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Also see Cook for Good comments, background and FAQ pages.

About Cook for Good

Purpose

Cook for Good is here to help you plan, cook, and eat delicious food for very little money and without too much effort.

It's also here to demonstrate that doing this is possible with the right information, food, and tools and urge the government and other organizations to help provide the means for good cooking for those who can't get them on their own. This excellent investment would show results right away and pay for itself within a few months.

Long-Term Goals

So why do I care if you Cook for Good? I hope you'll try at least part of the Cook for Good plan to benefit all of us. You'll save money and feel better. You'll also increase your self-sufficiency, reduce suffering, and help slow global warming. That's good for everybody. And it's good for you when others do the same.

I've tried to give you a good start by providing shopping lists, meal plans, recipes, and cooking programs. But you need certain basic equipment to use the program to its fullest. I'd like to encourage government programs and private charities and individuals to help cooks get the basics: bowls, pans, utensils, a colander, a kitchen scale, an instant-read thermometer, a crock pot, and a heating pad.

You need access to good ingredients to cook good food. Customers, organizations, and the government must encourage markets in all neighborhoods to carry healthy food, including fresh fruits and vegetables. Cook for Good is a proud member of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, which promotes sustainable agriculture in the Carolinas, the NC Fruits and Veggies Nutrition Coalition, which helps build a healthier North Carolina by increasing access to and consumption of fruits and vegetables, and Slow Food USA, which celebrates the amazing bounty of food that is available and work to strengthen the connection between the food on our plates and the health of our planet.

You might need to go to a cooking class or see a demonstration to really understand how to make bread or even that pot of beans. Invite a more experienced cook over to help and share what you make. Schools, churches, and community groups can host community cooking sessions, where people can come together to cook in big kitchens that have the equipment, then take the food they made home to their families.

Helping people get enough good food to eat isn't just a matter of giving them money, although money is essential. Cook for Good encourages the government to fund and make more convenient its financial support for hungry people. It also encourages the government and others to provide the tools, education, and access to food so the money can be used wisely.

Short-Term Action

Cook for Good spreads the word by being involved in community events and throwing foodraisers:

Ongoing — Ten percent of the proceeds for the Cook for Good classes at Chatham Marketplace went to the Center for Environmental Farming Systems or the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

June 26, 2010 — Cook for Good sponsored Western Wake Farmers' Market application to accept EBT cards (food stamps) at the market. I did a cooking demonstration at the celebration kicking off this new service and produced a video about how this program helps provide access to healthy food and supports the local farming community.

April through June 2010 — On the Cook for Good Coast to Coast Tour, I taught classes at food banks and clinics as well as at high-end locations. The tour raised money for the Community Food Security Coalition and for local anti-hunger or environmental groups.

August 15, 2009 — Women on the Move, the 2009 Women's Forum, presented by Wake County Human Services, at the WakeMed Andrews Center, 3024 New Bern Avenue, Raleigh NC.

July 18, 2009 — Cook for Good's foodraiser to benefit the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle exceeded my high hopes for the event. Even on a beautiful Saturday morning, we nearly filled the theater with 278 people at a special showing of Food, Inc. We raised over $2,250 to bring wholesome food and essential kitchen equipment to needy families in our area.

About Linda Watson

I'm the cook and researcher that started Cook for Good in the summer of 2007. I'm a home cook with a well-developed sense of curiosity, but I'm not a nutritionist or chef. I may be the only person in the world who is a member of both the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Project Management Institute. My background in project management and procedures writing helps me write and test recipes and optimize the shopping lists and cooking plans.

I teach classes at a wide range of venues, from Whole Foods, Slow Foods, and co-ops to food banks and clinics. I give cooking demonstrations at farmers' markets, and speak to groups who are interested in losing weight, cooking great food, raising healthy children, controlling their expenses, and helping reduce their impact on the planet.

I first became interested in the moral and health aspects of eating when I was sixteen. I became a vegetarian then and remained one for the next ten years. Too many boring, low-protein vegetable plates at corporate functions turned me back to meat for several years, until in 2002 I read The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins and Dean Ornish. They're right: your diet CAN help save your life and our world.

About You

There is so much uncertainty in the world. Changing government and corporate behavior seems difficult or impossible. But there is something you can do today and every time you choose what to eat. You can make a difference and you can make it now.

Cook for Good. Save money, eat well, do good.