(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Art of Hobbiness. I'm Erin, I'm joined with my co-host, Tia. We are so excited to be here again and we have an exciting guest today, Demetra Layer-Coast. She comes to us from Ontario and we've met online and we are so excited to chat with her today. She has a brand called Zest for the Table where she embraces Mediterranean food and life. She definitely uses cooking as an opportunity for connection with the self and others. And she also enjoys mindfulness, creativity, shared experiences and connections with nature. So we are so excited to dive in and talk to her about all these things. - Yes! - Welcome, Demi. - Welcome! - So, Demi, if you want to go ahead and just tell us a little bit about your background and what you're starting and what you're doing right now. - Absolutely. So I am on an adventure to re-explore cooking. So my family has been in the culinary world for generations and I was noticing throughout my life that we did so many cool things as a family together with this and I never viewed cooking as a chore because of how my family approached cooking. So when I would talk to other people and they say, "Oh, it's a chore." I'm like, "Really? I don't get that from that." And I find it so artistic, so freeing. That was like my meditator space. So I am on a journey to bring that to other people, to help them get reconnected with the beauty of cooking and all the joy that it can bring. - I love that. And like I know that you're kind of prioritized in Mediterranean cuisine, correct? - That is correct, yeah. - And how did you kind of get locked into Mediterranean? - Yeah, so of course my family is Greek. So that was just like the natural thing that I grew up with being focused on Mediterranean cuisine. But I find it so interesting to find how our cuisine evolved and the history and the geography. So for me, it's not just, "Oh, I like this cuisine from the specific part of the world." I was really diving into documentaries and other podcasts, books, finding how our ancestors were able to be so creative. Just using what's around them, influence of different empires throughout history. And I'm like, "Wow, these things that I take for granted "and eat all the time have such a rich history." And I just think it's so cool that it's not just food, it's a geography lesson, it's a history lesson, it's a lesson-vote culture story, so much lore that goes into this. So that's why I focused on that specific region. - Divi, I feel like I'm giggling because I don't know if you know this, but Erin and I have just like zero cooking chaps. Like, well, actually a little bit different from recently-- - I mean-- - Yeah, prior to the podcast, we were like, "That's a hard no." (laughing) And then like, but like hearing you just in a couple of minutes, I'm like, "Okay, I guess I didn't think of it that way. "Keep going, I wanna hear more." So you're a high achieving professional woman, right? Who, I assume, are you doing this as a profession, like this cooking side of things? Or did this start as a hobby and worked your way in there? Like, how did you get to there? It just passed the family inclusiveness that you were embracing. - Yeah, I've always really viewed cooking, baking as a hobby, like even from when I was a young girl, if it was someone's birthday, I'm like, "I'm making the cake, I'm done cleaning it, "no one else touch it." I just felt very connected to that part, and that's always continued throughout my life. But as a recent, I've been finding that, you know, work, it can be stressful, I'm also planning a wedding, very stressful-- - Oh, congratulations! - So I'm on, and then I'll get people asking, like, "And you're gonna do like this cooking thing?" And I'm like, "Yeah, this is my escape time, "this is my chance to be creative, let loose in the kitchen. "I'm going to cook anyway, so my mentality with it is, "I'm gonna eat, try something new, experiment, "and this is my grounds to be creative, "and then we can enjoy it, and eat it for dinner after." So I would say, "Always been there, "but this is my chance to put out my creativity "in a way that works for me." - That's spectacular. - That is amazing, 'cause I, like you said, it's just a different perspective, and I really appreciate that. And just viewing it, you found something that you're so passionate about, that is so amazing, and you've just truly embraced it, I just, I don't know, that's so cool. - Yeah, was there a defining moment in your professional career where you really decided that this is where you kind of wanted to start focusing your outlet on, and really prioritizing this time for yourself to do this kind of baking, or cooking, I should say. - Yeah, I don't know if there is one specific defining moment, it's always been there, but I would say a lot of careers out there, I'm just gonna call it mine. I don't feel the room to be creative a whole lot in my day-to-day world, and that's a huge part of me, and I feel like that was lost. And although I love art, I have other hobbies, I love to paint, I love to draw, I love photography, sometimes I found that there was almost a barrier for me to create, I'm like, okay, I gotta get this all set up, but with this, I'm like, this is so accessible. If I try this, it turns out not that great. What's the worst that's gonna happen? We just won't make it again, and this is something I can rinse and repeat and get