About Joshua Weissman
Joshua Weissman is a chef, cookbook author, and food media creator based in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Los Angeles and began cooking seriously as a teenager, losing over 100 pounds and publishing his first cookbook, The Slim Palate Paleo Cookbook, at age 17. He moved to Austin at 18 to pursue a career in professional kitchens, working at Odd Duck and spending nearly three years at Uchiko, including a lead cook position. In 2018, while still working at Uchiko, he began posting cooking videos on YouTube. He left the restaurant industry in 2019 to pursue the channel full time and has since built one of the largest culinary YouTube channels in the world, with over 10 million subscribers. His book Joshua Weissman: An Unapologetic Cookbook became a number one New York Times bestseller in 2021, and his follow-up Texture Over Taste also hit the Times list in 2023. He won a Streamy Award for People’s Choice Best in Food in 2025.
Episode Overview
André Natera sits down with Joshua Weissman to talk about what is actually happening in food media right now, how the rise of content creation has changed the way the public perceives professional cooking, and whether platforms like YouTube are helping or hurting the culinary industry’s credibility. Weissman speaks from both sides of the line, having worked in serious restaurant kitchens before building a media career that reaches an audience most chefs will never have access to.
They cover the difference between cooking for content and cooking for a kitchen, the Michelin Guide’s arrival in Texas and what it does and does not mean for the industry, how AI is beginning to reshape food content creation, and what it actually takes to build a culinary brand that scales without losing integrity. It is a candid conversation between two people who understand the industry from very different angles.
Topics covered in this episode:
- How food media has changed and what the new era of food influencers means for professional chefs
- The difference between cooking for content and cooking for a restaurant, and where the two intersect
- Whether social media chefs are helping or hurting the culinary industry’s standards and reputation
- The Michelin Guide in Texas and whether the recognition actually impacts the industry
- How AI is beginning to influence food content creation and what comes next
- Building a culinary brand that scales without losing identity or credibility
- What Weissman’s years at Uchiko taught him that shaped how he creates content today
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