Our Team
We are the founders of Conscious Cooking motivated by love for our children and the state of the planet we are handing down to them. Drawing from our diverse backgrounds in environmental chemistry, geology, education, architecture, art, journalism and medicine, we understand the deep connection our food choices have on environmental and personal health. We take immediate, decisive and substantive action against climate change by pledging to eat less meat and dairy.
We join countless others to get the word out!
I am a recently retired Family Practice physician who practiced 42 years with my husband in CNY and raised 3 children. A friend introduced me to "The China Study" and it blew my mind. Nutrition had never been addressed in medical school, much less its seminal role in health as studied by Drs. Dean Ornish, Michael Greger, and other world renowned physicians.
After taking several nutrition courses at Cornell and Massachusetts' Kripalu center, I worked feverishly to educate my patients on the health advantages of a more plant focused diet. But I had few takers. Breaking a culture of meat centered diets that are celebration, comfort, and cultural is a tough sell. I have thus learned most changes come not from the head, but from the heart, from relationships, and from caring for those we love.
Armed now with increasingly convincing data that becoming more plant focused may be the most impactful way an individual can help heal the planet, we have a clear path forward, engaging all those we know on the way.
For our children's sake.
I grew up in a medium-sized college town in the Midwest, where we were known for and proud of our meat (especially beef) and our corn. When I was a teenager, my dad (during one of the earliest screenings) learned his cholesterol was in the 500s, and my parents began to make dramatic dietary changes. I became more aware of how the food we eat affects our health. In college I discovered the Moosewood Cookbook, the Vegetarian Epicure, and others.
I earned a degree in Journalism and became a daily newspaper reporter, and later a magazine writer. Over the years, I often covered healthcare. I interviewed patients, doctors and researchers on topics that included food’s impact on our health. The benefits of a plant-focused diet were clear and influenced how I cooked for myself and others. Learning that eating less meat is also the best thing I can do for the planet made my resolve to cut or reduce meat even stronger. A grandmother now, I cook with love for my grandchildren, and for the planet they will inherit.
I developed a love of nature as a child and have always enjoyed being outside, whether it was playing in the woods, hiking, swimming, kayaking, or gardening. In College I took environmental science classes where we studied the natural world, how it was being impacted by humans, and what we could do to protect it. This experience inspired me to go on and earn a Masters of Science degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill concentrated in Environmental Chemistry.
I started my career at the Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia where I worked in both the Superfund and Clean Water Act programs. After moving to CNY, I changed my focus to environmental education to help children discover the wonders of the natural world with the hopes that the next generation would love and protect our planet. I was a founding member of Sustainable Skaneateles, a local organization that encouraged community members to make changes in their lifestyle to help mitigate climate change and I currently serve as a member of the Village of Skaneateles’s Environmental Advisory Committee.
My journey to eating a more Climate Friendly diet stemmed from my husband’s desire to improve his health. To quote Michael Pollan, we now “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”. The more we leaned towards a plant based diet, the more we learned how eating less meat is not only better for our health but also better for the planet.
I grew up on a small farm next to my grandfather’s Guernsey dairy farm. I knew the cows by name. My dad planted vegetables for us and hayed our fields for our horses, the occasional steer or pair of pigs, goats or sheep. Our dinners literally came from our yard. Our animals led idyllic lives but I was never comfortable knowing they were destined for the freezer.
I cooked myself a plant based diet from the minute I left home for college in 1970. College was Philadelphia College of Art where I knew it would be a challenge to build a career from drawings and paintings. Somehow I did. After illustrating 35 children’s books and licensing art for stationery and design for a decade, my husband and I created Patience Brewster Cards, then Patience Brewster inc. We manufactured stationery and greeting cards, then Christmas and seasonal ornaments and home decor.
Today I focus on my family, my animals, my home and gardens. It is a delight to cook and share meals from the back yard and sustainable sources. We hope it sheds light on food that is delicious and makes the planet and the people on it look and feel better. Humans are shielded from the manner in which most meat is brought to our table for good reason. The harsh industrial scale process is starving our earth and atmosphere. We can drastically change that fate by easing into healthier more sustainable options.
I graduated from Syracuse University in Elementary Education and Child Development. I received an MS in Education from Cortland State’s Project Change Program and taught second grade during the 70s in our town. When I retired to raise a family I continued to tutor children in reading. I am a watercolor and pastel artist and enjoy meeting with my students of all ages. I have written and illustrated several books for my family and compiled a cookbook of my grandmother’s “comfort foods” from her life on a Pennsylvania farm. Gardening and cooking are central to my life.
I come from a family of gardeners. My grandparents, my parents, sisters and brother, my daughters and all aunts and uncles and cousins grow some of their own food. And all of them are good cooks. So my focus on food developed early along with a sense of what it takes to grow it and from there, it was easy to be curious about healthy soils, healthy plants and a healthy planet.
Diet for a Small Planet was one of my first cookbooks. The ideas that concerned its author, Frances Moore Lappe, were new to me in 1972 and have stayed with me to this day. It is important to be growing food in ways that do not overuse or pollute water, deplete or pollute soils or contaminate the air.
My family continues to learn and adapt as new research becomes available. We eat a mostly Mediterranean diet and we collect delicious vegetarian recipes. I am happy to join a group of elders who are interested in living lightly on the earth and sharing what they know, especially their favorite recipes.
I believe “living well” means leaving the planet in good shape for future generations. I have a BS and MS degrees in Geology, married a Geologist and moved to CNY when our children were young to raise them where they could play outside without constant parental supervision. In CNY I find abundant access to local, fresh foods. Our garden provides many of the vegetables we consume. We also hunt and eat venison, rabbit, and fish.
My concern for the planet’s future led to me to reducing meat and optimizing local food consumption as well as eliminating beef from my diet. I ascribe to the Blue Zone approach to cooking in which meat is served sparingly on celebratory occasions or as a seasoning in certain dishes.
My husband and I have raised three children who work in earth or biological sciences. We enjoy playing an active role in our grandchildren’s lives. I am a nonprofit organizational development consultant who enjoys biking, gardening, cooking, and being around children.
I grew up in Skaneateles with extensive Central New York family roots. I trace my love of the Finger Lakes - waters, rolling hills, farms, and the beautiful four seasons - to my parents’ love of the outdoors. I enjoy kayaking, skiing, hiking, gardening, cooking, and spending as much time as possible in the Adirondacks. My husband and I have raised two sons here, and now you will find us walking the Village with our large, friendly dog.
During my 36-year career as an architect, the approach to building systems evolved in response to growing environmental concerns. From that knowledge base, my firm designed the Village Offices to be as close to net-zero energy use as possible. Following that project, I joined Carol in the initiation of Sustainable Skaneateles, seeking to involve and educate our community about steps we can all take to make a difference. I served on the Town Board for one term and now serve on the Village Planning Board.
It’s an ongoing effort to tread more lightly on our planet. I am a big supporter of our local farms, enjoying their harvests according to the seasons. Knowing the huge impact of the meat industry on the environment, I have intentionally reduced meat consumption, purchasing meat from free-range local sources. We buy local pasture-raised poultry, eggs, and dairy, providing higher quality while supporting local farms with much less global impact.