is a way to make something light, call it deep dish pizza. But you can't do light. You can do with the mozzarelity bu you can do some with the sa Marzano tomato, my pew. Use all these bad ingredients and you put it like, you know, two pounds of the stuff inside. It's become like a brick. Like I said in the show, it's a brick, it's another a pizza. And that's once life it's like, you know, you're eating a brick because the new stomach. And so that's what I don't like about it. The idea is phenomenal, you know. I wish I can make one for you right now and see a lie. It wilcome, you know, if you want to, if you want to stop. It's like you know about quantity and not the quality. And that's what it makes me crazy. Chef. I appreciate your sentiment for good ingredients, but you're talking to a man that eats McDonald's, armies and subway. But thank you. Nonetheless, I have a question about the evolution of your program. Now. I know that your program has evolved since you last talked with Ronnie. Could you talk to us a little bit about the food truck program and what you're doing for women and also the golf Well not only not only that, I mean, you know, um the good things around you say before, and it touch a good point is you know I don't ask no money to state, to government, nothing. This is all private money. I have. I own a restaurant, no millions of people, and that's what I do every day. Please donate a dollar and that's how we we we got the money. In the sense of the show, the Daily show. We have a beautiful kitchen a woman that we create the woman division. So now we all we teach also the woman and we we have like almost seven thousand square feet to kitchen. After that too, before COVID, we raise the money to buy a truck and now we have those beautiful tory feet uh truck that we bought it and uh and now we are in the process to building a kitchen inside. The goal of the truck is um too. This time a little difference. I want to see if I can break these rules. I'm not sure. My would be my dream to utilize the people. They have minimum crime, so they can go out of the jail and the money go on the truck work and when after the finish their work, they go back to the jail. It's a kind of rehabilitation. You know. Now I'm reading and I'm going to work. Then I come back, you know, in the same place, but just to sleep. So from there, if we have a profit, okay, the part of the profit will go in an account for the people. For those people they work, so when they go out, they're gonna have some money. It makes sense what I say that's great, and that's different than what it used to be because when we started there, that was a big conceit of the piece was that you could only sell and give the pizza to incarcerated people, right like you couldn't sell it outside of the prison or the jail. So that's um, that's awesome. That's awesome. And all the profits consider that, you know we have, we don't when I see a profit, we don't have a billion, like uh, you know, we have a little bit, any little a few thousand dollars, but you know, we give you back to the Cook County. It goes in the programs to other to help other programs. Why other programs. They're in jail. They don't have money. So you know the person who comes to read the Bible or other stuff, so we we help them with their money to we found it more programs in Coo County jail with the money we make. So so let me get this right, chef, you self funded program to help people learn how to make pizza, but you're really giving them life skills. Then you set up a food truck that they can go in a plot of pizza skills on and then the money made from the food truck. You're splitting with the county so that they can make other programs better. Oh my god, you might make me hate Deep this. I might hate Deep this pizza for a week on your behalf. Just to honor you, chef, we gotta not to mention making great food as well. If you actually try, the food is amazing. The food is actually amazing. It adds to the culinary landscape of Chicago. The goal is to have in the end, you know, some money that I can puder on the side that when you go out, you have something to start and you don't have to go back on the street and sell drugs to pay your rent or or to eat. Now you're gonna have some money. We're gonna teach you, We're gonna find a job for you. We're gonna see how you cannot go back, you know, in the same system. Indeed, so last question for your chef will get you out of here. What can people that aren't as connected as you or as famous as you, or their restaurant is smaller and they're not and they don't have the same financial capabilities as you. What can people who aren't celebrity chefs do to get involved in their communities. We need more chef brunos. Well, I know, my listen, I've been I'm really I'm not I'm not rich. I'm struggling every day here, I work fifty hours a day. Have you thought about selling drugs? I don't have a lot of money, believe me, I I just do. Know. My goal is always get up in the morney. I pray, I say, God give me the energy to do something good every day, and that's what I want to do. And then I'm worried about my employee, my employee of a family, and uh so every chef can do something. Just connect with uh with your system, connect with jail where you are, go off to yourself and say, no one, I've come once a week. I'm bringing my dreading. Can I teach them people? That's what I done. I used to do a hundred miles away every Monday to go in a prison of Saint Charles, bring my own food and stay there one out and you know, and teach those guys. Finally, we have a problem to find people to work. And you're gonna find a lot of good people in the system. They need a chance. So go there and teach them. You're gonna found a lot of people that want to work. So that's gonna help us also in the restaurant business. Now that we have a big problem, we can fund the dish watch. We're gonna pund chef. We're gonna pand anybody not even to make a diogaly dish pizza, you know. So I think that's what the chef should do, just to be involved with your community. That's how you start everything. It's like a movement that we can start all the chef, the chef movement in America, go and teach people in prison, in jail. It makes sense. So no, sounds great like the chef movement. We should we should got to these words, doc. I just I just copy righted it and I already got t shirts for sale. So thanks thanks for the idea. Though it's called recipe for change program. He is Chef Bruno about brother. Thank you so much for joining us. We got one more break. We're gonna speak with one of your graduates. Actually, but thank you, chef for extending to us a little bit of your time. I will leave you now to the rest of your day where you can slander deep dish pizza on the internet. Thank you for going to be honest. Thank you, Thank you, guys. I really I really appreciated that, you know, you remembered us. And uh, I hope this will be a big Ronnie. I love you. I love you, Chef. I'll see you soon. I'm coming to Chicago. I'm doing a show that I'll come and see you. I'll come by a restaurant. Yeah, please come over. Okay, come