5 questions with a creator: Meet Lori from Cod Sounds
"When you tell people your idea and they think it's not worth pursuing and it probably won't work — let that be your permission to yourself that you have something totally different, and go with it."
Meet Lori - our creator from Cod Sounds. A wild chef, forager, hunter and educator, Lori is a woman of many culinary talents.
As a native Newfoundlander, her passion for her homeland is matched only by her passion for food culture. We’re excited for Lori to bring her passions and incredible culinary knowledge to virtual workshops on Boon.
We recently sat down with Lori to get to know her, her business, and her story a bit better. Here’s what we found out.
1) Tell us the story behind your business. How and why did you get into your field?
Cod Sounds is a combination from my two past lives I like to say. I’ve spent 20 years as a cook on Tall Ships, wonderful restaurants and most recently before Cod Sounds, had my own personal Chef business for 6 years before I gave it a rest to have my children. While I did spend a lot of my time in kitchens, I also worked on whale boats, was a kayak guide, a hiking guide, and am an all around outdoorsy person.
When the kids were quite small, I would spend hours hiking and foraging with them, having cook-ups in the woods and on the beaches, so these are traditions deeply rooted in our culture. About 8 years ago, I remember saying to my mom, “Imagine if people who came here to visit could experience this very simple experience of berry picking, sitting around the fire and enjoying our cultural foods…” And to make a long story short-ish, Cod Sounds was born.
2) Who's your personal role model or hero? Can you tell us a bit about why you admire them?
My role models are the generations that came behind me. The people who settled the island, who learned to live on this land where nothing grows for 8 months of the year. My mother who fed us beautiful homemade food. My father and my grandfathers who were hunters that fed our family and had the ingenuity to harvest and preserve.
3) Do you have a personal motto, manifesto or favorite quote that you live your life by?
This is funny one that comes from 20 years in professional kitchens, and for people having no idea how food gets on ones plate. Per Julia Child, "It looks so beautifully arranged on the plate - just know someones fingers have been all over it.”
4) Can you share a fun or quirky fact about yourself that not a lot of people know (or maybe wouldn't expect)?
For all the energy people seem to think I have, I go to bed at 8:30 pm and up at 5:00 am. It’s the farmer in me, as I grew up on a lamb farm. And another one is I am a wild game chef. I butcher my own animals, make my own bacon and breakfast meat.
5) If you had a time machine, what advice would you give to yourself as a young creator? What‘s your one piece of advice for creators just getting started on Boon?
When you tell people your idea and they think it's not worth pursuing and that it probably won’t work because they have never heard of anything like it — let that be your "permission" to yourself that you have something totally different and go with it.
This is how a true creator creates — allow yourself to be creative and be unaffected by opinions. If you are scared shitless, good, because you should be let that be "your rock", the thing that tells you that you care enough to be scared. Then run with it.
Listen and respect advise only from people that care for you, and just because you listen, that doesn't mean you have to take it.
To learn more about Lori and her online workshops, check out her Boon channel and inspiring Instagram account.