Here's to the local restaurants, to the chef's owner, operators, the staff, the ones who love being in the weeds night after night.

When we go to work each morning, that's who we have in mind.

From where we source our food to how we deliver it.

Here's to them, the ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are Performance Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food is Love.

"chicken dumpling.." Okay "This is inside shrimp and vegetable" Okay Dim Sum, think of it like a Chinese dumping brunch that inundates your table with a plethora of options to choose from.

Pick your pleasure.

How could anyone not be a fan of this?

Everyone loves brunch.

This is a shrimp egg roll Its very delicious.

Thank you very much.

And if you don't love little mystery dumpings filled with chicken, pork, fish, shrimp.. Then I'm not sure where that leaves you and I, but I digress today I'm at the Mandarin House on Olive here in St. Louis And a steady stream of people coming in on a Sunday morning makes it clear just how popular Dim Sum is.

This is so authentic.

This is Francis Yueh, editor of the St. Louis Chinese American news, a bilingual newspaper that reaches about 85% of Chinese American household in St. Louis Lucky for me, Francis, likes Dim Sum too.

So in sum is considered breakfast and lunch?

We call Brunch.

Okay.

And you know what everything is here?

Every food I can name in Chinese.

Of course, I want a little of everything.

Without question, some of my favorite foods are Chinese, and it comes from places just like this.

Dim sum is a Hong Kong thing from Hong Kong.

Not even not from China its from Hong Kong.

People live in a high rise condo, They don't have a room to host friends, like no friends we take newspaper.

We so we'll look at it in the newspaper and a Dim sum and have a tea, for the whole morning.

That's how you enjoy the weekend.

They have a great map.

You can look at your food and then recognize it on the picture here, and it will say what it is.

This is incredible food.

The real Foundation of Dim sum is the dumpling.

So if Dim sum is a Hong Kong thing, what about dumplings themselves?

Why are dumpling such a figure in Chinese cuisine?

Is there any deeper men meaning behind it all?

As my thoughts become muddled by the burst of carbs in my bloodstream, I begin my mission to find out more.

As a chef, I need to stay curious in order to evolve.

For me, that means looking beyond a good meal to learn more about who made it and what inspires them to cook.

La comida es amor.

Every great city has great food.

I'm going on a journey around the world right here in St Louis I'm on a quest to find passionate chefs who cooks from the heart.

And I think it's the best!

To prove that food is love It's going to be delicious.

Food is love.

Love your food.

St Louis has garnered at a reputation as being a great place for startups to get off the ground.

Google a few key words and you'll find plenty of examples Likewise, food related entrepreneurs are finding traction here too.

Hello!

Lasse how are you!

Good seeing you.

Yeah.

So nice to see you again.

But once you get to know Angela Zeng, it doesn't take long to realize that she's motivated by something much more noble than profit As a Chinese American immigrant to St. Louis, I'm hoping maybe Angela can help me fill out some gaps on my quest.

But first, I'm curious to see more of what she's doing here.

She isn't the next Twitter.

She doesn't have a restaurant, but she's a chef just the same.

She may not be plating dishes for the table, but she is nourishing people with her food.

That's exactly right.

The way we should manufactured food or drinks, it should be like, what do you guys do, cook with the real food ingredients, not chemicals.

As the founder of Karuna an all organic prebiotic smoothie drink, Angela found a way to tie her lifelong passion with Eastern holistic medicine to her deep understanding of biology.

I pick the ingredients that come from the best natural resource because again, they capture the energyfrom the environment and you capture the energy from them.

And her passion for what she does started when she was only a child.

Since I was little, I would say really, five years old, around that age, you know, when other girls start to fall in love with dolls, my passion was really in traditional Chinese medicine, especially herbal stuff.

It was just fascinating to me.

When my mom took me to get a prescription filled.

They have beautiful, old fashioned those Chinese medicine cabinets, tiny little drawers each drawer has different dry herbs and has a nice label, of course, in the Chinese character.

And then based on what the doctor wants you to do, they pull out different drawers and put the things, weight them old fashioned scale and put them in a paper bag and give it to you.

To me, that was fascinating.

That's why I start to play with it and self learned lots of herbal stuff.

Adventure a little bit into accupuncture.

And then when I went to college, I choose biochemistry.

So a lot of people think, you know, the Western medicine and Far East holistic medicine don't get along with each other.

But fortunately, I have knowledge in both that I've acquire over years.

They don't actually complete with each other.

The traditional Eastern medicine believes that our body basically has a vital energy source, its chi.

We call it chi.

And how do we get chi?

We get chi from the surrounding, from Mother Nature.

