Video Transcript:
Chapter 2 - Sebastian & His Obsessive Chocolate Disorder
Transcript:
Narrator (Annie): "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Forrest Gump may have said it first but it might as well been me. I can also tell you that life is like a movie but most of us are often too distracted to see it. To tell you how Sweetduet came to be, we must rewind the clock... It was called Obsessive Chocolate Disorder and it was in this basement kitchen on 4th St that I learned everything I know about chocolate. "My chocolate obsession began when I was working in a little chocolate shop in Lower East Side, Manhattan." This chocolate shop.
Sebastian: And he knew he had a shy charm, so he acted, like, really cute. He would kind of tepidly go into parties and kind of go like that. Everyone has their thing, you know?
Annie: Did you have a shy charm when you were younger?
Sebastian: Not shy.
Annie: Oh, and then what was your charm?
Sebastian: My charm was a mixture of empathy, humor and and wanting to be the leader of a gang.
Narrator: Empathetic, underdog, his humor laced with a controversial twist... But anyone who really knows Sebastian would know he is so much more than that. Grandson of Bertolt Brecht, mad scientist, chocolate genius, and most importantly, one of the most generous humans I've ever known. In addition to actual OCD, he has an obsession towards perfecting his craft and making people happy with his creations. He passed that obsession onto me. Obsessive Chocolate Disorder was the neighborhood safe haven on East 4th Street where the neighborhood underdogs came seeking comfort in chocolate and the latest gossip.
Annie: Oh, so close. Is all the sugar we have?
Sebastian: I have to go to the store. Oh no baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoon. This will be for the baking soda flour, cocoa powder.
Annie: So do you want me to adjust the the recipe to this? Or are you going to get it?
Sebastian: Oh, I don't know. Let me think.
Narrator: Returning to 4th St was like coming home and while it felt as though nothing had changed, this time around, the pandemic and a greedy corporate investor had left him with a closed shop.
Annie: He's just getting constant visitations, despite the fact that he's been closed for the last three weeks or so. It was a particularly challenging time for all of us... myself included with Sweetduet... but it didn't stop Sebastian from coming into the shop to test out his recipes, day in and day out. It was an obsession. There it is, that OCD side of him.. it used to drive me crazy but I worked around it, by taking the cash for myself after a day's worth of work. He never did end up picking it up that day, so I did.
Annie: You got someone if you want to just wave or whatever you want to do.
Marcus: You want to you want to stay in the game?
Sebastian: Oh yeah. I love cooking.
Marcus: Let me let me give you my number.
Annie: You're on camera If you are up here, Just so you know.
Marcus: I'm looking to be famous.
Sebastian: This guy. I don't think he’s camera shy. I don't like being photographed.
Marcus: But you don't like it.
Sebastian: No.
Marcus: You know what fame is? It's a curse.
Sebastian: It is. I was thinking about that the other day.
Marcus: But feels good at the time. It absorbs you more into the falseness of ego. Trap. You can't get out.
Sebastian: Man, Nice to see you.
Marcus: I’m building a great kitchen uptown. Maybe you might want to come into the kitchen and do something in a neighborhood where there's a lot of rich people.
Annie: What is it called?
Marcus: It’s called Good Sugar. Which is my second, my second vegan juice bar in New York. My first one was juice press.
Annie: Yes, Juice Press.
Marcus: It's going to be great.
Annie: Good sugar because you're using fruit as sugar?
Marcus: Because everything in the plant Kingdom is nothing more than carbohydrate. So it's all good sugar, isn't it?
Annie: That's true. I’m going to go across the street and get myself a sandwich.
Annie: Soft vanilla, caramel up top, soft vanilla. It's become more elegant.
Sebastian: It was very weird for me to go back from vegan to non vegan.
Annie: How do you feel about that? That's kind of cool. It's a superpower. if you think about it, you got really good at it.
Sebastian: I did a lot of interesting things.
Annie: Yes, you did.
Sebastian: I can't say I like dairy chocolates more than I like vegan.
Annie: Really! Did that surprise you?
Sebastian: Vegan ones are lighter, Yeah.
Annie: So what is your vision for your next store? Is it going to be called OCD?
Sebastian: Probably not if it’s with a high-powered investor. Probably my name. I’m not sure. I mean, you know such a long way from someone being interested in opening a chocolate chocolate for you to actually opening a chocolate chocolate.
Annie: Do you feel like you learned a lot through this whole experience?
Sebastian: You mean the bad experience? Annie: I mean everything. Good and the bad. Sebastian: You know, I learned that.
Directed and Narrated by Annie Woo
Location:Â New York, NY, USA
Sweetduet featured in this episode:
