Joseph Simcox

I thank the good lord for my parents. My father and mother deserve great credit for having raised us (me and my five siblings) with a most unique perspective on life. We all are non-conformist bohemians who value independence, free thought and the pursuit of knowledge. Looking back over my years I realize that what drives me is intricately linked to my parents. My mother instilled in me a great love for learning and my father a great love of nature and travel. Both taught us about hard work and perseverance.

Today even after hundreds of expeditions around the world the thrill of discovery never ceases. Each day that the god gives promises me to be another one of full of intrigue. I would not be who I am without the influence of hundreds of souls who have taught me, who have listened to me, who have criticized me and who have been generous with their time and friendship. If I succeed at carrying the torch and bringing my passion to others—so that they too stand in awe at the wonders of nature—I will feel that all the effort will have been worth it!

Patrick Simcox

My little brother is one hell of a man. It is hard to explain why he is so unique, but I will try. Unlike me, Patrick has a heart of gold for all. The underdog homeless man and the rich man are equal in his eyes and he proves it. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times the rest of us sit and wait for Patty to finish a conversation with someone! Almost everyone he meets somehow becomes a friend. Patrick leaves such an impression on people that even people who have met him once remember him and ask about him. Patty pierces the hearts of people with his sincerity… he really cares. Top that with his audacious looks (girls swoon for him), and his “life force” and you have one unusual character indeed.

Patty started going on expeditions with me decades ago, but it has only been in the last 8 years that he has truly become a global explorer in his own right. After traveling to countries as diverse as Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Botswana, Australia, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Dominican Republic and Namibia Patty has really made a name for himself as an explorer. He has discovered species new to science (still waiting to be described and named) and he has made expeditions to some of the most dangerous jungles on earth. His favorite? An expedition into the deep treacherous jungles of the Darien Gap in search of an only recently described new palm; the magnificent and appropriately named, Sabinaria magnifica.

Irish Caridad Vasquez Silva

Irish is the longest standing team member outside of family. She has been working with us since 2006.  Irish originally thought her only calling was that of being an architect, influenced by such greats as Mexico’s Luis Baragan and Riccardo Legorreta and Brazil’s Oscar Niemeyer, Irish sought to mingle man’s art with nature.   Irish did commissioned work for several Mexican private initiative projects.  One work she is particularly proud of was the design of the “Universidad del Golfo, campus Oaxaca” she was awarded that project by the Rector of the Universidad del Golfo in 2004. Her mandate was to create a campus that merged with the habitat.

Irish also completed several mega-projects for the state of Veracruz, one project for SEDESOL consisted of creating modernized private dwellings in 16 different locations for 500 indigenous families in the north of Veracruz State.  Irish was the chief of that project with over 150 people under her management.

An interest in food comes naturally for her, her great- grandmother of Veracruz state made a mole from scratch with over 16 ingredients. Her grandmother and mother carried on those traditions.

Irish’s first expedition with Team Simcox was to Chiapas and Guatemala.  From that time on she was smitten with the “Vida Loca”.

Over the years Irish has been on solo expeditions to places as diverse as Cuba, Ecuador and Colombia.  She has travelled throughout Europe, she lived in Rome for several months studying Italian.  Shas made hundreds of trips in Mexico and in 2019 spent 6 weeks on the Equatorial African expedition to Gabon and Cameroon.

Irish is the director of Nimitz il Namiki, (ilnamiki.com) which was founded in 2016 to dedicate efforts to cataloging, collecting and promoting the lost wild and cultivated food plants of Mexico.

Since 2007 Irish and the team have tracked down and eaten hundreds of Wild Mexican Food plants that have fallen into all but obscurity.

Irish is a diehard explorer, just don’t ask her to bathe with dirty water. In one desolate lodging establishment in Cameroon’s equatorial forest the water out of the faucet was brown, she demanded bottle water to wash her private parts…  saying “degustoso”….everyone has to have one capricious quirk!

Andreas Düren

Andreas is my son-in-law, so by default, he is a “member” of the clan. Add to that, he already has given me two precious granddaughters in whom I’m investing a lot of hope for creating a dynasty! Initially when my daughter was contemplating marrying Andreas, I decidedly was neutral, I said neither good nor bad about him, I reasoned that bad remarks would draw a knee-jerk reaction to validate him for my daughter. Compliments would suggest that she had done well in her choice. I wanted her to make her own decision not based on my influence. I figured the only thing that mattered was if they loved each other. Since that time, I have come to know Andreas well and am incredibly proud of calling him, my son-in-law. He has been on several major expeditions with me, including trips to Armenia, Georgia, the Peruvian Amazon, The Atacama Desert in Chile, and Dhofar in Oman. I think the Amazon expedition really broke the mold for Andreas, as his first really wild expedition I think it gave him the inspiration to seek out the wonders of nature. For a city boy from Bavaria, he did impressively well in the stifling heat and humidity of the jungle. He got bit up by insects, had heat rashes, and learned to sleep on wood floors; he did well. And he found his primal self… we would scream “Amazooon” … it was a male bonding moment in the wilds of a magnificent forest. He won’t likely forget that. Andreas studied Videography and Photography and worked in Rome for a Catholic News Channel. Since then, he has dramatically evolved his work and is working on creating documentaries and short films of our expeditions. He lives with my daughter and granddaughters in Bavaria, Germany. As for the upcoming films … many are already filmed waiting for him to have the time to edit them… let us say they are forthcoming. Where to next? Likely the South Pacific or South Africa.

