Hi! My name is Beth Griffiths, and I’m the newest member of Team RFD. I joined up with Real Food Daily in December, and I came on-board to help with communications and community outreach. I am a long time advocate for environmental and sustainable food systems, and cannot believe my good fortune at having found a job that combines my experience in food service with my dedication to the green movement.

Now that I’ve started the job with Real Food Daily, one of the questions I get most often has been, “but are you a vegan?!” To which, I’ve had to shake my head and admit, “no, I’m not.” Not only am I not a vegan, but I’m actually something of an expert on artisanal cheese and charcuterie. I love cheese, I love meat, but the reality is that I also love the planet, and at some point I realized that the planet needs everyone to embrace a little moderation on the “meat and cheese” front.

So, in taking the job, my philosophy was, “come for the organic, stay for the vegan.” Well, it’s been six weeks, and I am overwhelmingly impressed with the restaurant’s dedication to organic and sustainable food, and now I’m here for the vegan.

I’ve been following news of the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, which is spearheaded by the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, and I thought it seemed like a really great way to challenge my cheeseburger loving soul to embrace the full culinary philosophy of Real Food Daily.

I’m looking forward to blogging about my experiences during the next 21-days, as well as discussing motivations, facts, information, and even some recipes and cooking tips from the helpful team here at Real Food Daily.

I have had such good fortune to meet and interact with so many of the wonderful and committed fans of Real Food Daily, fans and guests from all walks of life– from carnivores who just can’t get enough of the Not-Chos, to die-hard Real Food Meal aficionados who have been with us since the opening in 1993. I am looking forward to joining them in the dining room for the next 21-days, and if the meals I’ve enjoyed at RFD so far are any indication, I strongly suspect that the 21-day mark will be just the beginning.