Eating at a Meeting

This is a special Women's HERstory month edition Tracy does every March. Aliza Tuttle is combining her own personal experiences with food. Growing up volunteering with her grandma in the local soup kitchen, studying food systems and urban studies in college to understand the systemic issues that affect food and inequality, and personally experiencing food insecurity and time poverty — to help build community and help the economy through food. As a volunteer with the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition's Food Action Team during the early days of the pandemic she helped start a group that used crowd funding to buy meals from locally owned restaurants and then gave the meals to anyone who needed a gift of food. It's On Us (IOU) Corvallis has raised over $300,000 and given out 30,000 meals so far. Listen as Tracy and Aliza talk about how IOU Corvallis has been helping the local economy by distributing gift cards to locally owned businesses so people who may not otherwise be can pay full price for food, restoring the food system to one place and one payment method. Useful Links https://itsonuscorvallis.org/ https://www.instagram.com/itsonus_corvallis/ https://www.facebook.com/itsonusCorvallis/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alizatuttle/ Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Sera Cuni is a classically trained chef who grew up in a family of self-taught cooks who enthusiastically embraced their Italian and Czech heritages. She also learned early in life that the sharing a home-cooked meal together every evening was a necessary ingredient for an abundant life. Now as chef owner of The Root Cellar, she has built her career around feeding people and feels especially compelled to provide nourishment to those in need. Join Tracy and Sera today, Wednesday, March 23 at 12PM as they talk about her commitment to ending hunger in Pittsboro, North Carolina and help those around her to never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Back in April 2016, SAVEUR said New Jersey was "the unsung hero state of American eating." From Taylor Ham to Jersey Sloppy Joes, Trenton Tomato Pie (pizza) to Boardwalk Lemonade & Fries, Pechter's Rye Bread to Cranberries, blueberries and tomatoes, magazine deemed the Garden State is "the most edible state" with a rich, diverse, and passionate food culture. But you do not need to tell that to Kathleen Carozza, Alessia Aron or Liz Pacelli, food tour owner operators and co-founders of the New Jersey Food Tour Trail Collaborative. These women, along with four others, banded together when the pandemic hit to connect their respective food tour companies and help food lovers to explore New Jersey’s diverse and delicious food scene in a fun and exciting ways while also learning about local history. Listen as Tracy chats with Kathleen, Alessia, and Liz about how they foster community and connection through food across the Garden State, their favorite stories behind the local food scenes, the cool food and beverage entrepreneurs in NJ and how best to enjoy the whole Trail. This special episode is part of Women's HERstory month, highlighting women in food and beverage. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

As a toddler, this week's Women's HERStory month honoree studied her Persian grandma’s movements in her kitchen while she deftly tossed in spices to stews that cooked for hours until the meat was so tender it slipped off a fork, rehearsing an act long practiced and learned from her own mother. Today, Tala Ahmadi is inspiring people in Accra, Ghana (and across Africa) to think critically about where their food comes from, how it is processed, and the effects it has on their health, and the planet. Through her work as a CEO of a small urban farming company, a senior project manager with a digital agriculture consultancy firm, a yoga teacher, and a permaculturist, she supports her clients in living a more sustainable lifestyle within the city through what we term "permaculture homestead" structures. Listen as Tracy and Tala as they talk about how Tala, after years of designing financial solutions for smallholder farmers, she decided to give farming a try herself and now has her own thriving urban food forest in her backyard. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

After years of participating/attending food and beverage festivals and not seeing themselves represented, restaurateurs Subrina and Chef Gregory Collier decided to start their own. Eighteen months later the Bayhaven Food & Wine Festival was born, celebrating Black culture. "highlighting the richness of Black culinary traditions and advancing Black cuisine in innovative ways." Listen in as Tracy is chats with them at the beginning of Women's History Month about how they were inspired by women in their own families. Useful Links www.leahandlouise.com https://www.facebook.com/leahandlouise https://instagram.com/leah_and_louise Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

As an Ecuadorian anthropologist, writer, and filmmaker Pilar Eguez Guevara uses her independent food education and media company to highlight the value in the local knowledge about food. Carried and preserved by elders through food traditions, she create spaces of belonging through the empowerment that comes from the access to knowledge about the value of traditional foods. Join Tracy and Pilar as they discuss how understanding and respecting traditional food knowledge is a way to re-generate or recover a sense of belonging, self-appreciation, pride and self-worth through our cultural traditions. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Did you know that wine, beer, and spirit manufacturers are not required to tell you what's in their products? It's true. Amanda Thomson, CEO, and Founder of Thomson & Scott Noughty Alcohol-Free Wine wants to change that - especially at it relates to wine. On Wednesday, March 9 for Women's HERstory Month, I'm chatting with THE woman taking the wine world by storm with her organic, alcohol-free, vegan, halal, no-added-sugar wine while also leading the movement toward greater transparency in wine labeling. Amanda's grit, tenacity, and hugely ambitious vision has landed her as Business Insider's Coolest People in Food and Drink, an EY Winning Woman in Business, and Le Cordon Bleu Paris award for Best Wine Concept. Join me as Amanda and I chat about why we should all care about what's in our wine, who and what inspires her and how she works to amplify other women in business. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

To kick off Women's HERstory month, Tracy is chatting with Jamie Gonzalez, aka the “Puta De La Fruta," who has, since 2020, partnered with over 50 organizations to distribute more than 3 million pounds of food. With the mantras “Everybody Eats” and “Cultivating Community” she is using her voice and her experience to help people find pathways to quality, affordable, and healthful food choices. Her professional and philanthropic feeding efforts — and actions — are creating private-public partnerships that show there are better ways to feed people, while promoting accessibility, supporting an equitable food system and the economic stability of local food economies, and creating meaningful experiences with produce. Listen in as Tracy and Jamie talk about how she got here, her greatest accomplishment (so far) and how she intends to continue to ensure that everyone has the right to have the same access and meaningful experiences with food. Useful Links https://marketbox.big-state-produce.com https://www.instagram.com/putadelafruta/ https://www.facebook.com/putadelafruta/ www.linkedin.com/in/putadelafruta https://www.instagram.com/bigfreshmarketbox/ Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Who says that eating plant-based cannot have flavor? I am sure there are a lot of people who do, but not Chef Robin Asbell. A vegetarian since 1980, Robin is the least preachy veg-head you know. Most of her friends are omnivores and she cooks meat for her private clients. She is more into living it than talking about it at parties and really believes that teaching people to enjoy eating more plants and less meats is going to have a bigger impact than pushing strict rules on people. Fun Fact: Robin is probably the first chef to teach Tracy about the nutritional aspects of juicing 8 years ago when she taught a cooking class in Atlanta. Listen as Robin and Tracy catch up and chat about how every cuisine or style of cooking can easily be adapted to have delicious whole grain and plant-based options on the menu — even barbecue and burger joints. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Coming Live from Las Vegas on the final day of PCMA Convening Leaders, Tracy reports on what she saw and heard about food and beverage at the convention, around town, and through the convention partners who are showcasing their cities. Tracy covers presentation styles, labeling, room sets, and ancillary events. She even takes a tour around the main area of the show so you can see how it is set-up. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com