I sat down with three people at Aspen Ideas Climate, all of whom have spent decades getting Chicago closer to its food. Chef Cliff Rome from The Obama Foundation shared the lesson from his grandmother. More: https://ow.ly/zz8o50Zx54l

"We get to build it ourselves." Accepting the 2026 McNulty Foundation Prize, our Fellow Tom McDougall of 4P Foods challenged us to stop patching the food system and start building a better one — piece by piece. He's got 89+ siblings (aka fellows) building with him. Watch: https://ow.ly/s2BS50ZsqQO

Scared of salad right now? Wait for the recipe! The cyclospora outbreak isn't confirmed to be just Taylor Farms and here's the kicker: Michigan has the MOST cases not because it's the epicenter, but because it has the best-staffed disease investigators. More: https://ow.ly/50o250ZtWCo

We started with what we were reading, specifically fiction and Faulkner. I'm rereading The Old Man and the Sea, Wendell said, because I can never forget a one-paragraph review Faulkner wrote. Would you like me to read it to you? 4/7

For several hours our conversation ranged from the unspoken and constant help neighbors always give neighbors in communities tied to the land to his thoughts on the afterlife. The dialogue of the present with the eternal, and our connection with G d, was everywhere. 3/7

So splendid that with the permission of Wendell and his fantastic daughter, Mary, founder of the Berry Center in New Castle, outside Louisville, I'm posting this video. 2/7

Last week I spent a miraculous afternoon in the company of Wendell and Tanya Berry, as I had been very lucky to do on several occasions though none since the pandemic. They were in splendid form. Thread count 1 of 7

Truly great card from spouse.

We always think Tom McDougall is surrounded by a halo—something many of our Food & Society at the Aspen Institute Food Leaders Fellows have in common. So glad the McNulty Foundation agrees! Here he is at the McNulty Prize ceremony at the Resnick Aspen Action Forum on the The Aspen Institute campus.

At The Aspen Institute, Bobby Flay told a room that when he sees me walk onto the set of Beat Bobby Flay, his first thought is: "If it's not perfect, I'm dead." Truly the best thing anyone has ever said about me. Full conversation: https://aspenfood.org/2026/06/23/corby-kummer-and-bobby-flay/

"These platters looked like what you might put on the table at home, simple to the point of unremarkable, but there was beauty in that." A four-star @nytimes.com by Tejal Rao with two stars. So glad I'm out of the star-giving business. And that Tejal got Chez Panisse. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/d...

New work-requirement rules just raised the bar for who qualifies for SNAP. States must now cover up to 75% of admin costs they never paid before. The impact is already visible Listen to my conversation with Christina and Shirley on Boston Public Radio: https://ow.ly/aqOj50ZqVLu

Strip away the contention and we find common ground. That’s what Ellen Brown writes in her recent essay, What Emerges Is a Food Agenda, Not an Argument (link in the last thread) @aspenfood.bsky.social

New from Aspen Ideas: a MAHA senior advisor and the nutrition world's most influential critic shared a stage. It got heated fast. Watch the conversation: https://aspenfood.org/2026/07/13/corby-at-aspen-ideas-festival-2026/

"The answer was always yes, please come in." — Bobby Flay on what the food world taught him about generosity. Asked him this at The Aspen Institute. One of the best answers I've heard in years. 🔥 More: https://ow.ly/8f4g50Zg0N1 #FoodCulture #AspenInstitute #BobbyFlay

The administration canceled $1B+ helping small farmers sell into schools. Some of those farmers had already bought equipment and planted crops in anticipation of that money. A bipartisan bill wants to rebuild. More: https://ow.ly/T4qi50ZfnFV Food & Society at the Aspen Institute

Such a wonderful honor to be featured by the incredibly talented Amanda Faison in Aspen Sojourner! Thank you for bringing this story to life with so much warmth and care. Deeply grateful! Read the story: https://aspenfood.org/2026/06/19/aspen-sojourner-food-for-thought/

and Dorella Walters and Eric Rochman of God's Love We Deliver on producing medically tailored meals. Was a packed morning I would have been happy to have continue through the evening. Also shoutout to Alissa Wassung and Lisa Sanders of the American Heart Association.

New England's invasive green crabs are destroying clam beds, so, let's eat them! Create a market, pay fishermen to catch them, and protect local oysters and clams in the process. Full story: https://aspenfood.org/2026/06/09/the-case-for-eating-your-enemies/ #GreenCrab #InvasiveSpecies #

A doctor prescribes vegetables. A local farm fills it. A patient gets healthier. That's 4P Foods's case study on our Food is Medicine Community Action Plan! More: https://www.fimcommunity.org/cases/4p-foods #FoodIsMedicine

The latest from Boston Public Radio: a federal judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to tie SNAP funding to ideological restrictions, but the damage is done. Listen at: https://aspenfood.org/2026/06/09/the-case-for-eating-your-enemies/. #SNAPBenefits #FoodInsecurity

“If you care about the way people who grew your food were treated, and their welfare now after you bought their food, that’s Carlo Petrini.” Read the entire piece on Washington Post: https://ow.ly/jBkB50Z90lV Slow Food Food & Society at the Aspen Institute

“If you care about the way people who grew your food were treated, and their welfare now after you bought their food, that’s Carlo Petrini.” Read the entire piece on Washington Post: https://ow.ly/jBkB50Z90lV Slow Food

July 20–22 I'll be at #AspenIdeasClimate 2026 to moderate Food as Medicine for People and the Planet with Rick Bayless, Sarah Stegner, and Cliff Rome of Rome's Joy Companies. Chefs who are doing the real work of connecting soil, nutrition, community, and climate. More: as.pn/climate

We celebrated Day 1 of #FIMCON2026! 🎉 A huge thank you to Food Leaders Fellow Tom McDougall of 4P Foods, Rethink Food's Matt Jozwiak, and Momentus Capital for bringing together such an enthusiastic crowd for dinner at The Aspen Institute.

Big news: Chefs @chefjoseandres.bsky.social, Lidia Bastianich, and Eric Ripert have each created a Named Fellowship within the Food Leaders Fellowship at the Aspen Institute. Three culinary icons investing in the next generation of food system changemakers.

If you love food and care as much about the health of the people who grew and raised it and of the soil and air it was grown in, chances are strong you encountered the ideas of Carlo Petrini, who died last week at 76 aspenfood.org/2026/05/22/t...

We're live today at 1pm ET. Conversations on Food Justice: How SNAP Restrictions Play Out in Stores and Communities is happening now and there's still time to register and join us live (or get the recording). Join us: aspeninstitute.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gkDLE1rpTEO7CGVZhtq8Uw

My tribute, posted the same day: If you love food and care as much about the health of the people who grew and raised it and of the soil and air it was grown in, chances are strong you encountered the ideas of Carlo Petrini, founder of @slowfoodhq.bsky.social... www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

@unisg.bsky.social students singing in front of Carlo Petrini's house the day after he died at home in the town his @slowfoodhq.bsky.social transformed.