creative with every day. So I would say the urge to be creative was just something that had to pop out, and this is my outlet to do it. - That's great. It sounds like you also had some challenges with perfectionism and some of your other hobbies that kind of limited you from really going further in those. Do you feel like embracing the cooking side like gave you more opportunities to practice making errors and then overcome those hurdles of perfectionism? - 110%, and I'm so, so happy that you brought that up. I find that cooking actually gives you so much freedom to mess up and have a happy accident. So there's been times where I've, well, many times, I'm not going off of a recipe and leveling off the flour and making it perfect. Sometimes I'm like, hmm, what would this taste like if I just throw in chili peppers, and sometimes I like it, and sometimes I don't, and I just find that it's a grounds to heal your perfectionism. - Mm-hmm. - Because, yeah, I'm perfectionist in recovery, and this is definitely the type of environment that I feel like to be creative, you have to be okay with making some things that are not gonna taste great sometimes. And then sometimes you end up with things where, whoa, I'm so happy that I just threw that extra ingredient in there. I would have never expected that. So rolling with the punches, I think that this is a great format to overcome perfectionism, for sure. - I feel like that has always been a huge barrier for me with cooking is like the process, like I don't have that background, like I didn't grow up in the kitchen, I didn't really have a role model for that, which, so you had some just basic skills kind of already in your toolbox before you started this, right? I don't feel like I have that. And so I guess what advice would you give somebody who I get kind of completely overwhelmed by cooking, the prospect of like just picking a recipe, and then cooking it, and then if it doesn't turn out, it feels like all this wasted time, you know? I guess just where, do you have any advice for somebody like me or Tiam who, like what should we start with? Or, you know, I don't know anything you can think of that might help somebody, 'cause I do enjoy, I think I would enjoy what you're talking about if I could get over that hurdle of that initial perfectionism. And I know that takes time, but- - For sure, so I would say two things are coming to mind, what it comes to overcoming perfectionism. It's like I said, perfectionist and recovery, I get it. Number one thing, I feel that in a way, TV has kind of ruined our perception of what it means to cook. So I would catch myself watching things on TLC, like whether it be like a master's show or cooking competition, and then you see these people making cakes and pastries and these things that are very ostentatious and showy, and you're like, oh my gosh, I could never make a cup, I think that looks like that. And still, like, you know what? I, that's amazing that you can do that, but if you're having that end goal in mind, that my, what I'm cooking, what I am making, has to turn out the way that this person did it on TV, you are going to be so focused on the end result and not actually enjoying the process. And I would say cooking is more about staying in tune with the process and your enjoyment of actually getting your hands in there and enjoying the experience of touching the flower, leading the dough, the sensory experience of it. So long story short, cut off the end goal, just kind of go in and be focused on the present moment. And another thing that I think could be really helpful is to keep things very simple and focus on what is in season right now. So all the time throughout the year, we have different fruits and vegetables coming into season. And I think it's a really cool opportunity to say, hey, right now, asparagus is in season, I'm going to make a dish that focuses just on this one ingredient. Maybe I'm just going to make a marinade, keep it simple, one pan meal, and then slowly graduate with how complex that you want to make it. - It's amazing, I never considered cooking as a sensory thing, but that's probably because I have zero. (laughing) It's in the kitchen, I'm like sensory. But that's kind of an interesting perspective to think about kind of just actually being in the moment of the cooking. I guess when I'm trying to picture Pat, my husband's usually the one in the kitchen, if I'm trying to picture him in there, I just assume he's just going with the flow, but I guess if you really think about it, I wonder if I ever asked him about it, I wonder if he would say, no, I'm enjoying the mixing of the dough, and the sounds of the bubbling. He's been baking a lot of pies, 'cause it's the holidays. So I'm going to say the bubbling and the cherries and the juices. And you know, I guess there has to be that element that I feel like could be very satisfying. That's kind of peaking an interest of me, I feel like I love ASMR. (laughing) - I know my husband has talked about, 'cause he also has the cooking that he just loves, not necessarily the actual cooking, but it's his love language of like feeding people and sharing meals with people. You know, we actually had Tiam and her husband and her family over recently, and he said he just loved it, 'cause it was just like everybody was in the kitchen helping, and just that brings people together. Obviously food does that. So, you know, think of