Well, hello there and welcome back. My name is Stephanie Safarian and you're listening to

episode 177 of the Sustainable Minimalist Podcast. If you have been following the Zero Waste movement for a while, you have likely heard

the Uber popular quote, and I quote, we don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.

The woman behind that quote is none other than Anne Marie Bono, better known as the Zero Waste Chef.

And I am thrilled to speak with her today about her new book, also titled The Zero Waste Chef,

as well as her thoughts on the future of cooking.

Is cooking an art that we are in the process of losing? Or is the act of preparing meals so

fundamental to our existence as a self-sufficient scale that it's here to stay.

Anne-Marie of course also offers up some of her best zero waste recipes from her new cookbook and I so hope you enjoy my conversation

with the zero waste chef herself Anne Marie Bono.

Anne Marie, I am so excited to have you on the podcast. How are you doing?

Oh, I'm doing well, Stephanie. Thank you so much for having me.

I'm really happy to be here.

Well, I am so, so happy to have you as a true fan.

I am so excited for your new book, Zero Waste Chef,

and I'm so excited to officially introduce you to my listeners.

Let's start off with Zero Waste.

How on earth did you find yourself not only interested in the Zero Waste lifestyle but so interested that you were

ready to start a blog about it.

So back in 2011, I started reading about plastic pollution and that started the whole thing off.

I knew plastic was bad but I recycled so I thought well I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing but then I read

about the gyres about the plastic swirling around in the oceans and how it devastates

...