The Kitchen Swaps That Cut Your Toxic Load by 70% | Chef Johanna Hellrigl
The Gabby Reece Show
Dear Media
4.8 • 954 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What's actually in your food, and who's protecting the companies that put it there?
I sit down with Johanna Hellrigl, chef, restaurateur, board member of the Environmental Working Group, and founder of Ama, the mission-driven Northern Italian restaurant four blocks from the US Capitol, to talk about what's really happening in our food system, why your cookware matters as much as your ingredients, and how a woman who grew up in a Michelin-quality kitchen ended up fighting pesticide immunity bills and plastic migration in the same breath.
This conversation goes deeper than clean eating. Johanna walks through the specific decisions she makes every day, from the containers in her kitchen to the farms that grow her tomatoes, and explains why the real model for healthy eating has been sitting in Italian kitchens for centuries. She is building a case study that nourishing food, done with integrity, can also be a viable business. If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the food system or paralyzed by conflicting information, this episode gives you a clear-headed, practical place to start.
What we explore:
- How heat, fat, acid, and time create the conditions for plastic and chemicals to migrate directly into your food.
- Why 99% of food chemicals enter the US supply through a regulatory loophole that bypasses proper safety review.
- What rebuilding your gut microbiome actually requires, and why what happens in your gut controls far more than most people realize.
- How Johanna runs a restaurant rooted in love without sacrificing standards, consistency, or accountability.
- Why voting with your dollars and contacting your representatives are two of the most direct actions you can take right now.
About Johanna Hellrigl:
Johanna Hellrigl is a chef, restaurateur, and culinary advocate redefining what restaurants can stand for. She is the chef-owner of Ama, an award-winning Northern Italian restaurant in Washington, DC, named a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic in 2026 and recognized by Gambero Rosso for authenticity. Before opening Ama, she spent years in international democracy-building work across 61 countries, an experience that deepened her belief that food is one of the most powerful tools for connection and change. She sits on the board of the Environmental Working Group and works with the Plastic Pollution Coalition, bringing the same rigor she applies in her kitchen to the fight for a safer, more transparent food system.
Connect with Johanna Hellrigl:
Instagram (Chef Johanna): https://www.instagram.com/chefjohannahellrigl/
Instagram (Ama Restaurant): https://www.instagram.com/amarestaurant.bar/
Website: https://amarestaurant.bar
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 Growing Up in a Michelin Kitchen
05:08 How 61 Countries Brought Her Back to Food
08:00 Reclaiming the Family Meal
13:17 Pesticide Loopholes and Who Pays the Price
20:12 Finding Common Ground on Food Policy
29:00 Plastic, Cookware, and Cutting Board Basics
37:40 Meal Prep That Actually Works
43:40 Why She Opened Ama
56:23 Love, Standards, and Consistency in the Kitchen
01:01:06 What's Really Inside a Plate of Pasta
01:08:33 Healing the Gut After Antibiotic Overload
01:15:39 EWG, Plastic Pollution Coalition, and How to Get Loud
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–
The Gabby Reece Show
This is where I have real conversations with the people I find most worth listening to: scientists, athletes, coaches, parents, and thinkers who are doing the hard work of building a life that holds up over time. No hacks. No quick fixes. Just honest, practical conversations about performance, longevity, relationships, and what it actually takes to show up well at every age.
If you are here, you probably already know that health is not a destination. It is how you live. I am glad you are along for it.
Connect with Gabby Reece:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabbyreece/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabbyreeceofficial
Website: https://gabriellereece.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Johan, I'm welcome to the show. I was really interested in how somebody who grew up in kitchens, your dad's a chef, it seems like you went away and then you came back going into global development and doing some other things. Maybe just share a little bit about your sort of experience growing up in kitchens? Because I think that's a very unique |
| 0:23.7 | situation for people and one that I would imagine is colorful and leaves huge imprints. |
| 0:29.7 | There's a lot to say about that. I think, you know, my dad had opened the restaurant before I was |
| 0:35.3 | born. And then obviously I was like really born into it. |
| 0:39.8 | I was probably eating all the food at the restaurant in terms of my mom being there pregnant. |
| 0:44.5 | It's a very northern Italian restaurant. My dad was from like the South rural region. My mom's from Liguria. |
| 0:50.8 | And so I was very much like embracing that kind of Italian Italian cooking and really high quality ingredients because my dad really was like you have to treat a lobster the same way you treat a potato. |
| 1:02.4 | There was a lot of that that was like ingrained and instilled in me. |
| 1:05.9 | And then even though my dad passed away of cancer when I was four years old, my mom ended up taking over. And so I, like, |
| 1:12.7 | grew up in the restaurant even more so. You know, I think when he was alive, I could, like, |
| 1:18.3 | be with my mom and be outside. But then, you know, being a single mother running a restaurant |
| 1:23.2 | with 119 employees in midtown Manhattan, you know, it's a lot. And so every Saturday I was like |
| 1:31.6 | in the kitchen with my own little chef coat with my name on it. And I was put in the pastry section. |
| 1:37.4 | I would hang out with the main chef Hans. And like these men, honestly, that learned from my |
| 1:43.3 | father that were mentored by my father would |
| 1:46.9 | just kind of take me around and like, I don't know, I just was always there and I was always with |
| 1:52.8 | them. And it was really beautiful because even though I didn't have that male presence for my dad, |
| 1:58.7 | like I had these other men that were like, we've got you. We're going to make |
| 2:01.8 | you feel at home. Yeah. So it was really beautiful from like an emotional perspective to have that, |
| 2:06.6 | but then also really hard because, you know, I was put in a party dress to go out on the floor |
| 2:12.1 | and like be with my mother and be with a guest and then put in her office until two in the morning, like sleeping |
| 2:19.0 | with two chairs put together. And then, you know, being brought home in the middle of the night |
... |
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