me different for different people, but you know, I've dabbled recently, I can definitely speak to what you're talking about with like, I tried sourdough bread making, and I definitely had that exact experience where I was like, I got the inspiration from Instagram, so when I went to try it myself, like it didn't look like Instagram, and I got really mad, and you know, frustrated. So I think that's good advice to try to just not take inspiration necessarily from social media, and just find, you know, we have so many resources now with online, we can just like Google, like, a recipe with asparagus, like you're talking about, and just go with that versus trying to compare to other people, so. - Well, and I think you bring up a good point about talking about how Adam, you know, was, you know, enjoying about bringing everybody together, and even you said that you really enjoyed to me about how like, your family just was always together, growing up, like you just always saw that. You know, trying to keep this in like a hobby sense, you know, I think if somebody's trying to decide if this is a hobby for them, it sounds like it's really good to consider, if you're looking for something that connects you to your roots, maybe connects you to, like if you get joy out of a community type of hobby, this could be a really good community type of hobby, but also can pull you in personally to just being like, if you're an introvert, you could just kind of sit in the kitchen, do your thing by yourself. - Oh, yeah, definitely, it could be both. - Right, like it's a really dynamic hobby that I don't think I ever really considered. - Yeah. - 100% sometimes, like, I just want to disassociate and be by myself in the kitchen, everybody out, and I find that, like you said, a meditative experience where I am touching the dough, let's say last week, I made cinnamon buns, I'm touching the dough, rolling it out, I like the experience, I love the smell of the cinnamon. So I find it, in a way, like I said, a meditation technique, but then there's other times, like I have some of my best memories with my family are when we would get together and make cookies through the holidays with my grandmother and/or baked bread. My grandmother would invite all of the grandkids over to do a specific task, so there would be like six of us in the kitchen all together, making Christmas memories with her, and I think that's amazing. - Yeah. - Yeah. - What can you mix a hobby with, a 75-year-old woman and a 12-year-old kid that are still, like both of them are thinking, this is super cool. - Yeah, that's an amazing memory and special thing to-- - Yeah, and it's a really good point. You're right, there's not really an age range or even really an experience level that you kind of have to come into it, right? And I think passing that down to the generation creates a generational hobby, which is really kind of fascinating. And like here you are, starting like kind of taking that to the next level in your family's generation. Wow, that's really exciting actually. - Are you, so now your brand now, it's called Desk for the Table, right? That's the brand on social media and you've started, you have a website and a blog and are you starting cooking classes as well? I think I saw, maybe you were going to, okay. - Just have a few. - Oh, nice, it was super cool because I've always been throughout my life in the learner's seat because it was my grandmother teaching me these recipes. And now I feel like the tables have flipped and I am sharing what these recipes are and the history of them. And I just think it's really rewarding to share that with other people. - That's fantastic. Okay, so somebody like me who has zero cooking skills, do you think baking or cooking, 'cause those are two different things, right? So baking or cooking, which one do you think would be the best entry level arena for me? - I would say either one but you have to be cautious as to what recipe that you are picking. So if you are someone that really likes concrete very easily, very easy to follow specifications, baking might be the direction for you because you are measuring things off. One level cup of flour mixed into bowl. One level cup of sugar add that mix. That might be a good place if you kind of want to not put a lot of thinking into it. But I would say if you want to get creative, cooking is great because for me, most of the time I'm cooking with no recipe. - Wow. - Growing things in there. I think a little salt, little pepper, I'm going to do a little garlic. Ooh, what it would taste like if I drizzle honey on top of this. So if you don't want a direction and you want some room for creativity, cooking offers you a little bit more flexibility. Baking, not as much, I've found that if I am off by a little bit with baking the margin of error, it's a little smaller and your cookies can turn from flat crispy to scone real quick. - So, yeah, I just didn't think of that for that whatever direction you choose. - That's impressive that you can do that. So it sounds like, you know, that's pretty consuming your life right now. Do you, are you making time for much else creativity, you know, like any other hobbies right now or are you just really focusing on that? 100%. - Mostly on cooking, however, I do find that it has been something really cool. Like I said, we're planning a wedding and it has seeped into so many other areas of our life. Like you're