A Journey Onwards
Presented by Society Insurance
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By Michellee Fox
My journey in culinary began in 1986. I lost my mother to a car accident at the age of four and my grandmother was looking after me. She began to teach me how to cook basic food staples like rice, salad, eggs, and beans. Little did I know that was the beginning of my intensive wife training.
I observed how she would pay attention to what we had eaten during the week and always provided a mixture of ingredients that would fulfill our nutrient and mineral needs. I'm not sure if she knew the extent of her knowledge, as I now believe she was not just a cook. She was a nutritionist, a farmer, a flavor connoisseur, and her most important job: a wife.
In my 15 year culinary career, I was pulled away by the spark my grandmother implanted long ago and didn’t want to work in restaurants. I developed underground culture festivals, farmed cannabis with natural farming principles, volunteered in many nonprofits related to basic needs, and most importantly raised my son using my grandmother’s principles.
Now at the age of 42, I have understood what my upbringing really means to me. It has imprinted a need to contribute to life with my many skills, to care for others not only when they are paying me to cook for them, and to understand my role in society. We as chefs can influence not just what people eat, but how we interact with food, our responsibility for the planet, and our bodies.
I became a minority and female farmer advocate, speaking to anyone that would listen on the importance of eating with the seasons and the understanding that without farmers there is no food and without food, there are no people. I was comfy in the role that I took in the value chain, beginning at the farmer and ending at the consumer, believing that I took enough responsibility. Reality hit hard a few months ago when I traveled to Punta Mita, Mexico. There I found a conundrum that would leave me sleepless for weeks.
Millionaires and Billionaires made Punta Mita their part-time home but the town was not prepared for the boom in progress that was created. Locals would get jobs that paid a better wage but in exchange, they would not be allowed to have water four days a week and untreated sewage spilled in the last little piece of coast left for them. Children played in that river of sewage not understanding the consequences.
That's when I realized that what I was doing wasn’t enough. If I didn’t think about water in my equation my efforts were then useless. Our waterways are connected as one and by polluting one we pollute all. Until the day all humans have basic rights like water, food, and electricity, we can not consider ourselves better than a monkey. So I began Bahia de Banderas Waterkeeper Chapter to begin cleaning that small corner of our planet.
The moral of my story is I am always learning and adapting to my surroundings, that I vouch to myself to never become comfortable in my efforts to better our brief stay in this flying rock. That I will vouch to myself to continue widening my desire to have a better world for all of us.
Headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wis., Society Insurance has been a leading niche insurance carrier since 1915. As a mutual insurance company, Society focuses on the small details that make a big difference to its policyholders while offering top-notch insurance coverage, service and competitive pricing to businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, Colorado, Georgia and soon Texas.
Woman holding knives
Michellee Fox is a world renowned sustainable chef, a visionary food system game changer and regenerative farmer. With over 15 years of experience in culinary and event management she successfully created two major festivals in Northern California. She is the host of CraftFood Podcast and works with the United Nations to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
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