Sheldon Simeon: Ohana Means Family
Food with Mark Bittman
Sweetness and Light
4.8 • 981 Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this revisiting of a 2022 episode, Mark talks to beloved chef Sheldon Simeon about learning to butcher chickens in first grade, the divide between Hawaiian natives and tourists, and cooking for three days straight.
Sheldon's on Instagram: @chefwonder, and you can get a bunch of his recipes on the Bittman Project!
Shoyu Chicken: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/shoyu-chicken/
Loco Moco Gravy Rice: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/loco-moco-gravy-rice/
Mac Salad: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/sheldon-simeons-mac-salad/
Shoyu Dip with Sesame Crunch: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/shoyu-dip-with-sesame-crunch/
Garden Poke: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/garden-poke/
Maui Kale Salad with Sweet Onion Dressing: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/maui-kale-salad-with-sweet-onion-dressing/
Pan Sushi Dynamite: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/pan-sushi-dynamite/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Food with Mark Bittman. I'm Kate Bittman. Thanks for being here. We know how many of you are loyal listeners and we appreciate that so much. If you'd like to hear more from Mark and me and our small but mighty team, check us out on bitmanproject.com. When you subscribe there, you'll get access to our recipe database, which now has thousands of recipes, with more added weekly. |
| 0:27.1 | If you prefer a substack experience, we're on there, too, bitmanproject.substack.com. |
| 0:34.1 | Reach out to us with any questions, comments, or stuff you think should be featured on the podcast or on our site, food at markbitman.com. |
| 1:06.8 | Thank you. I've been a fan of Sheldon Zimian since his first cookbook, Cook Real Hawaii, came out five years ago now. |
| 1:09.4 | I interviewed him for the newsletter. |
| 1:13.6 | Mark interviewed him for the podcast. I cooked a bunch of his recipes. He's easy to love and his food is too. Sheldon's new book, Ohana style, just came out, |
| 1:22.1 | and as soon as I got it, I started choosing which recipes I wanted to make from it. There are a lot. All the recipes in the book |
| 1:31.5 | seem to have been developed for comfort, delight, tastiness, and fun. If you have guests over, |
| 1:40.5 | you'll want to make everything in here. So we had friends over this weekend, and I made two |
| 1:45.4 | dishes from Ohana style, the pimento cheese mochi bread and the show you chicken, and both were so |
| 1:52.5 | good. The marinade that the chicken is cooked in and served with, oh my God, I would eat it with |
| 1:59.6 | anything. I digress. Sheldon was born and raised in Hawaii, |
| 2:04.9 | has been cooking since he was a kid. He learned to butcher chickens in first grade, and he had a stint at |
| 2:12.1 | Pizza Hut, and he went on to be a top chef, finalist, and fan favorite. Sheldon's passion for his home is |
| 2:19.7 | infectious, and he's so loyal to Hawaii's food, customs, and history. And so to celebrate him and |
| 2:27.5 | his new book, we're rerunning Mark's interview with Sheldon from 2022. Since this interview is from earlier on in our podcast days, the audio |
| 2:37.9 | isn't great. Apologies. And now, Sheldon and Mark. Sheldon, welcome to Food with Mark Bittman. |
| 2:46.5 | Great to have you. Thanks for having me. The funniest line in this book, which I realize is not, it's not as funny as it could be because your mother died young. |
| 2:56.9 | So there's an air of a little bit of tragedy about it. |
| 3:00.2 | But when you say that your house was known as the gout house when you were growing up. |
| 3:08.3 | That just totally cracked me up. |
| 3:11.3 | It still holds that title. |
... |
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