Jason Piper

Our brother-in-law Jake, has been a part of the family for most of his life. I first encountered Jake when he was at my house visiting. I had already started the life of being a traveler and was back home from college. Jake was super interested in my travels and he would ask questions. Years went by and he had his chance to join us.

One of the first trips that Jake took was a solo trip to Kenya. I bought him an airplane ticket, set him up with some equipment and wished him the best. Jake ended up living in a travelers camp on the outskirts of Nairobi. The place he stayed was famous among backpackers; the wonderful domain of Ma Roche. Ma Roche was beloved by all, she took Jake under her arm and helped him out just like she did with so many of her guests. Jake’s most vivid memory of Nairobi has nothing to do with a matronly polish woman, rather it has to do with him being chased with a madman wielding a machete. Jake has been on expeditions all over the world with Team Simcox and a trip with out Jake is like a trip without sunshine!

Karen Golden

Chief-of Staff; My personal Spokesperson to the media.

My friend, Karen Golden has been a partner in crime for almost 8 years.  Our mutual love of tomatoes brought us together and since then I have corrupted her passions.  I remember the time I took her a treasure-trove of gorgeous beans that had collected and gathered from around the world.  I said “Karen, you likely will remember this day… The day that you have a new obsession.” 

She said “Why would I collect beans?” And I said look at these… and she was smitten. Over the last few years she has easily catapulted herself into the position of being one of the premier “bean” collectors in the world.   (She just confirmed, she has grown out 450+ varieties and landraces.)

Karen also single handedly grows out hundreds of hot pepper varieties, eggplants, tomatoes and other heirloom vegetables. She has yet to go on an expedition with me, but her “stability” is something that the team needs.

Early in 2019, I showed up at her house with 6 giant plastic containers filled with exceedingly rare seeds and she set to work cataloging them.  Her meticulous documentation and organized ways lend credibility to what I have done by frenetic pace all over the world.

Karen also has demonstrated over the years that she is the voice of calm and reason, I’ve asked her innumerable times to intercede on my behalf when there have been disputes and misunderstandings, most the times she humors me and will intercede.  Unfortunately, the more public I become the greater the need for Karen to use her inherent skills to my rescue.

She expects to go on the first expedition in 2020.  Who knows what that will provoke her to be obsessed with next!

Anthony B. Rodriguez

Anthony is now one of the team’s more seasoned explorer’s, since meeting him in 2014 at a Harvest festival in Wethersfield, Connecticut, USA.  Anthony has traveled the world.

His first grand expedition was thrown on him with less 24 hours notice, I remember calling him and asking him if he would be up to going on an expedition up the Peruvian Amazon, he asked; “When?”  I said; “Tomorrow!  “Hell Yeh” was his reply and in less than a day we were headed to the Peru.  That first trip probably sticks in his memory, because thanks to the “good” advice of my brother Patty, who assured him that he could eat a salad at a “supposedly” clean restaurant… he spent the next 4 days bed ridden rushing to the bathroom with explosive diarrhea.  That expedition opened up the skies and the road and in the next couple of years, he travelled as team photographer and videographer from Aruba to Surinam, to Armenia to Georgia.

Over the last couple of years, an extraordinary project has been born. Anthony is now leading a global effort to document the “Bananas of the World” His efforts have taken him with other team members from South America, to Australia, to Asia and to the South Pacific.

He has now tracked down dozens and dozens of wild species, “land-clones” and domesticated varieties, he has documented them, photographed them and eaten them. He is developing along with the team several major film and book projects and will surely be surprising the world with some amazing work.

Recently I spoke to him when he was in the South Pacific on a desolate island.  I asked… “How is the life of the explorer treating you?  “Damn hard, but it’s the best in the world.”

That sums up our addiction for doing what we do.

