Jenny Breen

Jenny is a professional chef, former farm-to-table (before that was a 'thing) restaurant owner and caterer, now Public Health Nutritionist and food systems / food justice advocate and educator.

I teach future nutritionists and medical professionals about food, nutrition, food systems and health equity through hands-on cooking and food-related activities at the University of Minnesota, and spend the rest of my time doing similar work in the community. Access to healthy, culturally meaningful, sustainably produced food is a right, and our food system has turned it into a privilege.

We know that people, communities and the planet are suffering because of how we produce and distribute food, and I believe that returning to the basic skills of procuring, preparing and eating food are fundamental to systemic change. Cultures and communities around the world, and every person has wisdom and experience around these concepts, and restructuring the system to honor this wisdom and skills, and to tap into the stories and identities that feed us is fundamental to regenerating our planet and the people on it.