Join the call of a just kitchen: where meal preparation is as much an act of resistance against injustice as marches and protests.
For food and faith writers and podcasters Derrick Weston and Anna Woofenden, The Just Kitchen is about a passion for food, sharing meals, showing hospitality, and understanding cultures, faith traditions, food histories, and local foodways.
Their authentic podcast conversations spill over the pages of this book and explore how the kitchen can be a place where the things we care about most in the world are reflected in the foods we prepare and the way we prepare them. In a world where disconnection from the earth, our food, our faith, and each other is becoming the norm, Weston and Woofenden bring together voices of hope who are working for a world of organic reconnections. They invite us to dig deeply into the complexity of ecology and food systems, as well as how faith communities are connected to them.
This is an invitation to reprioritize the kitchen as a space for healing, community, activism, and celebration. Be inspired to see the sacred in the daily mundane, forge connection with the people and earth around you, and join the call of a just kitchen.
BIO
Derrick Weston has long been an engaged community organizer focused on growing food and addressing food insecurity. Now he serves as the theological education and training coordinator for Creation Justice Ministries. A documentary filmmaker, producer, and cohost of The Food and Faith Podcast, Derrick is a firm believer in using one's voice and the media to inspire and enact social change. He and his wife, Shannon, have four children and live outside of Baltimore, Maryland.
REVIEWS
"Foodies of faith will find plenty to sink their teeth into." -- Publishers Weekly
"Cookbooks and books about diet abound, but few explore the home kitchen itself, and fewer still do so within a framework of social justice and spirituality. [Weston and Woofenden] elevate the heart of the home to a sacred space...inclusive and inviting to all faiths." -- Booklist
"The Just Kitchen is a heart-warming, soul-satisfying, and salivating meditation on the spiritual dimension of foodways. I'm grateful that Derrick Weston and Anna Woofenden have set a welcome table replete with hope and love." -- Adrian Miller, James Beard Award-winning author and executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches
"Like a carefully and lovingly prepared meal, Derrick Weston and Anna Woofendon have given a rich and generous gift in Just Kitchen. With honesty, humility, and great generosity of spirit, Derrick and Anna echo a truth I learned from the keepers of the kitchen in my own family—there's more going on in the kitchen than we usually realize. Yes, it can be a complicated and difficult space, but it can also be a space of interaction, preparation, transformation, reflection, healing, community, mutuality, celebration, and hope. For anyone who has longed for a guide to a more meaningful relationship with the kitchen, Derrick and Anna graciously show the way—recipes included." -- Nathan Stucky, PhD, director of the Farminary Project
[H] Broadleaf Books / October 10, 2023
0.82" H x 9.2" L x 8.19" W (1.59 lbs) 219 pages