Conversations with Mike Castaneda

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Castaneda.

Hi Mike, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Im a 37 yr old disabled veteran born and raised in a small town called Wellington in Kansas. I’ve always loved eating good food, and I knew if I wanted to eat well, I would have to learn to cook well. Both sides of my family have great cooks, so I immersed myself in it as early as possible. While in the Army, I was a food writer for Traeger grills and a traveling chef and then was named one of the top ten cooks in America by Food Network on All-Star Academy. After I left the Army, I started cooking for many amazing people in international touring bands like Lauren Daigle and A Day to Remember. Then I was connected in the KC area with people like the KC Chiefs Spencer Ware, the amazing guys at KC Cattle Company, Dante Hall, then KC Royals Whit Merrifield. When I’m not running around a kitchen, I spend time with my amazing wife Lindsay, 3 kids, and wild puppy Thor.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
It is crazy how much goes into the food. I started just as a guy in a small town who loves to eat, then into recipe development, into travel chef work, then to catering, then to a food truck. I remember flying into NYC and thinking, “I’m flying into the Food Network headquarters because of how I cook. I can’t get any better than this!” But somehow, it always has. It’s been a tough road, and I always say it’s not catering without something going wrong, but you always find a way to adapt and overcome. When you want to show up and share your passion and love, and a generator doesn’t want to work, or your stove isn’t turning on for some reason, you just have to be creative and find new ways to power through. Or when we went to cater for Dante Hall in a quick event and found out the kitchen only had a conduction stove top. None of the provided pans worked, we scrambled to a nearby apartment and found a couple we could borrow to make the event happen quickly, and everything was smooth from then on out!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I love thinking outside of the box. I want people to think about every element of their dish and how it could be changed or improved. It’s not about nitpicking but more about what this would be like if it were different. When I’m making a meal at home, it could be a great and perfectly fine meal, but I’m always thinking, how can it be better next time? Let’s say there’s a tomato in it. Should it have been a purée? Should it have been roasted? How could we have changed that flavor profile somehow to make it something different or possibly better? Did I use water? Should I have used stock? I could go on and on. Now I get to do what I love on my food truck Devour (@devourfoodtruck), and work with great local businesses like The Dore in my hometown doing pop-ups, recipe development, and menu creation.

We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
I’ve always been a shy and quiet guy. The people who know me see me open up a bit, but when Food Network talked to me, they kept saying, “good news: you’re moving forward to the next round” and would need more paperwork, another interview, or something like that. Then I remember getting the call, and they said, “good news,” and I was thinking ok, what do you need next? Then they said, “you’re in! You’re on the show!” Immediately felt like I was going to throw up. It’s so out of my comfort zone to be on tv or to get in front of a camera, but I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I had to take it to see where it would lead me

Contact Info:

• Website: www.foodiemikec.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/foodiemikec
• Facebook: Facebook.com/foodiemikec
• Youtube: YouTube.com/foodiemikec