I’m a researcher and writer within food culture and the food and drinks industry.
Where were you born and where do you live now?
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. I’ve lived in London, England for the last 18 years.
How you describe what you do?
My freelance work is centred around people and individual stories, personal and community history and how it intersects with food. My more corporate-leaning work involves researching around wider food trends and trying to understand the social drivers behind them.
How much did you spend on your last cup of coffee?
I probably spent about £2 in total on the cup of coffee I made for myself this morning (energy, beans, oat milk, water etc).
What is one ingredient that is crucial to your life?
Self drive and a sense of curiosity, and also eggs (more so for life than work currently, though not exclusively so). I am currently trying to navigate how to feed a time poor family that includes one vegetarian, two aging adults and one omnivore with a number of allergies and very strong opinions about many kinds of beans and their preparations. The answer at the moment is often eggs, which goes a long way towards fuelling the first two attributes.
What does a food system mean to you?
You know that speech that Meryl Streep delivers to Anne Hathaway’s character in The Devil Wears Prada about her cerulean blue sweater? That, but with food/drink. Basically everything touches everything else; the way marketing execs (or lobbyists or governments) decide to frame something will eventually trickle down to what goes on the school lunch menu, what foods are valued and how those who are serving or cooking the meal (wherever that is) are perceived or valued. I realise this is a system has more to do with the framing of food and drink more than the production of it but I think it plays a huge role, too.