Svetlana Didik

Translator Russian, Ukrainian, and Romanian

I met Svetlana thanks to the recommendations of my friend Natalia Ciobanu of Chisnau, Moldova.  Natalia is an extremely wonderfulphotographer and she has a roster of portraits which is amazing.  You can see her work at: nataliaciobanu.com .  Anyway, Anthony and I were headed to the Ukraine and we realized we were in bad shape with translators, so I hurriedly asked Natalia if she knew of any beautiful women who could speak English, Ukrainian and Russian…she sent me a link of her photo shoot with Svetlana and said, “I think you guys will get along great.”  I wrote Svetlana an email and then spoke to her on the phone, she had a charming accent and had a very good grasp of English.  She remarked that she had studied Theater at The Slavik University of Chisnau, and also had mentored under Director Yuri Arkadyevich Harmelin at the Drama Theater “From Rose Street” also in Chisnau.   “So you are poised in front of the camera?”   I asked,  “Yes, and I can be charming.”  I told her we would meet in the Ukranian capital of Kiev and it was a deal.

I still laugh at our first expedition with Svetlana, we were renting some type of Lada and we ended up in the Carpathian mountains, they are beautiful, but the roads getting there were not!  Svetlana hadn’t  apparently done many road trips and she was certain the car would break down as we hobbled from one tremendous pothole to another.  After several hours she started to cry, Anthony felt terrible, I wasn’t so impressed, I told her to calm down, I had been on hundreds if not thousands of roads like this and we were going to be fine.  Eventually we headed east to Kharkiv, there we stayed in a boutique hotel that can only be called “fairytale” like.  Svetlana regained her composure in made-for-a-princess like surroundings and decided that expeditions were not so bad after all.

Since those hilarious first days, Svetlana has traveled to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Ngorny Kharabak and Cuba with our teams.  She has filmed several videos which are among our best including the Armenian Persimmon video. In 2020 she will likely accompany the team to many of the now independent states of the former Soviet Union.

A piece of advice… don’t challenge her to a duel, she is a national champion fencer  And a internationally acclaimed fencing coach!

Percy Ycomena

Director of South American Operations, wild food research, jungle logistics, jungle survival

I met Percy way in Iquitos Peru by accident, he pulled up to us while Patrick, Jake, Anthony and I were walking down the street.  He drove up on a sleek motorcycle, sporting safari clothes and shades and said… “You guys in for jungle adventure?”  Patrick ever the savvy traveler, said “ we could be, what are your qualifications?”  You see in Iquitos, there are probably hundreds of amazon tour gig guys each vying to capture your interest.  “well, Percy replied, I am a member of the Peruvian Special Forces Jungle Tactical Team, and I’ve lead hundreds of expeditions into the heart of the forest.”  “You have heh?  Said Jake.  “Do you know anything about jungle food?” I asked.  “Of course I do?” replied Percy.  The story of what followed is covered in my blog on the Amazon here on this website, you can read it for effect.

We made our decision to go with Percy because he really knows the jungle and he knows it incredibly well.  Since that first expedition which was astounding, and the basis for Anthony Rodriguez’s full length film. “The Fruitful Forest” (here is the link for Vimeo) :  https://vimeo.com/133834425

So successful was that first visit that our second amazon filming expedition also was organized under Percy’s support. In 2017 We led a film crew on expedition with Percy to the blackwaters of the Amazon and we recorded dozens of species of rare fruits and edibles.

Percy is presently taking charge of rainforest expeditions for our teams throughout South America and he is documenting edible plants as a part of our greater South American edible plant initiative.

Percy has many talents, but the one we hold him most in awe for is his ability to smell poisonous snakes!  “They have a bad odor he says…”. We are glad he knows the difference, we follow him in the jungle.:)

Percy’s website is:  http://greenwildamazonexp.com/index.html

Yu Onochi

Yu is a lowlife, that is not an insult but in modern Japan actually a cool thing to be. With millions of millennials working endless grinding jobs in offices and factories the allure of the country life is becoming something chic. Yu grew up as the quintessential Japanese urbanite, the son of a corporate shipping manager. His dad’s job took the family from the Tokyo suburbs to Los Angeles when Yu was fourteen.  Yu spent four of his teenage years in America and learned English very well. He moved back to Japan and he studied graphic arts.  Still he was not enchanted with the prospect of corporate life and he yearned to get closer to nature. Over a decade ago he met Mr. Noguchi  owner of  Noguchi Seed Company outside of Tokyo, it is a small company that specializes in rare Japanese heirloom varieties. Yu started working for Mr. Noguchi and has done so for the last ten years or so. 

That is why I met Yu, I wrote a letter to Mr. Noguchi, who speaks no English, and I received a wonderful reply back from Yu Onochi!  After some organizing, I was invited to visit.  After that visit Yu generously offered to help show me and Irina around Tokyo, we happily accepted and over a period of a couple of weeks became good friends.

We started to discuss the prospect of writing a book on weird edible plants and within a couple of days Yu had introduced us to the Editor of Straight books. A day later we had an agreement. Soon the book: “ Bizarre Edibles… Unknown Delicacies” will be printed in Tokyo.  Yu is a co-author of that book, and has been instrumental in its development and translation.