to the I want to see you. Okay, we'll do. Thank you, guys, Thank you, God bless you by the Chef movement. Ronnie is still here with me, segment director Sebastian Dina tal is still here with me and joining us now. Uh. This brother is a graduate of the Recipe of Change program. It was also featured in the original segment with Ronnie Dion Gillespie. Welcome to be on the scenes. Thank you, thank you, happy to be here. Good to hear from you, man. Thank you. An Now, I'm gonna be honest. You know, as one of Ronnie's many black friends, you know, anytime a new one gets added to the rotation, I'm like, you know, who is this, Ronnie? You know it's this person all about gotta make sure folks on the square. Uh, talk to us a little bit. What was your experience like dealing with the Recipe for Change program. Um, it was a life changing experience from me. Uh, I was going through a really tough time in my life. It was a dark time put it because I was in custody, UH, and I was dealing with a lot of self guilt for letting like a lot of family of friends down, a co workers, down the community. So I was like carrying at that burden on my back. So when I got the opportunity to joying resci people change, it was almost an escape from that dark place. And uh it became something that provided some hope um in a hopeless moment for me at that time of my life. So rest people changed really changed my life. When let's talk, we didn't get a chance to really get into it with Chef Bruno, but you know, there's when we talk about incarceration and the idea that it's supposed to be a rebilative process where when you come out, a business should be ready to hire you on the assumption that you learned some skills and that you were better than when you went in. Walk me through that process of just trying to find a job once you got back out on the outside. Well, actually, for myself, I've been fortunate. Um. I found the appointment almost immediately upon my release, and it's partly due to UH resources that was invaded the Rescue for Change because of certifications I received for food sanitation, restaurant management. So I found the company that was wanted to give me a chance and UH investing me. Um. It's pretty good company. Um, you know, especially the center. The fact that I was just released like a little three months ago, so benefits for one k Um it's a union job and this is just a stuff of stone. This is not my career. This is a stuff of stone to what's next for me. So for myself, it's been a pretty smooth transition. But it's usually and I like that for many others. So that's why programs like rest people changes. So yeah, because because I'm listening to where you are right now, dear, and it sounds like you in transit as we speak. Are you headed to work? Yeah? I appreciate you've got for band with me. Man, this this uh, this commute on public transportation is really rough for that, So I apologize to you guys. Oh no, man, you a man on the go. We appreciate you making a little time for us while you sit there on the train. So let me ask you real quick, Jeff Bruno said, the job skills are important, but not as as important as being able to offer a positive space for people to work while they're locked up. Could you speak a little bit about that part of the program for you. Yeah, I unequivocally agree with with Chef Bruno because right um, I was saying like that, I don't I think the most difficult part about me transitioning back to to the workplace and society it's my ability to perform and do my job. It's been like the communication aspect of soft skills, the things that people don't usually talk about because as you guys will may well know, like nowhere is you're any games to test it then at the workplace, but when you're trying to do something that you're super bad to come and be like hey stop right now and do this and you just sit there like okay. So those soft skills that uh I learned the recipe to change it has really been valuable tools that I've been able to implement into the DNA of the core man who I'm trying to become as a man like the compassion, uh, the integrity, just the winning iss to just do the right thing at all times and not take anything personal. I learned a lot of those things at Rescipe for Change. Like I said, Chef Bruno's changed their lives along with the rest of the staff that works. One a mom, Chef Abel, our nutritionness, his son Adriano. Like it's a wonderful forul amazing program. Man. Because of that program, I've been able to be a part of a platform such as The Daily Show like man, this is such a humbling experience for me. Man, So I'm really great for to be a part of this. Man, So we'll get you out of here. On the last question, Dion, do you stand with deep dish pizza? I did, but I was directed by Jef Bruno, So the thing a crust pizza is the best less less get more. So I'm not going to gloy against the brain. And I will say before we let Dan go, I have to mention, uh, Dion has I think my favorite line from the whole piece, which is where you're going with the pizza just Teacha is genuinely awesome. It was that people running up on the blocked by this. Actually it's only for inmates, guys. We're gonna rescue Chicago from that book just pizza. Like I know, the piece is great, but this is not how you deal with conflict. All right, I'll be right back. Hey, what are you going? Out of line? We me and the editor of that piece of mark will still yell at each other while if we leave, or if we like you know, taking lunch somewhere else, we'll just what are you going with the pizza? It's a it's a great line. So thank you Dion for incredible delivery. Problem. Thank you guys. Well, brother will let you get back to your commute. Man, thank you for making a little bit of time to go beyond the scenes with his brother. Thank you, Thank you guys, you guys to be peaceful. Blessed man. Thank you sir. All right, bye bye? All right man, Well, Ronnie Sebastian, we did it. We went beyond the means on your piece. You look so excited like you because I thought that someone would stand with me in defending Deep Dish pizza, and here I stand alone. You're all alone, man, Why do you even why are you on the side of deep dish because I'm to do with that stuff. I like pie, and this is closer to pie brought the cubs for some reason, you're from Alabama. Like pie. It's a casserole. If anything running, I will smashup like whatever it is, it's delicious and it's better than let me stop because I don't want New York City on my ask. Thank you so much for going beyond the scenes. I'm gonna get both of you the funk out of here and then slander then Chruss once you're off the air. Thanks for having us right, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, get it, get out of here. Love you see in the building. Guys in the building. Mh hey. I can assume you're enjoying yourself because you're listening to me right now. So if you are enjoying yourself, why don't you do some of them podcast things, you know, like liking us, subscribing to the podcast, and leaving nice notes a little review. Tell everybody how nice you think my voice is? My voice? Mm hmm