MATTHEW BEAUDIN: I ALMOST DIED TELLING THIS STORY / THE POWER OF ONE / STORIES FROM THE FIELD
MATTHEW BEAUDIN: I ALMOST DIED TELLING THIS STORY / THE POWER OF ONE / STORIES FROM THE FIELD  
Podcast: Fell Into Food Podcast
Published On: Mon Apr 06 2026
Description: Most people talk about sustainability from a conference stage. Chef Matthew Beaudin talks about it from a trash beach in Ghana where someone just threatened to stab him.Matthew is a VP of Culinary for Higher Education, and he's spent the last decade logging 250 to 280 days a year on the road — Vietnam, Ghana, the Mekong Delta, a barbecue joint in Texas where he got the last two sandwiches because he happened to be wearing his chef coat. He didn't set out to become a food journalist or a culinary advocate. He set out to see it for himself. And somewhere between going blind in a hotel room in Vietnam, coughing up blood, and making a connecting flight through South Korea while running a full-body infection — he decided that's exactly where he belongs.This conversation goes everywhere. We talk about why he went all-in on higher ed dining, what a room full of CIA chef students taught him about Gen Z, and why sustainability isn't expensive — your restaurant is just greedy. We also get into the Cocoa Research Institute in Ghana, the first one ever built, and what it means that a group of scientists are racing to preserve the integrity of cocoa before we engineer it into something unrecognizable — the same way we did with corn and tomatoes.Two small-town kids who had the same itch to get out. This one goes deep.SocialsMatthew Beaudin Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-beaudin-83424b14/Time Stamps0:00 — Intro: Why Matthew Beaudin's Work Hits Different0:47 — Two Small Town Kids: Kansas, IL and Lincoln, NH2:52 — VP Culinary Higher Ed — Why Now7:10 — The CIA Speech He Thought Was Bombing (It Wasn't)10:05 — Why Gen Z Actually Wants to Make a Difference13:35 — How to Inject Real Change Through Contract Management16:53 — Surge, Red Dye #40, and What We Actually Ate Growing Up18:47 — The Last Brisket Sandwich in Texas19:35 — LinkedIn and the Art of Sharing Real Moments22:42 — AI Saturation and Betting on Being Real24:31 — The Mekong Delta Boat That Almost Capsized26:43 — Going Blind and Coughing Blood in a Vietnam Hotel at 3AM28:12 — The Trash Beach in Ghana and Nearly Getting Stabbed32:08 — Why He Uses His Platform for Voices That Can't Get Out32:42 — "There's Something Broken in Me"37:29 — Inside Ghana's Cocoa Research Institute with Cho Chocolate42:09 — Sustainability Isn't Expensive — Your Restaurant Is Just Greedy43:10 — Jeff's University Beef Program: What Actually Worked45:32 — How Do You Actually Tell the Story to Diners?48:15 — Fear of Doing Nothing50:42 — What Matthew Eats When No One's Watching52:40 — Advice for the Next Generation: Believe in the Power of One54:19 — Where to Find Chef Matthew BeaudinListen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g_5kFXieApple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4Pandora - https://lnkd.in/gS-wu_YJYouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFoodLinkedin: linkedin.com/company/fell-into-foodInstagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_foodFacebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofoodFellintoFood.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy