FoodLove 2: What is FoodLove?

Episode 2: What is FoodLove?

This episode grounds listeners in the podcast’s identity, rhythmic pattern, and value. Listen to a short episode from Rufina C. Garay, host, of FoodLove: The Space Between Terroir and the Tao of Food. She explains the title of the podcast and links the secrets of terroir to quality and ultimately, stewardship of the earth. In her exploration of land, land uses, and quality foods, she will feature in-depth conversations with the real experts in FoodLove: farmers, food business owners, makers of artisan foods, chefs, and influencers with a passion for food.

Rufina shares the intention of FoodLove—world peace through food and a podcast. She re-envisions a future home economics class to create experiences that cultivate belonging and respect for other cultures. Her hope is that listeners might journey together and set the same intention when they tune into FoodLove: The Space Between Terroir and the Tao of Food.

In Rufina’s cover art for this episode, she reflected on the sentence “’A’ is for apple,” which often marks a child’s learning journey beginning with the alphabet as the foundation from which to share ideas. An apple is a fitting symbol of a place to start, because they grow easily in Washington state, home of the podcast. We are only at the beginning of what we will discover about food, the people at the core of making it, the potential of human connection through it, and the land on which it is grown.

FoodLove 1: Lola Milholland

Episode 1: Lola Milholland of Umi Organic

Happy Lunar New Year! In this Episode 1 of FoodLove: The Space between Terroir and the Tao of Food, host and former chef Instructor, attorney, executive leadership coach, strategic consultant, and food writer, Rufina Garay, talks with Lola Milholland. Lola is the maker and creator of Umi Organics, an organic Japanese noodle company based in Portland, Oregon. Lola has disrupted a curious and circuitous food export-import system in which U.S. wheat “boomerangs” across the world only to return from Japan in the form of ramen and soba noodles. She has created a U.S. grown and produced ramen and soba noodles that feature organic grain from her home state. The sublime quality of her noodle reflects someone who has studied, revered, and eaten Japanese noodles through what began as a year-long meditation in making noodles. Most impressive in her work is that she has embedded equity principles into her business model to make her noodles affordable. She shares deep knowledge of history and the interconnectedness of different culinary traditions. Learn about her work to bring cultural diversity to public schools through yakisoba noodles. Lola shares an intersection with Rufina as an alumna of Amherst College, whose college motto is “Terraes Irradient”—illuminate the world. That is exactly what Lola does as she demonstrates what it means to make beautiful food from what is grown here.