Fresh food matters.
It nourishes so
many parts of life.

Richard restored his health and lost over 150 pounds by cutting out highly processed foods and adopting a retro diet, the manner of eating his grandparents had followed on their farm. He and his family now live on a five-acre “foodstead” near Charlottesville, Virginia, where they produce most of their produce and meat. In addition to his own small-scale farming, Richard works for Polyface Farms, the influential sustainable farming operation in the Shenandoah Valley.

Richard tells “how I lost 150 pounds by ignoring the experts” in his book, A Life Unburdened: Getting Over Weight and Getting On with My Life.

This South Carolina teen is on a mission to end hunger one garden at a time. Her nonprofit, Katie’s Krops, provides grants to help youngsters 9 to 18 start vegetable gardens and grow fresh food for the needy. They now operate 100 youth-run gardens in 37 states, donating thousands of pounds of fresh produce annually through food pantries, soup kitchens, and direct gifts.

Katie started producing food to help others at age 9, when she grew a 40-pound cabbage for a third-grade homework assignment and donated it to a soup kitchen in her town.

When this wife and mother of two began a quest to cut highly processed food out of her family’s meals, it changed not only their life but the lives of countless others. Her quest led Lisa, her husband, and two daughters to a pledge: no processed food for 100 days. The pledge led to a blog, 100 Days of Real Food, intended for family and friends but that soon exploded into a nationwide phenomenon. A #1 New York Times bestseller, also titled 100 Days of Real Food, followed.

Through her blog and book, Lisa leads her millions of followers step by practical step to adopt not a diet but a real-food lifestyle.

Daron says sheer defiance made him and his neighbors plant their first weedy vegetable patch on a vacant lot in Dallas’ inner-city Bonton neighborhood. Fresh food hadn’t been available there in decades. Shopping at the nearest supermarket cost three hours on the bus. Nutrition-related illness was rife. Miraculously, their hardscrabble garden burgeoned into a full-fledged urban farm, bringing food, jobs, and education to Bonton.

Daron left a career in private equity to move to the inner city and work side by side with his friends there. Bonton – the name comes from the French for “good times”– is seeing better days thanks to their efforts.

Ann gave up a career as a celebrity chef to work for safe, sustainable food for schoolchildren. Known as the Renegade Lunch Lady, she now serves as director of food services for a Colorado school district, consults with school districts nationwide on how to overhaul their food programs, and leads the nonprofit Chef Ann Foundation.

A four-time TED speaker, Ann is the author of several books, including Bitter Harvest: A Chef’s Perspective on the Hidden Danger in the Foods We Eat and What You Can Do About It and Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children.

Nowadays, few are the family farms that can succeed by growing just one or two kinds of produce for the wholesale market. David represents a generation of entrepreneurial farmers who have adopted a retail model, cultivating not only a large variety of crops but also a personal relationship with local consumers. Farmer to consumer. No middlemen.

David worked for years in the film and TV industry, living mainly in Asia before returning with his wife, Ya, and their four children to the East Texas farm where David grew up. See more of the farm and meet the family at fisherfarmandranch.com.

With her husband, Chuck, Tanya owns Bee Friendly Austin, a certified naturally grown apiary on the outskirts of the Texas capital. A dedicated advocate for the imperiled honey bees that are vital to our food system, Tanya teaches beekeeping classes and hosts the annual Tour de Hives, taking members of the public to bee locations around the Austin area.

You can find tips for supporting your local bees, shop for hives and other products, and even adopt a beehive at Tanya’s website, beefriendlyaustin.com.

Living in Brooklyn, that great incubator of trends, Emily finds abundant inspiration for poking fun at current culture, including food culture. Her cartoons appear primarily in The New Yorker. She also is the creator of the Lulu Eightball comic strip, which has been running in alternative weeklies since 2002.

Emily is the author and illustrator of two books, including most recently Mama Tried: Dispatches from the Seamy Underbelly of Modern Parenting.

See more of her work at emilyflake.com.

A self-described “recovering attorney” and former White House staffer, Adrian turned his formidable research skills to matters of culinary history and won a James Beard Award for the resulting book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.

Adrian gives talks around the country on topics where the cultural and the culinary intersect, such as chicken and waffles, kosher soul food, and the subject of his latest book: black chefs in the White House.

See his schedule of live appearances at adrianemiller.com.

A lifelong vegetarian and a vegan since age 15, 19-year-old Tia finds that her plant-based diet provides more than enough energy and nutrition for the demands of daily training and competing on the international surfing circuit. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Hawaii and California, Tia learned to surf at age 3 and signed her first professional sponsorship when she was just 12.

Tia enjoys cooking for her family and experimenting with new ways to make vegan dishes delicious, often finding flavor inspiration in the cuisines of South and Southeast Asia.

There’s a growing trend in corporate America: growing vegetables. Sub-Zero and its sister brand, Wolf, were early adopters of the idea. Chef Joel oversees the two-acre organic garden on the company’s manufacturing campus near Madison, Wisconsin, in addition to his duties as head chef at the adjacent training center.

Joel’s background as a chef embraces everything from fine dining to street food. A Wisconsin native who spent his formative years living in Mexico, he has a knack for making exotic foods approachable and down-to-earth ingredients elegant.