Food has always been central to my research and teaching
For years, I would have students at the house, night-after-night, butchering deer, making cheese and grinding grains to provide valuable hands-on opportunities to bring to life what they learned in the classroom. To support this teaching and learning approach Christina and I even built a commercial kitchen in our basement! I didn’t realize it then, but those ten years spent teaching out of the house were actually laying the foundation for the creation of the Eastern Shore Food Lab at Washington College.
Making cheese for a class in our kitchen A pot firing in our backyard
Turning an Idea into Reality
Upon our return from Ireland in the fall of 2017, I launched the Eastern Shore Food Lab at Washington College in Chestertown Maryland. A great deal of donors, support from Washington College, and a grant from the state of Maryland has made this entire innovative space possible!
Spreading the Eat Like a Human Message
The mission of the Eastern Shore Food Lab at Washington College is to optimize personal and community health by drawing upon the dietary past that built us as a species. There we research, reimagine, and share strategies that meet and exceed our biological and cultural needs. We transition culture by strengthening the ties between environment, society, family, and ourselves through food as we address issues of sustainability, food access, and dietary and social health. We provide a model that institutions within any region can emulate, achieving zero waste by conscientious design and a commitment to revitalize human and ecological communities with every action.
