I’m Feeling Particularly Inspired This Week, and Hopefully After You Read This You Will Too!

This week I am feeling very inspired. And that is because I had the chance to spend time in a room with more than two hundred people who are all focused on food last week.

For those of you who may not know, I am an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America. I don't teach cooking; I teach about hospitality. Last week the CIA hosted the eleventh annual Menus of Change Leadership Conference. Menus of Change is a nationwide initiative that brings together chefs, scientists, educators and industry leaders to talk about the future of food and how we can create a more sustainable food system. It looks at the big picture: how food is sourced, how menus are designed, and how climate and health goals can be integrated to support a better future for all of us.

The reason I am sharing this with you is because I want you to understand how much what we are do as a mindful foodie matters. As a mindful foodie what you are all doing here mirrors what they are working to accomplish too. Where My Mindful Kitchen works from the bottom up by helping people build intention and meaning in their own kitchens, Menus of Change works from the top down by helping organizations build those same values into the broader food system. Both approaches are needed. One shapes daily habits. The other shapes the systems that support them. Real change happens when the two meet in the middle, and here is the part that matters most.

The industry leaders at Menus of Change are doing incredible work, but one of their biggest challenges is bringing the consumer into the conversation. That is where you come in. The choices you make at home, the intention you bring to your kitchen, it all ripples out and strengthens the foundation the industry needs in order to succeed.

Your daily actions reach your kids, your community, and eventually the world beyond your front door. Your values give their strategies momentum. Your choices give their innovations a place to land. You are not on the sidelines. You are a big part of the solution.

This is why I believe so deeply in what we are building together. A community of Mindful Foodies.  I ask you, who can you bring into this conversation? If you know someone who wants to jump on board, please share this with them. We need them here.