337: Food and Climate Change: Why Dining Decisions Matter More Than Ever
Release Date: 12/04/2025
Fishing for Heritage: How Two Sisters Keep Tradition Alive
Eating at a Meeting
What does it really mean to source "Pacific salmon"? Kim Brigham-Campbell and Terrie Brigham are sisters, members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and co-owners of Brigham Fish Market—a Native-owned, family-run business on the banks of the Columbia River in Cascade Locks, Oregon. Since 2014, they've been catching wild Columbia River salmon, sturgeon, and steelhead from the same tribal fishing platforms their family has used for generations, then smoking, filleting, and cooking it into the chowders, fish-and-chips, and barbecue-ready fillets that define...
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How an Austin Woman Farman is Reshaping the Hospitality Food Supply
Eating at a Meeting
Anamaria Gutiérrez is 23 seasons into running Este Garden, a women-powered, one-third-acre urban farm in East Austin growing vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, and fruit and nut trees for four restaurants: Suerte, Este, Bar Toti, and Nixta Taqueria. Her path to the garden ran through a UT Austin business degree, a farmers market coordinator role, a farm fellowship, her own market food business, and a direct pitch to restaurant owners to let her build edible gardens on their properties. In this episode, Tracy talks with Anamaria about what it means to grow culturally significant food for chefs...
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Local Ingredients Matter: Journey of Food from Farm to Event Buffet
Eating at a Meeting
It started as a kitchen garden. Nine acres. A favor from her husband. Today, Green Door Gourmet is 350 acres of certified organic farmland on the Cumberland River — one of the largest organic operations in Tennessee — growing 80 kinds of fruits and vegetables, 80 flower varieties, and 25 specialty herbs, including Southern heirloom varieties that most event menus have never seen. Sylvia Harrelson Ganier is its President, and Chief Farm Operator (CFO). She is also the former chef and owner of CIBO, a Nashville restaurant she built before she ever picked up a trowel. She knows both sides of...
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How a FarmHER Feeds Music City: Bloomsbury Farm’s Impact on Nashville Conferences & Catering
Eating at a Meeting
What does it actually take to grow the food that ends up on a hotel banquet table or a farm-to-table dinner menu? Lauren Palmer has spent 17 years answering that question one harvest at a time. Lauren is the owner and farmer behind Bloomsbury Farm, a USDA Certified Organic operation on more than 400 acres outside Nashville, Tennessee. She grows vegetables, fruits, sprouts, microgreens, mushrooms, edible flowers, herbs, and wheatgrass — and she supplies it all to local restaurants, grocers, CSA subscribers, and guests at the farm's own events and private dinners. In this episode, Tracy sits...
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Why Sustainable Event Menu Design Starts Outside the Kitchen
Eating at a Meeting
What if the most interesting ingredient at your next event was already growing just outside the venue? I've been thinking about this lately — and then Lotta Giesenfeld Boman introduced me to Lisen Sundgren, and honestly, she made it impossible to think about anything else. Lisen is my guest this week on Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE — and she is the perfect person to kick off Women's HERstory Month as our very first honoree. She is a Swedish herbalist, forager, and author based in Stockholm, but joining me from Nepal. She has spent more than 30 years teaching chefs, curious eaters, and...
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Taste of Place: How to Use Event F&B to Celebrate Local Culture
Eating at a Meeting
What if your event menu was the most powerful branding tool your destination has? In this episode, Tracy is joined by Erik Wolf, Founder and Executive Director of the World Food Travel Association and the pioneer behind the global “Taste of Place” movement. We talk about why food and beverage should no longer be treated as a banquet line item—but as the way destinations, hotels, and convention centers express identity, protect culture, and drive measurable economic impact. Erik shares insights from the 2026 Taste of Place Report and explains how culinary heritage, terroir, ethical...
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Black History Month 2026: Designing Events That Honor Culture & Community
Eating at a Meeting
What does it mean to truly belong at the table — as a guest and as the one designing the experience? This Black History Month, I’m hosting an Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE conversation with two extraordinary Black women leaders in the events industry: Zoe Moore (Grow with Zomo) and Diane R. Brown, MBA (Derby Brown Productions). We’ll explore how to design events that honor Black history, culture, and community—not just in February, but every time we gather. We’ll cover: • What Black History Month means in 2026 for event pros. • The real state of equity and belonging in events...
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357: Why Non-Alcoholic Wine Matters For Inclusive Event Experiences
Eating at a Meeting
Dry January always gets me thinking about how poorly the event industry still does when it comes to inclusive beverage experiences. At one event where I was speaking about inclusive dining, everyone at the table was served sake at dinner that night. One guest quietly pulled me aside and said, “This is exactly what you were talking about.” He doesn’t drink. Neither do I. And in that moment, we were both left out of the toast. The same thing happens when wine is part of the experience. So the question becomes: what happens when a guest isn’t drinking alcohol? This week on Eating at a...
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How Inclusive Bar Design Improves Guest Experience and Event Revenue
Eating at a Meeting
If your event bar still treats non-alcoholic drinks as an afterthought, we need to talk. I’m sitting down LIVE with Kevin Morgan, Global Head of Tempo by Hilton and a 24-year hospitality veteran who has worked his way through Hilton from front desk agent to brand leadership. Kevin also helped lead Hilton’s global CleanStay response—so when he talks about safety, execution, and systems, he’s lived it at scale. We’re talking about Tempo’s Free-Spirited beverage program—a non-alcoholic strategy that gives NA cocktails equal billing, thoughtful design, and operational clarity. Not a...
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355: When Event Catering Becomes Community Care: Food that Connects & Gives Back
Eating at a Meeting
When you’re in Philly for PCMA Convening Leaders, you don’t just grab a cheesesteak and call it a day. You pay attention to the food culture, the people behind it, and the stories that shape the city. And I couldn’t leave town without sitting down with one of the catering chefs doing exactly that. This week on Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE, I’m talking with Chef Adam DeLosso, Executive Chef and COO of 12th Street Catering—and this conversation goes far beyond what’s on the plate. Adam and the team at 12th Street believe great event food is about connection just as much as...
info_outlineEvery plate we serve carries a climate cost—and every decision we make about food has the power to change that story.
This week on Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE, I’m joined by Anya Doherty, environmental scientist and founder of Foodsteps, to talk about the role food plays in tackling climate change. Anya’s research at the University of Cambridge helped lead the largest experimental trial on carbon labelling for food—and revealed that labels alone weren’t enough. Real transformation happened when chefs, procurement teams, and food leaders saw the data behind their decisions and acted on it.
Now, as corporate clients increasingly demand emissions data, the food industry faces new urgency—and opportunity. Anya brings her global experience working with businesses serving hundreds of millions of meals annually to unpack what that means for all of us.
Together, we’ll explore:
▶︎ The key challenges food companies face in reducing emissions today—and how to drive meaningful action.
▶︎ The myths about food sustainability that are holding the industry back.
▶︎ Why supply chain transparency isn’t as simple as many believe.
▶︎ How reducing food emissions can strengthen both the bottom line and guest experiences.
As we recognize Climate Week in New York, this conversation is a reminder that food is one of the most powerful levers we have to protect the planet—and that safe, sustainable, and inclusive dining should be the default, not the exception.