Food as Medicine: From Adversity to Abundance

In this discussion, leaders from the food, beverage and hospitality space discuss initiatives and opportunities for growth and transformation, particularly how the industry is reimagining safer and braver workplaces. Topics will include how restaurants are addressing mental health, suicide, bereavement support, sexual harrassment, and poverty among staff. These initiatives not only impact workers, but also all of us who eat out and order in. Individuals or families spend approximately 40% of their food budgets on restaurants. Speakers include noted chefs and restaurateurs Erin Boyle, Jen Hidinger-Kendrick, and Bobbin Mulvaney. Author, food writer, and dining critic Kate Washington moderates.

This program is part of the February 2023 Reimagine Series “Food as Medicine: From Adversity to Abundance”, in which participants explore how both food and the hospitality industry transform loss into new pathways for growth and health.

Speakers

Erin Boyle

I am Erin Boyle, CHOW’s Executive Director, friend, sister, wife, daughter, duck and dog momma, potter, reader, crafter, walker, nanny and chef. I trained to be a chef at the Culinary Institute of America and have worked in San Francisco, Washington DC, New York and Denver. After almost two decades working in the industry, I transitioned to teaching and love it.

I have watched my staff, family, and friends in hospitality struggle with mental health and substance abuse. I, like many, struggle with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. In 2013, I found myself sick of the life I felt stuck in and found a therapist. She helped me to name the things I struggled with (depression and anxiety) and find coping strategies that work for me. In 2019, I decided to dedicate my energy toward improving access to mental health and wellness resources for all. CHOW’s mission is to support wellness within the hospitality industry and to improve the lives of our community through shared stories, skills, and resources. https://chowco.org/

Jen Hidinger-Kendrick

Jen serves as Senior Director of Community Engagement at Giving Kitchen. She co-founded the organization with her late husband Ryan Hidinger to provide emergency assistance to food service workers through financial support and a network of community resources.  As spokesperson for GK, Jen has received the Community Hero Award from the Atlanta Braves and Fox Sports South, and has been featured on the covers of Entrepreneur Magazine and Atlanta Magazine, with a spotlight as one of "Atlanta's 60 Voices on the City's Past, Present and Future."

As co-founder of the acclaimed Staplehouse Restaurant, Jen was a key member of the team that earned Bon Appétit magazine's Best New Restaurant in America in 2016 and a nomination as Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. She joined the staff of GK full-time in 2019, and one of her proudest moments was sharing the stage with GK colleagues in receiving the James Beard Foundation's 2019 Humanitarian of the Year award on behalf of Giving Kitchen.

She lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband John Wayne Kendrick, their son Blue, and three dogs Vida, Goonie, and Zooey. Her passions include travel, dogs (clearly), food and beverage (even more clearly), and the art of tidying (not always so clearly!) https://thegivingkitchen.org/

Bobbin Mulvaney

Bobbin is the owner/partner of Mulvaney’s B&L, a Michelin-rated farm to fork restaurant to which she brings over 45 years of hospitality experience, and co-founder of I Got Your Back (IGYB). Grief sparked the creation of IGYB after a sudden rash of suicides and overdoses in the restaurant industry hit Sacramento hard in late 2018 and early 2019. IGYB is converting grief and sadness into courage and optimism and we hope to see it spread from restaurant to restaurant, city to city and industry to industry. After being raised in a small Central Valley farming community Bobbin moved to Sacramento where she found the city ready to welcome her vision of elegant, comforting hospitality, focusing on the local and seasonal bounty our region provides. Her definition of local runs from Redding to Bakersfield and Tahoe to the Pacific, really all of California. She loves nothing more than to celebrate the bounty of its historic agricultural regions, the farmers, ranchers, chefs and communities who make it possible. She consistently shares that love and knowledge with those yet to be exposed to our agricultural riches, from students to hospitality workers to visitors from both near and far. Bobbin is also an active community leader outside the restaurant, - focusing on youth and underserved communities especially in the education and the non-profit sectors as a board member, teacher and mentor. Her lifelong attention to mindfulness and living with intention have been foundational to her ability to lift her community as well as provide resilience in her personal well-being. https://igotyourback.info/

Kate Washington (Moderator)

