As we rounded the corner in to 2013, my thoughts turned from the food I had been eating during the holidays to the food I’ve been eating during the football playoffs, and I figured it was a good time to talk about what we put in our bodies on a daily basis.
For this conversation, I invited Yale Professor Kelly Brownell, writers Mary Elliott and Susan Campbell, Weatherman Matt Scott, home chef Rob Oliver and the formerly huge Duo Dickinson – to join me for a conversation about healthy eating.
We were hosted by our friend Claire Criscuolo, the proprietress of the legendary Claire’s Corner Copia in New Haven, who jumped right in on what turned out to be a lively exchange.
In 2006 Time magazine listed Kelly Brownell among “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” in its special Time 100 issue featuring those “… whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world.”
Dr. Brownell has published 15 books and more than 350 scientific articles and chapters. He has served as President of several national organizations, including the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, and the Division of Health Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Brownell has advised the White House, members of congress, governors, world health and nutrition organizations, and media leaders on issues of nutrition, obesity, and public policy. He was cited as a “moral entrepreneur” with special influence on public discourse in a history of the obesity field and was cited by Time magazine as a leading “warrior” in the area of nutrition and public policy.
Mary Elliott is a stay-at-home Mom with four children, one husband and two leopard geckos. She has a Yale B.A., a Ph.D. in English from Boston College, and—in her old life—taught writing, English and American lit courses at B.C., Gonzaga University & Whitworth College in Spokane, WA.
Upon the birth of her twins in Colorado, she perished rather than published, but has written a couple of novels that need serious rework before they see the light of day. She contributes to Real Life Survival Guide’s Guest Editor blog, is active with the Madison Land Conservation Trust and likes to play the fiddle, hike, bike-ride and unwind with good friends.
Rob Oliver is a New Haven native, married to a New Haven native, father of 2, who works for an investment bank.
Rob “…love[s] my hometown, cooking, mountains (hiking climbing skiing), history, travel, hockey and the Red Sox. My wife and I have never been to a movie together. We love entertaining, cooking and spending time with family and friends. People I’d like to have over for dinner: Ben Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant, Smoky Joe Wood.”
Duo Dickinson has written seven books on architecture. His latest, “Staying Put: Remodel Your House to Get the Home You Want”, was published by The Taunton Press in November 2011.
He has been the contributing writer for home design for Money Magazine, is the architecture critic for the New Haven Register, and a contributing writer in home design for New Haven magazine. He has written articles for more than a dozen national publications including House Beautiful, Home, Fine Homebuilding and was the “At Home” editor for This Old House.
From LinkedIn; Claire Criscuolo is “Chef and Restaurateur at Claire’s Corner Copia, and Culinary Advisor to Basta Trattoria, Vegetarian Cookbook Author of Claire’s Corner Copia Cookbook, Claire’s Classic American Vegetarian Cooking, Claire’s Italian Vegetarian Cooking, and coming in December – Welcome to Claire’s.
Since 1975, I’ve had the privilege to cook delicious, organic, and sustainable vegetarian foods for the kindest people ever, with a staff that anyone would love to employ, in the great city of New Haven at our sweet little place, Claire’s Corner Copia. Today, this beloved little place remains “the apple (organic, of course) of my eye” for which I will always be grateful.
Matt Scott is a washed up broadcaster. Seriously.
Since 1995, he’s been a likeable, and somewhat irreverent weatherman. He’s worked from West Virginia to Boston, recently on WTNH in Connecticut.
Now, he’s recovering from all that. He still delivers sassy (and sometimes odd) forecasts on social media, on the not-yet-award-winning “Meteorologist Matt Scott” fanpage on Facebook, and @themattcast on Twitter. He occasionally appears on Cablevision’s News 12.
His latest project is”Matt Scott Productions”, which takes old school broadcasting, moving it onto new platforms. As creator of “Twivia”, he has launched Twitter’s first Trivia game show (follow it at @twiviact).
Susan Campbell is the author of “Dating Jesus,” and the upcoming biography, “Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker.” For more than a quarter-century, she was a columnist at the Hartford Courant. Her column about the shootings at lottery headquarters in March 1998 was part of The Courant’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage.
The mother of two adult sons, and the grandmother of seven, she has a bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland, and a master’s degree from Hartford Seminary, and she lives in Connecticut with her husband. And she thinks Tom’s bio is much funnier.
Contact Susan by email here. She’s available on Twitter as well.
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Image by Cindy Papish Gerber
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