I’m just days away from seeing the My Allergy Advocate on WordPress get replaced by my brand spanking-new dot com site, and while I’m mostly excited about this, I’ll be honest, I’m just a little bit freaked out too. Right now, you can only see the Splash Page when you click on MyAllergyAdvocate.com
Work on the new site began back in 2016, when I hired Natalie McGuire Designs to design the site around my signature concept — Making Food Fun Again — and then hired food and special occasion photographer and friend Jackie Donnelly for a photoshoot in my artloft to capture the mood of the site.
Life happened next. An Ironman and a night in hospital, a long recovery, changes in the political environment, and then 2017 arrived with more running races, closing my brick-and-mortar private practice into a digital one, my first two 50k ultramarathons, and a dog bite to the leg, ugh.
Then I found out I would be getting my artloft back after my renters moved on. Change was in the air again. I thought 2017 would never end. It was one nail-biting moment after another. Most of my best intentions kept getting shoved to the side. And instead of fighting it, I started to listen and lean in.
As the website is near ready to launch, the dot WordPress site will be folded into the blog on the dot com site, and the “fun blog” here will fade away. While you are going to LOVE the recipe section and its organization by meal category, the new site is an all-integrated experience that isn’t everyone’s thing. Some people like stand-alone microblogs, like Tumblr and Medium. I’m a WordPress chick, and moving this blog into a full-service website (which will still be hosted by MediaTemple on WordPress) is going to be a new experience for this community. I hope you’ll like it enough to come along.
On my desk is my version of a Bullet Journal, filled with tasks still waiting to be finished. It’s exciting, because many of the tasks are related to what happens AFTER the site launches. I’ve announced to my Facebook community that I want to write a book called, “Making Food Fun Again,” with my tagline that helps identify the book as a non-cookbook book about the what and the why cooking from home with real food. I plan to take a significant amount of energy to write this book as quickly as possible starting in February 2018.
Why this book, and why now? In 2017, David Tamarkin of Epicurious spoke on NPR Audie Cornish’s interview that “home cooking is dying.” If you have a moment, read this interview or listen to the audio podcast. I fully resonate with his statement. He isn’t saying he doesn’t love home cooking or doesn’t see its importance. Instead, he is noting a TRUTH that has been happening in this past decade.
People may be eating at home to save money, but that does not mean they are cooking at home. Of all the meals prepared at home, much of them are pre-prepared meals, boxed and canned foods that require only water and heat (near ready-to-serve), and convenience items. These foods are largely not suitable for people with food allergies and intolerances, Autoimmune Disease, and in some cases Chronic Illnesses that need a special diet to maintain optimal health.
The alarming trend is forcing grocery stores to rethink their bottom line and deliver even more of these cheaper and faster options, which drives up the price of fresh, single ingredient foods while banishing them from the center of home cooking.
I feel that I must write this book NOW, and raise the level of enthusiasm and need for real-food home cooking. In doing so, you can join me in supporting sustainable farming programs, food co-ops, and other programs that are trying to revive real-food eating before we lose another generation of busy people who don’t believe that cooking food is important to one’s health and happiness.
At the time of this writing, I do not know how I will fund any of this. The whole process of the website, the book, and the promotions of both also involve attorney fees for trademarks and files for Intent to Use, and clearly defined service agreements.
I just know that this book is something I am meant to write. My health and my future rely heavily on real food, not MRE’s for civilians, or bars, liquid proteins made from soy, and gels.
In the midst of a cacophony of other food blogs featuring pretty food but empty in nutrition, I wanted my website to pack a wallop of services, knowledge, coaching –and yes, even a book! — about making (real) food fun again.
I hope you enjoy the new website, and feel free to ask me about the book writing. I’ve started a blog for the book at makingfoodfunagain.com.