So basically from the food we consume, from the air, we breath in , from the sunlight we bathe in, and then from our contact with or the animal species with the plants with each other.

So welcome to Karuna factory, is actually really a big lab.

I call it a big lab because the real food factories are so big.

Literally a well oiled machine, a shiny stainless steel production line cranks along, filling bottles and labeling them for store shelves.

The scene could be any major bottling company out there, but it isn't.

In search for bottling facility that met her standards for clean production, Angela couldn't find one, so she had to build one herself.

What does Karuna mean?

Karuna means compassion.

Compassion is so important and compassion to nature.

Our compassion to nature is when we do production design, we need to be mindful.

So mindfulness is not about just mental health.

Mindfulness is important for everything In my opinion.

When you design a production process Most of us only think about how I'm going to be profitable.

But think about this.

There is also another layer of complexity.

That is, when you design this production process are you thinking about what's the consequences to the environment around you?

One way Angela keeps a tight lid on quality control is to grow her own mung beans.

So what is its significance of mung beans when you eat them?

What do they do for the body?

It actually contains two natural compounds, the chemical natural compounds existing in the Mung bean It's also good for eliminating many of the harmful chemicals for our body.

Educating the consumer is another component of what Angela does.

Her drive to empower others to understand food as a medicine doesn't end with bottling her product.

Angela believes in empowering her community as well, regularly donating her product to an organization called RUNG.

Today groundbreaking St Louis Mayor Tishara Jones happens to be here to take a tour of the facility.

Founder Ali Hogan and President Leslie Gill were nice enough to let us tag along.

So what we have here is sort of like a college campus.

So women come who are in a variety of situations, and we are here to see to their needs mentally, physically, professionally, through the nonprofits that have become our co designers.

So we did some research, figured out what St. Louis already had, and found a way to sort of invite them to the table and make it more of a sort of emotional connection.

Right.

So we have eight co designers in the building that provide a variety of services, and the idea being that they will now be on a journey to figure out what's a good career for them.

This is our coach waiting area.

So one of the things we are really excited about is that we have developed a coaching program.

So all of our members are required to do a six month coaching program.

It's individual, and it's also group coaching.

This is the person that's not meant to perform therapy or give advice.

This is really the person who's there to sort of guide them into what they want to do.

Besides providing members with personal and professional coaching, RUNG also give them members access to child care, medical services, exercise facilities and more.

And something that struck a cord with me is the shared gardening space they provid.

This is good Chi here, too?

Oh, Yeah.

You can see vibrating chi coming out.

And the perfect season to see it.

Right?

We do have an opportunity here where RUNG members can come and manage their own garden bed as well.

And so they check in with me And I sort of do sort of like consultation with them and help them plan and learn as they grow.

It goes back to teaching people how to take care of themselves, too, if you can plant and nourish, your own food.

I mean, there's nothing better than that.

Being able to sort of reclaim that power.

So I work for an organization called Urban Harvest.

We're one of the co designer agencies here, RUNG.

And they really focus a lot on food justice and working with community members to be able to have that food sovereignty.

And so that's a big part of our focus.

And so for me, it means a lot to be able to work with members to say this is how we grow our food.

Let me talk you through some of the steps.

What are you interested in eating?

And Let's talk through when and how to grow that.

Does it grow here in this region or not?

Et cetera.

What is this carrots?

These are carrots.

Yes.

These will probably be harvest this week, so in this bed here, we have carrots growing and this bed over here, we currently have kale and onions.

The food that we grow out here of what we grow goes inside to Chef John.

And then Chef John makes magic with that.

The other half of what we grow gets donated to an organization called Life Wise.

And that food then gets distributed to local community members that need it.

And I think people automatically think, well, you can't grow food in a city.

You know, it has to come from a farm far away.

But then, you know, there are so many things to explore about it.

I know Urban Harvest has rooftops in St Louis.

And, I mean, look at this garden here and all that space you have out there.

There's plenty of places to grow.

Here in the US.

We do, oftentimes our agriculture is called monoculture.

So one crop growing all in one space.

This is much better for the life of the soil and for the diversity of nutrients and better for the soil, better for the plants, better for the human that eats the plants.

Is that chickens I see over there?

They are in their coop right now.

Now, are we eating the chickens or we're not eating the chicken?

We are not eating the chicken.

They have names.

Yes.

Okay.

Well, that's why we're not eating the chicken.

And then we call this the dining room because we want our members to sit together and connect.

Everybody should work in a restaurant at some point in their life.

Its where you get some thick skin.

I know.

Every restauranteur that I have interviewed, we all say the same thing.

Everybody in politics should work in the kitchen in a restaurant because...

