We have an amazing group of women experts in a wide range of industries and spaces in The State of Women Podcast Network. Each week we’ll introduce you to one of our members, what she’s all about, and the mission behind her podcast.
Brazilian native and world-renowned chef Michellee Fox hosts the CraftFood Podcast, interviewing leaders in nutritional sustainability. She brings her expertise—15 years in the culinary industry, in-depth knowledge of every stage of the farm-to-table process, and a passion for regenerative farming—together with wisdom from other experts to deliver a message about how eating with the seasons and learning about the process behind the food we eat can impact our lives and the world.
Fox is a slow-food chef, small minority farmer advocate, and the North and South America business development manager for FoodBay TV, a food and lifestyle television network in Africa. She’s a leading voice in the food revolution, a movement that seeks to highlight the impact of farming and consumption methods on us and on the environment.
Fox’s path has also been shaped by rebelling against stereotypes—something she began at a young age.
She discovered her passion for food at the age of 7 in Brazil, learning to cook from her grandmother. She was raised with an expectation to hone her cooking skills and become a suitable wife. Fox rejected the idea, instead becoming one of the first female skateboarders in her country and moving to the United States to make a name for herself in culinary arts.
She went on to work for more than a decade in restaurants in Hawaii, San Francisco, Oakland and Humboldt County, California.
The lessons she has learned throughout her career and life are relevant—and urgent—for everyone, Fox said, which is why she felt compelled to start a podcast.
She wants to “change the way the farmer is seen, in the United States and in the world,” Fox said.
“I believe without going back to the origins of food before industrialization our farmers will not make it, and neither will we,” she said. Her podcast, which debuted six months ago, is one of many tools she uses to spread her message.
Fox said she hopes to reach “anyone willing to think about the impact their food choices have in the world.” Episodes explore topics including food preservation, farm to table concepts, organic certifications, and regenerative farming.
She focuses on the process involved in getting food from the ground to someone’s plate, emphasizing that her message is about “understanding the responsibility we all have to maintain a healthy value chain when it comes to food.”
Fox said she took to podcasting naturally, and that the only challenge has been “to get others to listen.” Still, she is enthusiastic about her words being “immortalized” through podcasting, and says the platform provides an opportunity to have “all my passions solidified in one [place].”
The slow-food advocate recently slowed down herself, moving to a second-generation, 90-acre, clean-slate farm in eastern Washington with her family. They are working together to create a wild-plants haven in the Pacific Northwest, using regenerative practices.
Slow food, Fox pointed out, is not about cooking slowly but about “how long that ingredient took to get to your mouth.” Slow food, in other words, is all about depth of knowledge, dedication to best practices, and paying attention—all ideals Fox promotes in her teaching, in her life, and on her podcast.
Check out the CraftFood Podcast at www.craftfoodpodcast.com, and explore The State of Women Podcast Network to discover other podcasts by leading women in their fields.
