It’s challenging to hear the phrase “seed to table” and not think of it as either a lofty ideal that shames current food practices, or else just a charming marketing ploy for the new trendy neighborhood café. It’s challenging to witness all the individual problems society has with food — a street full of chain restaurants, school lunches hardly counting as food, the aisles and aisles of processed snacks in the grocery store — and internalize the reality that we are dealing with an entire food system that limits our choices. Food has become a commodity, a chore, fuel in the same sense that brings us to the gas station.

The team at Edible Education Experience aims to influence how the Central Florida community thinks about food. Experiencing the entire seed-to-table cycle gives a more accurate and meaningful view of the closed-loop process that brings a carrot to a dinner plate. Understanding what this system looks like allows curiosity and engagement with it, inspiring more informed, value-based decision making around food. Evolving “seed to table” into an accessible lifestyle requires compromises and conversations; we all must make decisions that work best for ourselves, but we all must work together to create a system and a community that supports those decisions. In this class, led by Brad Jones, a founding member of Edible Education Experience and a Garden Educator, you will explore the seed-to-table discussion, celebrating the natural process of food, and the people, cultures, and communities that cultivate it.

Program note: Please bring a notebook and writing utensil for note-taking.

This program is presented by Edible Education and is hosted by the Winter Park Health Foundation.

About the Presenter:  

Brad Jones began his garden education mission when he initiated and led a gardening program at Orlando Junior Academy fifteen years ago. Inspired by Alice Waters’ assertion that “if you grow it and cook it yourself, you’re going to want to eat it, even kale,” Brad collaborated with parents and teachers to change the way students and their families were thinking about food, winning the University of Florida’s School Garden Competition along the way. A founding member of Edible Education Experience, Brad finds his joy as Garden Educator, guiding students of all ages through the many lessons a garden can teach us. It is his deeply-held belief that finding pleasure and meaning in food is just as important to wellness as the nutrients within, and he upholds EEE’s mission to inspire wholeness from the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing a love of good food can give us.

Edible Education Experience offers hands-on programming for students of all ages, and that includes you. From the garden to the kitchen and back again, students experience the full sustainable cycle of where food comes from, gaining the confidence and curiosity to engage with that system. Yes, we’ll teach you cooking techniques and many ways to enjoy plant-based eating, but the true treasure we want to share is the seed-to-table mindset. This involves you, and you have a place at the table.

Registration Note:

Please note: As of August 2023, when you register via Eventbrite for community education programs at the Center for Health & Wellbeing, you are now required to accept our Waiver and Release as part of the Eventbrite checkout process. Visit YourHealthandWellbeing.org/waiverandrelease for more details.