I owned one.

Yes.

So you know have to get along, right?

It doesn't matter who you are when it comes to 5:00 and you open up the restaurant, we all have to be on the same team.

And you learn to compromise and get along.

Yeah.

It's so important.

I often say that the lessons I learned while owning that restaurant, it was only for a year, But all of the lessons I learned there, I still take with me to this day.

Yeah.

What kind of food do you have there?

Just normal American fair, burgers sandwiches.

If you can navigate the complexity of a busy kitchen, politics shouldn't be a problem.

Tishara has done just that.

you probablly learned a lot.

The city is so lucky.

I have great hopes for you now, since I know you used to be a restauranteur.

Yeah.

Thats where she learned those leadership skills.

With culinary director John Womick on staff, RUNG provide members with free, healthy meals.

A little baby.

lettuce just came out of the garden.

I think yesterday.

So this is from the city of St. Louis?

Lettuce?

Right there.

And so this is exactly what a member would get, just like this, in the case.

They come in They grab a meal.

They sit here or they take it with them.

They can take it with them anywhere?

Yes Oh, that's nice.

Today happens to be the Mayor's birthday, and I can't think of a better way to end the tour than with a toast.

In my culture, we like to do a lot of toast.

So I have a toast to positive change in St louis, and it's made by all of you.

Angela, Leslie, Ali, Mayor, Rodney.

Lets toast to that!

Food is love!

I wish I could stay with you every day.

I got so much positive energy here.

You can stay with us every day.

Angela.

Angela is off to do more deliveries for Karuna.

And I'm left feeling grateful for this experience.

With everything I've seen today, Angela's passion for healthy food options, the philanthropic and political change that is happening here in St Louis.

It's hard to see anything but a better future.

And as we continue to learn, it's hard to take food out of that equation.

Today was great, but I still haven't gotten any further with what brought me here.

I'm heading to Angela's home for a more traditional Chinese meal with her family.

Angela's husband has been kind enough to agree to Cook for me some classical Chinese cuisine, so I'm really looking forward to that.

And despite her expertise in her day job, it's Angela's husband, Sean, who cooks the more traditional Chinese food at home.

And on the menu tonight handmade dumplings.

There's no such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to making dumplings.

Wow.

The more the better, the more people gather around, the more fun.

So what's in the filling?

The filling is, we like chicken and Chinese cabbage.

So very simple to make a little bit of onion, green onion there.

And the soy sauce, cooking wine.

Dumplings started in Northern China.

So it's very ordinary food.

But the reason he has such an enduring legacy is that it's really a family experience.

Things as they usually do by this point is starting to come full circle from the dim sum at the restaurant to the hand made dumplings here in Angela's home.

I love finding out that there's meaning behind food like this, that everybody can get together and Grandma can see the kids.

And you can get your girlfriend or boyfriend introduced to the family.

Everybody participate.

Its that people get together and have a good time.

So this is almost the epitome of food is love, right?

Exactly.

That's why I think the people get together just to make this, especially to spend the night, the New Years Eve together.

Can I make one?

Yeah.

Go ahead.

You can make it.

So, like, you know, I feel bad.

I'm normally doing all the cooking.

And then we also have, it's almost like fortune cookie..

Right?

Actually, in the old days, we put something like a button in there or a coin in one of the dumplings.

And whoever get that particular dumpling has the fortune.

The good luck for the new year.

The rich people will put a gold ring or a jewelry there, and then other average family will put a coin there.

Or, if you don't have that.

You can put a button there.

You make the dumplings and Cook them, and you eat it like 12 o'clock to welcome the New Year.

It's not just a simple pot sticker appetizers.

It doesn't matter whether it really tastes great or what kind of the fillings you make.

That's a secondary.

Yeah.

People come together, have a good time.

Snap here in the middle, and then the first one is to go to the side up a little bit.

Okay.

So now you have room to go a bit further.

Each crease, you can make it creases.

I see.

It's like making pies.

Right?

This is a real story that my grandma told me.

Making dumplings is a very good way to tell about your future daughter in law, what kind of person she is to get know her because the dumpling that the person made, that have very few creases.

That means she's not detail oriented.

I see.

But you have too many creases.

I mean, this one is a little bit too meticulous and sometimes maybe hard to deal with.

See, I have a little bit of creases, not too many.

So I'm easy.

Yes.

You are the perfect future son in law!

That's old china.

The dumplings.

You can steam it.

We just boil it so this is the healthy way, since I always care about the health index of cooking right!

Sean works the kitchen like an old Pro.

The Chinese culture are so into food, and there's so many different dishes.

That's gonna be good.

You know what they say?

