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.
Let’s Ring Out the Old (Habits) & Zero in on Food Waste in 2022
“Food waste is a serious issue!” was the first line of a blog I wrote in January 2019. Fast forward to 2022 and we’re still talking about eliminating food waste, but what are we DOING about it? Even with my “don’t toss food” upbringing, I admit that my refrigerator...
Move Over GMO — Bioengineered is the New Label in Town
Amid the chaos of the holidays, supply chain disruptions and rising food insecurity issues, headlines are popping once again about GMOs or foods containing GMOs as a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) labeling law took effect on January 1. The law, known as the...
Food for Thought — Good Reads for Your List
If you’ve been on any Zoom calls or webinars with me over the past two years, you know I like books (and no, this is not a staged backdrop). Regardless of the virtual and audio options available today, from my perspective, there is nothing like a book in your hand (or...
Tracking Trends for 2022 — It’s Vintage with a Technology Twist
“What is old is new again” may be the perfect description of the coming food and agriculture trends in 2022. When you look at new products on the “must have” lists, it is clear that consumers desire to connect their health back to nature. Turmeric, sunflower seeds,...
Sustainable Agriculture — Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Perspectives from the Sustainable Ag Summit
For those of us who grew up with “dirt under our fingernails” or are currently engaged in raising cattle or crops from almonds to corn, it can be easy to say, “sustainable agriculture has always been at the core of our existence.” However, sustainable farming...
Cross Your T’s for Food Safety in the Kitchen
During a recent CBS Sunday Morning show, one of the segments highlighted the “Do’s and Don’ts” of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Based on a 2015 Thanksgiving Day power outage in Seattle when folks had to pull turkeys out of ovens before they were fully cooked, the...
Our Holiday Meals — Pricey But Truly Priceless
We are starting to regain some normality to the holidays but amid our anticipation, looming headlines about the price of food hit us in the face and pocketbook. Regardless of the media source, there is a consistent theme: our Thanksgiving dinner (and future holiday...
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...