Meet Me At the Table
My goal with this blog is to bring you perspectives from my past, peppered with insights and facts on the future of food, farming and health – providing “food for thought, action and personal responsibility.” As a registered dietitian and a sixth generation farm owner in Kentucky, the connection of farm to plate is part of my DNA. I have spent my career navigating the connections between food, health, agriculture and consumer behavior. Together, we will dig into the complex and ever-changing story of who grows our food, what’s in our food, and how food affects our health and ultimately our lives.
Wake Up! We Can Do Better! Take the “2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans” to Heart to Make Every Bite Count
We all consider ourselves food “experts” regardless of our backgrounds, age, gender or social economic status. We eat to live (or in some cases live to eat) and frankly, food is the core of our existence. During COVID-19, we have rediscovered the “joy of cooking” at...
Recharge and Reset … Rockin’ Resilience in the New Year
“Don’t let the door hit you on your way out” may be one of the more appropriate phrases as we bid adieu to 2020. What a way to start a decade! In my January 2020 blog, I wrote, “What will happen in the next 10 years to feed the world? And restore consumers’ trust in...
The Gift of Food … Beyond the Holidays
Spending more time in the kitchen in the past few weeks baking cookies or busy perusing online options for food gift baskets? Tis the season! But in reality, food is our gift every day to receive and give. In this unique and challenging year, we suddenly realized that...
Unwrapping the Package — What’s Underneath the Label?
I learned at an early age that the contents of a package don’t always match the outside label. My mother was resourceful, so using a box for the second or third time seemed quite appropriate! This year, in our quest to ship holiday packages to family and friends with...
How Do We Keep Our “Love for Cooking”?
Cooking fatigue or cooking inspiration? Which of these terms describe you? After all it’s December and our usual annual return to the kitchen for holiday cooking is not unique this year. We have been in the kitchen since March. According to consumer research, over 80%...
Reflections of Resiliency … Actions Speak Volumes
This is not a usual Thanksgiving season. But it is our reality. Perhaps this year our celebration reflects more accurately the resiliency of our forefathers 400 years ago at Plymouth Rock than our modern, relatively-trouble free 20th century life. As described in a...
The Tale of Kale … More than a Pretty Plate!
For many, sourdough bread has been the center of focus in the kitchen during the pandemic. For me, it’s been kale! What started as an opportunity to grow a few leafy greens in our backyard in early spring — while being “confined” to home — has become a focal point of...
Beneath the “Health Halo” — Plant-Based Meat Alternatives
Note: This blog was written jointly by Marianne Smith Edge and Jennifer Garrett based on their recent article, "The Nutritional Limitations of Mimicking Meat” published in the July/August 2020 issue of Cereal Foods World. Quick, what is the first word that comes to...
Family Meals – The Link to Staying Strong During the Pandemic and Beyond
Family meals were the routine and not the exception when growing up on the farm. Over the years, work and travel schedules have definitely impacted the frequency of family meals for my husband and me. And we didn’t have the influx of children’s sports and school...
“Mind the Gap” on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
The warning “mind the gap” is a constant reminder when one steps off a London underground train, reminding you to watch out for the gap between the rail track and platform. As consumers, we need to be mindful of the continuous gap we, as a society, have when it comes...