Since we met almost a year and a half ago, Yu has joined us on some amazing expeditions including to rural Japan, Sulawesi, West Papua, Argentina, Peru, Chile and a cross country US Christmas visit that included botanizing in Arizona and West Texas. 

I consider Yu an extraordinary loyal friend and colleague who I believe will help change the future of humanity due to his love of nature. It only takes a passionate Japanese lowlife…..

Ebony Gustave

In 2018 I gave a talk in Baja California.  I met many incredible people, but one young woman stood out for her vivacious and curious character.  That is how I met Ebony Gustave. She came up to me and I started talking with her and after we were closing our conversation I told her that if she ever wanted to travel the world and study plants and humanity I would give her the opportunity.  

She would later remark, that she thought my offer was “fake” because it sounded so exciting that it could not be true.  But, I have a way of proving to people that despite my “erratic” demeaner that I really am a dead serious person with a lot of discipline and strategy.  I invited Ebony to go on her first expedition to Hawaii to accompany Anthony on a mission to document an extremely rare Fehi banana that was reported to be fruiting.  

She took that opportunity, and in successive months since she began she has hopped from Malaysia to Southern Africa. She accompanied me on the extraordinary Equatorial African expedition to Gabon and Cameroon. 

Ebony, is petite, delicate and beautiful, but her appearance is deceiving. She is one of the toughest explorers that I have and in all the hardships and inconveniences on the road I’ve actually never heard her complain.

She is a vegan, this often leaves her withy very scant food resources other than our powder food reserves and peanut butter and banana sandwiches!

She is presently lost somewhere in the wilds of Northern India. 

Lusine Zakalashvili

A good Armenian friend of mine, Arevik Simonyan of Yerevan (who also is an extraordinary translator and has worked with me) was unable to accommodate our expedition so she suggested I get a hold of this multi-lingual girl by the name of Lusine.  The appointment was set up at our hotel and Lusine came in with a big smile and lots of exuberance. 

“How well do you speak English?” I asked, She responded quick as a whip, no hesitation, “ Good enough to argue in it!”  well this is impressive, I thought, a whippersnapper. 

Just being able to translate doesn’t make you a good candidate for the team, I briefed her on the rigors of our trips and told her of my expectations, the pressures and the protocol.  

“I will be very demanding on you, at times, I may even be harsh to people, and your job will be to help me convey my thoughts “as precisely as possible”.  I don’t like translators who try to smooth my words, I want as close to the tense and emotion as possible.   She agreed.  Then I asked … “Do you like adventure?”  “Do you like to learn?”  “Do you read books?”  “Do you like people?”  “: Are you at ease talking to and questioning strangers?”  “Do you get car sick?” She answered all of these to my liking, I turned to Andreas my son-in-law and asked “What do you think?” He concurred, she was great.  Since that first encounter in 2017, Lusine has accompanied us on three expeditions, All over Armenia with a film crew, and Also to Georgia and to the “no man’s land” Ngorny Kharabak.  

She speaks almost perfect English, sophisticated and elegant, and Armenian, Russian and Georgian.  In the Caucus areas where we were these languages were indispensable.

Lusine is also helping on several projects that we are coordinating in Armenia for Agricultural development, she is working on our strategy for “Bio” countries, and she is current with our goals for rural diversity farming.

Lusine will likely be on several expeditions in 2020 to former Soviet Union Countries.

Andreas Domonyai

Director of African continent-wide projects and expeditions, and agricultural development.

Andreas said he has been following my work for years now, and indeed our first communications go back to around 2013!  Our first opportunity to actually meet in person came in October 2019 when I finally accepted his invitation to meet and flew into Mombasa,my  Kenya to do so.

Andreas’ work centers on Agricultural development and the promoting of new crops to develop agricultural resiliency in Africa.  He studied Non-Profit economics at the University of Pecs in Hungary.  Over the years he has worked in DRC (Congo) and many localities in Kenya.  He loves Africa despite the hardships and challenges and is a diehard explorer.

He is fluent in English, speaks French, Swahili and Hungarian.

In November of 2019, Andreas was the co-leader of our four country expedition that took us from Kenya, to Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.  On that trip we documented several dozen edible wild plant species and recorded many unusual domesticated edibles as well.

Among the highlights of that expedition was encountering at close proximity Mountain Gorillas in habitat  in Rwanda while documenting the food plants that they ate .  The photo of Andreas here is proof of that encounter!

Andreas will be leading several of our teams on trans-national expeditions in Africa in 2020 and he will be representing our teams on various development projects, diversity gardens and diversity agendas in Africa and the world.

He has several strange habits, but one of the most unusual is a passion for testing out noxious canned and bottled beverages.  Local aberrations that he revels in! Cheers Andreas!