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.
In Case You Were Wondering ….
Recently, one of my friends, a culinary extraordinaire, asked me a simple but complicated question: “Why can I only find 20 pound turkeys at the grocery store when I am only cooking for two?” Even though I didn’t have an informed answer at the time, I knew I could...
Time to Reset Our Expectations? Let’s Be Realistic, Resilient and Respectful
“Don’t Panic We Have Food” was the headline of my early March 2020 blog as some of us saw empty grocery shelves for the first time. Today, shelves aren’t empty but there may be some gaps. The availability of the endless variety of food and supplies is waning while the...
Pass the Pepper and Hold the Salt?
Salt, butter and a little sugar were common seasonings in our household growing up. My mother may have used too much salt in her cooking at times but there was a healthy respect for limits as she had to control her high blood pressure. However, home cooked meals and...
Why Family Mealtime Is Time Well Spent
It’s National Family Meals Month and guest author, Jordan Hinton, senior dietetic student at the University of Kentucky, provides insights on why family mealtime is important: Eating with the people we care about brings us closer. Not only does sitting around a table...
What Will It Take to Eat More Fruits & Veggies? Recognize There Is a Problem!
We read books, take courses and enroll in programs that help us improve our minds, behaviors or moods. Regardless of the subject, the recommended first step is usually the same: recognize there is a problem. When it comes to our fruit and vegetable consumption, as a...
A Two-for-One Celebration — Blending the Best of Both Worlds
September is National Mushroom Month and National Veggies and Fruit Month. By combining mushrooms with a traditional meat choice such as the hamburger, we can add more vegetables to our diet and enjoy the best of both the plant and animal worlds. The “blended burger"...
Ice Cream … Any Time Is a Good Time!
Growing up in the Smith household, a celebration or special time of the year wasn’t required for ice cream. There was always a half of gallon in the freezer as the backup dessert or an addition to homemade brownies, as a meal was not complete without dessert according...
The Water Reality — Bright Green Lawns or Food on the Table?
Drought and extreme heat in the western United States have dominated the headlines over the past couple of months. We see pictures of fallow farm land too dry to plant and Lake Mead in Nevada at its lowest point ever. Unless we are living with the stark realities of...
Get the Facts: Dairy Is Not the Enemy
Speaking from experience, it’s not easy to be a dairy farmer regardless of the size of the farm or the era in which it operates. Even though it’s been 30 years since cows grazed the pastures of my family farm, the passion and commitment of my late father can still be...
Is It Crush or Crunch Time? Taking a Bite of “Bug Nature” May Be New Norm
The chorus of cicada sounds may be quieting in our backyards and woods but the sound of bug “crunching” remains. Seventeen years ago, when the last cycle of Brood X cicadas was populating our yards and sidewalks, the thought of eating them wasn’t top of mind for most...