Kate Washington is the author of Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America (Beacon Press, 2021) and a frequent speaker on the systemic challenges facing family caregivers. She writes in a variety of genres, including food writing, criticism, creative nonfiction, memoir, and opinion, and she has been published in The New York Times, TIME, Eater, Catapult, and many other publications. From 2017-2021, she was the dining critic for The Sacramento Bee and is a former associate food editor at Sunset Magazine. She served as local editor for the Zagat Survey’s guide to Sacramento restaurants and is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, a philanthropic organization of women leaders in the food and hospitality sector. She holds a Ph.D. in Victorian literature from Stanford University and lives in Sacramento. Connect with her at kawashington.com or on Twitter @washingtonkate

Join us for a wide range of tools and tips to eat healthy, resources to support family caregivers of loved ones living with dementia, as well as research updates on ending Alzheimer’s disease and narrowing its associated health disparities for people of color. This show and tell and discussion features Dr. Annie Fenn, physician, chef, and founder of Brain Health Kitchen; Dr. Eseosa Ighodaro, M.D., Ph.D., neurology physician, neuroscientist, and health advocate; and Elizabeth Humphreys, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization Mind What Matters and host of the Mind What Matters podcast.

Presented in conjunction with the launch of Dr. Annie Fenn’s new book The Brain Health Kitchen: Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food with 100 Recipes, in which she ​​identifies essential ingredients and shows that eating to maintain brain health is easy, accessible, delicious, and necessary for everyone. This event is co-hosted by HFC and Mind What Matters.

This program is part of the February 2023 Reimagine Series “Food as Medicine: From Adversity to Abundance”, in which participants explore how both food and the hospitality industry transform loss into new pathways for growth and health.

Speakers

Dr. Annie Fenn

Dr. Annie Fenn is the founder of the Brain Health Kitchen, the only cooking school of its kind focused exclusively on brain health and helping people prevent cognitive decline through food and lifestyle. After twenty years as a board-certified ob-gyn, she traded in her stethoscope for an apron to pursue her passion for the culinary arts. But it was her mother's diagnosis with dementia that helped Fenn find her path and her new calling, one that enabled her to not only help her mother but also create significant and meaningful impact for others. Fenn lives in Jackson, Wyoming. Find her on Instagram at @brainhealthkitchen

Elizabeth Humphreys

Elizabeth is the founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Mind What Matters and host of the Mind What Matters podcast. She is also a public speaker on the topics of Alzheimer's/Dementia, caregiving and grief. She holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Rhodes College.

Elizabeth got involved in the Alzheimer’s community after being the primary caregiver for her mother, who has early onset. She recognized the need for an organization that exists uniquely for the caregiving community and one that also provides financial resources and support for the families affected by neurocognitive disease. With the help of a small driven team and a powerhouse Board of Directors, Elizabeth has built Mind What Matters into a nonprofit organization that makes a huge positive impact on families affected by Alzheimer’s disease across the country. In just two years, they have given respite care grants to over 60 families in 28 states. When she’s not working or being a mom of three children with her husband Hunter, she is an avid marathon runner and loves to cook brain healthy meals, a hobby she learned from her Mother.

Dr. Eseosa Ighodaro, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Eseosa Ighodaro, M.D., Ph.D. is a senior neurology resident physician at Mayo Clinic. She obtained both her medical degree (M.D.) and her research doctorate degree in neuroanatomy (PhD) at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine where she was the 1st African American female to complete the combined degree program. She has published numerous articles on Alzheimer's disease and racial health inequalities that have been featured in prestigious medical journals including Nature and Nature Medicine. Recently, she published the foreword to Mayo Clinic's new book for caregivers titled "Day to Day: Living with Dementia". She currently serves on the scientific advisory board for HFC, a nonprofit organization assisting Alzheimer's disease patients and their families. She is also the founder and president of Ziengbe, a non-profit health advocacy organization. For more information regarding Dr. Ighodaro's work, visit her professional website: www.dreseosaighodaro.com

To kick off Reimagine’s food series, a stellar group of chefs, nutritionists, dietitians, and physicians share their expertise in culinary medicine, the art and science of helping people to access and eat delicious and nutritious meals that prevent and treat disease, restore well-being, and ultimately feed the soul. Speakers include Drew Ramsey, author and leading proponent of nutritional psychiatry; Sharon Kai’ulani Odom, nutritionist and program director of the Roots Cafe at Kōkua Kalihi Valley, a Hawaiian community health center that uses indigenous foods to heal and alleviate suffering; and Angela Roberson, lead dietitian for Food Rx at Baltimore’s Medstar Good Samaritan Hospital which supports patients with multiple complex chronic conditions and/or food insecurity. The event’s moderator is Rebecca Katz, a nationally recognized culinary translator and expert on the role of food in supporting health and wellbeing.