just chatting with the venue. What food do you want to serve on your wedding day? And of course, food comes right into there. I'm like, oh my goodness. Maybe like we could do something to represent your family from this side of things, my family from picking this dish. So that has come into the wedding time. - That's great, super fun. And then other hobbies that I'm focusing in on right now, I know that you guys recently got into ox seals. - Yes. - I was getting into ox seals. We're talking about it very satisfying. Like you said, that sensory experience, I'm like, this is so nice to like peel off the skin. - Yes, I love it. - Are you talking to me? - Yes, so that's another one. And then I've always kind of doubled into photography, which once again has found its way into my food blog. So I have to take into the food. It is a very different way of photographing. So there's a learning curve getting through that. But yeah, this has been like a 20 for one hobby for me. - I know, that's amazing. Like you're just pulling all these passions in. I love it. And you can tell that you are so like you're glowing, you're talking about it. - You really are. Yeah, like the energy that you're getting off of it is like kind of a toxic thing. - Yeah, definitely. Do you, one question we were talking about your social media, you have a lot of pictures and videos from traveling. Is that something that you are very passionate about as well? And are you doing that currently? Or is that from the past? - Those are from, I would say the springtime. I went to Italy and I just went so crazy. - Yeah. - I found everything so beautiful, entertaining. So I would love to go back and take more travel photos. Yes, that is a huge hobby and passion of mine. I think it's so cool to be able to capture little snippets of what you saw with your eyes and tell your family or your friends a story about, this is, I was here. This is how I captured it. The sun was setting, it was beautiful and translating onto other people. It was really, really cool. - Yeah. Yeah, I can see how that is all gonna tie in with your zest for the table as well as you go forward. So that's really cool. - Okay, so if you were to package it all together, what is the one thing that you want somebody to take away when they visit your brand zest for the table? - I want people to take away a feeling of judgment, free zone. I think, number one thing about Mediterranean cooking that I have learned from my family, 'cause my grandmother's, both of them are the queens of cooking with no recipe. I watched them and admired them. I'm like, how do you just know what to put in? I think that this is a really cool opportunity to get in touch with your roots, your creativity and to heal your perfectionism. There's so much room to just add things in and test them out. So I want people to feel like the kitchen is not a scary space, sorry, a scary space, but a safe space to experiment, bring some of your personality in and make food that you like, it's not for what social media wants to see, but if you love hot honey, you should lean into hot honey because of any recipes as you began with that. This is your time to get in touch with yourself and heal your perfectionism. So God, number one, take away. - That's such a great message. - It really is, heal your perfectionism and I feel like cooking probably could do that. I feel like baking would only make me be like, I'm braising my perfection. - Yeah, yeah, that's true. - That's a good way to think about it, yeah. - I guess I can split those. (laughing) All right, well then, so I know that you have zest for the table. We've talked about our zest for the table. We've talked about your brand. We've talked about your going away message. Is there any other way that you want to guide our listeners into finding you, discovering you and your message that you're wanting them to know? - For sure. So my Instagram is zest for the table. On there, I do post recipes that I have created myself. So like we talked about putting in your own creativity, hopefully I can help inspire you to just throw stuff in and get creative in the kitchen. I also have a blog called zesttable.com. On there, I share those recipes that I've created, but I also have a platform where I share my thoughts about the differences between North American cooking culture and then cooking culture and lifestyle and the Mediterranean as well, focusing on slowing down, being in tune with yourself, the seasons and the experience of cooking. So those are just my little tidbits if anyone's interested and slow living, intuitive eating, and then being one with your environment if you're interested in that. - Very interested in that. - Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for being on our show today. We really enjoyed you being here. - Yeah, so excited to continue. Yeah, it's been so fun to connect with you and we both look forward to continuing to follow you and see how things continue to grow for you. And, you know. - Yep, that was great. - Oh, that was wow. - Yeah, thank you. - Thank you so much. - Thank you for being on the show. - Thank you for having me. - That was amazing. - Bye. - Bye. (upbeat music) - Thanks for listening to the art of happiness. Be sure to leave a review and rating and for a little extra errand and tampon, be sure to follow us on Instagram and Pinterest for behind the scenes footage of our journey to find happiness.
