One of the nation’s most esteemed journalists on food and food policy, Corby Kummer is the Executive Director of Food & Society at the nonprofit Aspen Institute. He spearheads several initiatives, including Food as Medicine, Food Justice and Open Access to support minority -owned startup food businesses. His work has opened conversations about food policy, food insecurity and regenerative farming to raise awareness and foster solutions. More here https://aspenfood.org
Corby Kummer (Photo provided by The Aspen Institute)
Kummer’s journalism career has taken him around the world to report on everything from the slow food movement to bottled water, coffee and topics that impact diversified food communities. At Atlantic magazine, where he has served as a senior editor since the 1980s, Kummer originated a vertical on food, sustainability, policy and food justice, topics he also covered for The New Republic. Kummer also served as restaurant critic for New York, Boston and Atlanta Magazines. He is a recipient of six James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards.
In speaking with Kummer, we learned he was raised in a family of Jewish immigrant farmers in Connecticut. It was at the family dinner table where he learned to appreciate home-cooked meals laced with global flavors, from Japan, Eastern European and Italy. After graduating Yale University, Kummer gravitated toward a career in journalism. Working in journalism enabled him to gain access to leaders throughout the global food community as researched his stories. It also produced two books. Kummer’s “The Pleasures of Slow Food “(2002) “The Joy of Coffee” (2003) both embrace his interest in connecting the intersections of food traditions, culture, cultivation and preparation.
Through his work at the Aspen Institute, Kummer hopes to create the ripple effect needed to foster and implement changes that will help improves access to nutritious meals in underserved communities, help minority farmers thrive, and advocate for more accessible nutrition and educational programs to reduce the prevalence of lifestyle and diet-related illnesses, including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Listen to our conversation with Corby Kummer on The Connected Table Live
Follow on X @ckummer