A Nutritionist & a Cook Walk Into AOOA

Today, supermarkets and box stores abound with every ingredient imaginable. Strawberries in winter? Check! Shelf-stable drinkable yogurt? Why not! Seafood from across the globe? Awesome! Highly-processed sauces and spreads with questionable ingredients? Pass the mayo!    

There’s a lot to appreciate about these modern conveniences, but at what cost? What have they done for our health and for the quality of our meals?   

Our food philosophy at AOOA can be boiled down to these three tenets: (1) it must be delicious and thoroughly enjoyed (ideally in good company!), (2) food should be nourishing and nutrient-dense, and (3) your plate should showcase local, responsibly grown whole foods. If you can stick to just these three guidelines, something amazing will happen: you will effortlessly become healthier without sacrificing the pleasure of eating food. And an added bonus: you’ll be making better choices for the planet.    

Join Hudson Valley Magazine Editor-in-Chief and certified nutritionist Linda Fears and AOOA Foundation Director and culinary maven Ariane Daguin for a talk and small plates tasting. Compare the nutritional and flavor differences between grass-fed, grain-fed, and wagyu beef; conventional supermarket chicken and pastured chicken; and vegetables grown and prepared in various ways.

Learn about the many reasons why being in touch with the seasons and buying from local farms - plentiful in the Hudson Valley - can improve your health while truly satisfying your taste buds. See how eating healthily, cooking simply, and indulging in really great-tasting food does not have to be mutually exclusive.