Food at our fingertips—and what comes next?

“Mom, you’re either on your computer or in the kitchen making food!”

I hear this perspective often from my children. They witness me clicking away at my keyboard, texting a client, editing food images on my phone, plucking parsley leaves from stems, or turning sourdough. They believe everything I do revolves around food.

What they don’t see is my commitment to my work and my wellbeing—and theirs. What’s unclear to them are my intentional efforts to walk my talk. Yet I hope that’s what you, my readers, will take away from my writings.

Since last summer, I’ve had the fortitude to write about any topic of interest in my column, Clean Food, Messy Life, published by 5BGazette. While my previous column focused on nutrition, this column, titled after my food memoir, has become a fruitful way to convey food as a way of living consciously—how we care for ourselves and the Earth; how we find home within ourselves and build community; how we respond to life stressors, schedules and social pressures; how we make choices reflecting our values; and how we consider nourishment as art, culture and pleasure.

Perhaps my kids are right, after all—their mama sees the world through food.

I’m not alone! Many of my clients think about food all the time—some border on obsessive-compulsive behaviors (we work through those patterns); others have medical conditions that have made them incredibly sensitive to many foods (we work to heal the gut and restore immune function); and others throw spaghetti at the wall, so to speak, with supplements, superfoods, short-term cleanses and/or strict diets that confuse their minds and bodies.

Still others are legit foodies, depending on how you classify this term. I see certain people regularly at farmers markets and community gardens; sense camaraderie with individuals shopping at health food stores or eating at farm-to-table restaurants; and geek out on the alchemy of sourdough, the textures of plant-based desserts and recognizable (or not) ingredients on food labels.

I align with those who care where their food comes from and, most of the time, make deliberate choices about what or where to eat. I believe we all want to feel well. Parents want to feed their kids well. Athletes want to perform well. Chefs want to feed their clientele well. Grocers want to sell their products well. Farmers want to cultivate their land well.

But choosing food is about more than simply wanting to feel well. It’s about making connections between what we consume, how well we digest our food, and how we feel. It can be a long and complicated journey to comprehend, so I understand why many people keep food consciousness on the back burner.

A gazillion food options are literally at our fingertips, everywhere we go. This is both a blessing and a curse. Modern life has made food ridiculously easy to access, mindlessly consume and inadvertently devalue.

Food can be the sustenance of life, or it can be the bane of one’s existence. It’s political, economical, ecological, emotional, cultural, personal and historical—and, for many, spiritual, communal and pleasurable. Besides sleep, clothes and money, food is something we must address multiple times each day. Some studies indicate we make more than 200 food-related decisions daily.

My current food musings impact people I’ve known for a few weeks and those I’ve known for decades. A high school friend recently shared that she loves my Facebook posts. While she’ll likely never eat as intentionally as I do, every day she makes efforts to think more clearly about how her choices impact herself and her family. A newer client shared that our work together has helped her reconsider food as nourishment, rather than reduce it to “fuel” or “calories.”

In 59 articles written for 5BGazette, I’ve written about USDA organic labeling, new dietary guidelines, glyphosate and other nutrition nuances in our modern food and healthcare systems; different ways people in our community gather around, teach and honor local food; the importance of supporting small farms, artisan producers and food grown the way nature intends; how proper nourishment serves artists, participants at healing retreats and women at skill-share gatherings; the wisdom of nettles and psychedelics; nutrition deep dives on dietary fats, animal versus plant proteins and sugars; recipes for summer mocktails, wholesome camping foods and healthy holiday treats; “how-to” tips for creating well-balanced road-trip foods, nourishment while traveling and committing to self-care; mindful meal traditions, being resourceful about procurement, food privilege in America—and more.

There is more information to share and new perspectives to unearth!

Alas, this is my farewell article with 5BGazette. I will be moving on to other platforms, continuing to inquire, discover and write stories about food, nutrition and wellbeing. Please follow along.

In doing so, I will remain committed to this community, my clients, family, friends and neighbors. I will accept excess lettuce from summer gardens, homemade cardamom buns leftover from market day, and gratitude from my clients who are thriving. When invited, I will teach about sourdough and the microbiome; offer advice about low iron in community gardens or liver supplements in grocery store aisles; and create custom menus for meaningful food experiences.

And I will aim to be an open-minded mama because my kids, too, have food at their fingertips.

My son grows crops, stores meat and lures chickens into his Minecraft home. He helps me research the best artisan pastries to sample while traveling. My daughter uses flour and water to make a papier-mâché jellyfish, collects bananas, butter and groovy fruit Needohs, and brings snacks to her friends at rehearsal. They fight over which probiotic or home-canned juice to add to sparkling water. They love kombucha, kraut and kefir.

They also conspire against me and beg for the Standard American foods I refuse to purchase for us. (Yet, on rare occasions, I give in.)

Because perhaps this is what I’ve been trying to teach all along: food is not just fuel we put into our bodies—it reflects how we participate in life.

It is the garden we tend, the meal we share, the pastry we savor, the recipe we inherit, the food we preserve, the farmer we support, the table where we gather and the choices we make when no one is watching.

Food is at our fingertips. What we do with it is up to us.

Thank you, 5BGazette, for giving me a place to explore these ideas—and thank you, readers, for coming along for 59 stories.

I hope you’ll continue the conversation with me. I’ll be writing, questioning, cooking, learning and telling stories in new places, including my Substack account, on social media and via my podcast. If you’ve found something meaningful here, please come find me in one of those places—and bring your messy, beautiful relationship with food along with you.