Farming for Health Podcast #2: Chef Matt Jennings

In our Farming for Health podcast, Amy Sapola and Farmer Lee Jones chat with Chef Matt Jennings about how he got into the culinary world, and what challenges he’s faced and overcome on his road to success. 

Chef Matt is the Full Heart Hospitality, an award-winning chef, restaurateur, author, and life-long disciple of hospitality. Culinary outposts have included Farmland, Inc. and Townsman in Boston. A five-time James Beard Foundation finalist, he’s received accolades from the White House, The New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and more. 

He brings passion and zest to everything he does—making him the ideal guest for our Farming for Health podcast. Listen to him here at Cooking, Conviviality, and Preserving the Harvest.

More About Matt

From the start of the interview, he admits how he likes to stay busy, which explains why he’s accomplished so much already. He began with a summer job at the age of fourteen where he scrubbed dishes and took out trash for a grocery store owner who also had a bistro that interested Matt. When Matt saw the bistro team hard at work, they intrigued him—but his culinary path wasn’t entirely straightforward. 

After a failed venture at a liberal college, his parents encouraged him to find his direction. That involved going back to and working up at the bistro and attending culinary school. He then owned a series of restaurants and continued to grow in knowledge, skills, and reputation. 

A world of high stress, though, led to late nights, weight gain, and a need to return to sobriety. In 2016, when he was hospitalized, he had his a-ha moment, and realigned his priorities. Discover more about his amazing journey in our podcast.

Past Episodes of our Farming for Health Podcast