People who cook together stays together, right?

Yeah.

We've been married.. How many years?

You ought to know this!

(laughing) Fresh ginger, green onions, lobster tails.

Sean has pulled out all the stops.

What inspires me to cook every day is to see stuff like this its is unbelievable.

It's a happiness.

Food bring happiness.

Food brings happiness.

Look at this food.

I mean, Wow.

Lots of love.

Dinner is finally ready, and I can hardly wait.

It smells so good.

Well, lets welcome the Chef to our home.

Well, thank you very much for having me.

What do you say in Chinese for, like, a cheers.

Ganbei.

Ganbei.

Drink all of it.

Okay.

But you have to think the whole thing.

I'm serious.

No, I mean, I don't have to right now.

In China those wine or, like, a Saki type of wine is in those little.. Little little Cups.

Little Cup there.

So it's just, like one ounce drink.

So it's not polite if you dont If you don't drink all of it.

It's not very polite.

So here its different All right, Let's go and Gambei!

Wow.

Lots of love.

Remember the other day we were talking about if the Cook really cares, you have lots of positive energy.

Yeah.

Chi, Chi.

Exactly.

It's not just you have delicious food, nutritious food, but on the other side, you feel the love.

Chef you're a pro in terms of using the chop sticks and I was going to say that so, chefs, we eat so fast because we don't have time.

When I use chopsticks, I can slow that down a lot.

So I prefer chopsticks with a lot of food.

because it slows me down.

Where did the two of you meet?

Great question.

Yeah.

You know today is our birthday, right?

Both of us.

I know, share the sam birthday, but I'm interested in did you meet in America?

Did you meet in China?

We meet in the elevator at St. Louis University.

Well, that's..

Literally.

Wow.

Yeah.

Because I think there's the story was I was doing a residency at St Louis University, and I have to get up very early.

And then I was on call the previous night.

So when I left the house on that day, I was still in the 40's So I had a coat.

You know, St Louis weather is just changing so much.

And the next day when I finish, my call its already in the 60's and 70's And she was wearing a skirt and I was running a coat.

So we just met in the elevator, she was laughing at me and said, What are you doing?

Two people from different parts of China had to come to St. Louis to meet.

What a story.

I want to finish off with something a little more traditional for me.

So when you come to somebody's house and it's their birthday, you bring a present.

So I brought you something.

It's not new.

It's antique that I collect.

I thought you cooked to something for us!

No, it has some Scandinavian history, too.

Oh, my gosh!

Brendan will love that.

So try to open that up.

Why don't you open it up?

Why don't you?

Okay.

I've collected these over years.

This is a Scandinavian design .

Oh, my gosh!

And it's called a Cluck bottle.

So its a decanter So when you decant something out of it, when you pour out of it, it goes.

Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck.... Oh, I see You know, now you have a little Danish souvenir in your house.

Well, thank you so much.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Food is love, how do we say that?

Shíw ù ài Shíw ù ài That's correct.

ài means love.

Shíw ù means, food.

Okay.

Shíw ù ài For Angela and her husband, the road from China to where they are today wasn't easy.

It was a different china, though It has improved in some ways since they lived there.

They're grateful to be here in St. Louis today.

Like a lot of immigrants to the us, their experience in their own country help fuel their motivation to be successful here.

I'm an immigrant.

You are immigrants.

But the contribution that the two of you makes to America, I mean, you're making us healthier and you're treating us for diseases.

It's unbelievable.

You know what you're contributing.

I'm making everybody fatter in my place.

No (laughing) Angela's passion for creating a healthier product just demonstrates that opportunity is ready for those who want it.

Whether you're a food truck, tech startup, a restaurant, or a prebiotic, whole food smoothie maker, it can all work here.

This experience has given Dumpling a new significance for me personally.

Im in a Chinese American home learning about their culture firsthand through a meal that they've not only prepared for me, but taught me how to make.

this is a Chinese idea into a French idea, which is the boulie Angela and her family.

I didn't find a coin or a button in my food, but I'm still the lucky one.

There's definitely positive Chi in every bite.

Maybe good food is chi, but food is definitely love.

Hey, foodies.

Want to try all the great food and restaurants you've seen on Food Is love?

Head on over to FoodIsLove.TV To map the locations of restaurants from your favorite episode, check out what's coming up.

Leave Chef Lasse a message or start your own culinary journey around the Lou.

Find it all now at FoodIsLove.TV Here's to the local restaurants, to the chef's, owner operators, the staff, the ones who love being in the weeds night after night.

When we go to work each morning, that's who we have in mind.

From where we source our food to how we deliver it.

Here's to them.

The ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are, Performance Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food is Love