Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen and Renee Brooks Catacalos are the "real people" behind Real People Eat Local.
We founded www.realpeopleeatlocal.com after we challenged ourselves (and our families) to eat solely local food for one month in August 2005. At the time, lots of friends and neighbors asked us where to get the best local food and what we did with it. So, since both of us are moms and journalists, we saw an opportunity to indulge our passion for finding great local food while creating a rich information source for others interested in getting closer to their food as well. (Click here to read our article on MotherEarthNews.com about our month of eating local.)
From August of 2006 until September 2010, we published "Local Mix," an email newsletter on local food, together. Between January 2007 and November 2009, we also worked together on Edible Chesapeake magazine: Renee was publisher/editor; Kristi was contributing editor and then managing editor.
We aren't publishing the magazine or the newsletter any more, but we and our families are still eating local, and we are still writing about it, here on this website and elsewhere. We still share news about the local food scene and see each other often. Kristi also helps out with marketing 100% grass-fed beef and freshly milled certified organic wheat from her in-laws' farm in Kansas (see www.janzenfamilyfarms.com).
All content of the Real People Eat Local website and the Local Mix email newsletter is original and the property of Renee Brooks Catacalos and Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen. We welcome your comments at feedback@realpeopleeatlocal.com.