This program is part of the February 2023 Reimagine Series “Food as Medicine: From Adversity to Abundance”, in which participants explore how both food and the hospitality industry transform loss into new pathways for growth and health.

Speakers

Rebecca Katz, MS

Rebecca is a nationally recognized culinary translator and expert on the role of food in supporting health and wellbeing. As a consultant, speaker, teacher and chef, Rebecca has spent 22 years working closely with patients, caregivers and wellness professionals to include the powerful elements of flavor and nutrition in their healing tool kit. Rebecca’s life has been a series of explorations in search of meaning, inspiration and healing. She plays with flavor, color and texture to connect nutrition science to the plate, and pioneered an intelligent, novel and delicious use of food in the treatment of cancer. She is the author of seven cookbooks including the award-winning The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Beyond (Ten Speed Press, 2009, 2017), and The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen online course. She cooks and paints in Marin County, California. https://www.rebeccakatz.com/

Sharon Ka’iulani Odom, RD, MPH

Kaiulani Odom has been involved in the area of native Hawaiian Health for the past 25 years. She has developed educational media for print, television and screen. Her specialty is in `Ai Kupele, nutrition from a cultural perspective. Her work involves communities, schools, and most importantly families. During the last 10 years, in an effort to expand her perspective on health, she has been immersed in the study of ho‘oponopono, lā‘au lapa‘au and lomilomi. It is her goal to support native Hawaiian communities to connect with the `ike and practices passed down by their ancestors, fostering healthy lifestyles for future generations.

Kaiulani currently works for Kokua Kalihi Valley Health Center as the ROOTS program Director. ROOTS goal is to bring community members together as a part of a larger social network. Centering around food as a source of nourishment, identity, and connection, project activities build bonds between community members as they cultivate food and medicine, cook together, share traditional practices for food preparation, and eat together in common spaces. The concept of malama `äina (to care for the land) refers to a reciprocal relationship. For the land to supply food and sustenance, we must in turn take care of it. Teaching the community about the culture and wisdom of their ancestors provides a natural segue into education on nutrition and healthy living. Appreciating your heritage is a healthy practice in itself…through honoring our culture and ancestors, we honor ourselves. https://www.rootskalihi.com/roots-cafe-roots-kkv

Drew Ramsey, MD

Dr. Drew Ramsey is a board certified psychiatrist, author, and mental health advocate. His work focuses on clinical excellence, nutritional psychiatry, male mental health and creative media. He is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and founded the Brain Food Clinic, a digital mental health clinical practice.

His work has been featured by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Lancet Psychiatry, The Today Show, BBC, and NPR and he has given three TEDx talks. He is co-author of the Antidepressant Food Scale and created the first e-courses on Nutritional Psychiatry education for the public and clinicians. His books Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety (Harperwave 2021), Eat Complete, 50 Shades of Kale, and The Happiness Diet explore the connections between mental health and nutrition. He is on the Advisory Board at Men’s Health, the Editorial Board at Medscape Psychiatry, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the anti-stigma nonprofit Bring Change To Mind. He lives in Jackson, Wyoming with his wife and two children. https://drewramseymd.com/ @DrewRamseyMD

Angela Roberson, RD

Angela Roberson, RD/LDN, DipACLM is the Population Health Dietitian for MedStar Health’s Collaborative Care Program (CCP) located at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. MedStar’s CCP is an innovative outpatient clinic designed to address patients’ social determinants of health while providing bridge healthcare from time of hospital discharge to primary care or specialist follow-up. She is also the lead dietitian for MedStar’s flagship Food Rx clinic, the first-of-its-kind clinical nutrition program in Maryland offering at no cost fresh produce, medically tailored meals, diet education classes, and one-on-one nutrition counseling for a culturally diverse population of patients living with diabetes, heart failure, hypertension, and obesity. Her work has been featured on WYPR’s On the Record with Sheila Kast, and local television stations. Food Rx received national recognition as a leader in food-as-medicine programming at the USDA’s National Nutrition Security and Healthcare Summit following the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in 2022. In addition to being a registered dietitian, she is certified in lifestyle medicine through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) and is a member of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (AND) and the National Organization of Black Interns and Dietitians (NOBIDAN).