Mrs. Mosal’s White Fruitcake and Boiled Custard. (Rinne Allen)
Southern baking, writes veteran cookbook author Anne Byrn, is “quite possibly the first and finest style of baking America has ever known.” She makes the case for it in her latest tome of a cookbook, “Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories.”
A fifth-generation Southerner, Byrn looked far beyond her home state of Tennessee. She researched each of the 14 Southern states, interviewed locals, and dug into library archives to find the best recipes and stories, both present and past. “I took a big-picture, step-back look at the South and considered how railroads, poverty, isolation, slavery, migration, and many other factors affected what people baked,” she said. “It was an ongoing project for more than three years. It consumed me!”
Anne Byrn is a best-selling cookbook author and the former food editor of The Atlanta Journal- Constitution and The Tennessean. (Draper James)
There was also plenty of another kind of consumption: the rigorous testing and tweaking of historical recipes for modern home cooks. “What was considered delicious in the 1930s might seem spartan today,” she noted. Part of the challenge was finding modern equivalents for old ingredients and translating measurements—or lack thereof. “Grandmother likely had her own flour scoop and knew how she measured a cup, level or rounded, or possibly she didn’t measure at all!”
Her perseverance was rewarded. The final collection, which includes entire chapters on cornbreads and biscuits, and sweets from obscure regional pies to famous Christmas cakes, tells a story of Southern baking, tradition, and culture. The recipes’ stories are woven into the lives of generations of Americans. Byrn shared three gems just in time for the holiday season.
(Harper Celebrate)
How to Bake Like a Southern Grandmother
Anne Byrn shares five timeless tips from bakers past:
Repeat favorites, especially for the holidays. People remember recipes that are repeated annually. And grandmothers were good about that.
Bake with your senses, using touch and your sense of smell to determine if a cake is done.
Let little people comeinto the kitchen and watch and help.
Don’t scrimp on ingredients. I was told stories of baking during the war years and using precious white sugar. I was told about how people of Appalachia would save money to bake a cake to bring to a holiday supper. People have scrimped and saved in order to bake something nice for the people they love. You should, too.
Tell the story about the recipe. Pass on family stories so they will be remembered.
(Rinne Allen)
My Christmas Family Tradition
Byrn and her grown children have a Christmas tradition of getting together to decorate sugar cookies and take family photos, “the tackier the sweater or apron the better,” she said. Some details have changed over the years: “Our mugs of cocoa have gravitated to flutes of bubbly.” Others are constant: her grandmother’s crescent cookies, punch cups of boiled custard (an old-time Tennessee specialty), and freshly baked yeast and sweet rolls, all putting a Southern stamp on their festivities.
An Indonesian feast at cooking instructor Shandra Woworuntu’s
home in Queens, New York, including tofu and egg omelets, corn and shrimp fritters, and an
assortment of Indonesian crackers and candy. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
We arrive at Shandra Woworuntu’s home in Queens, New York, on a Sunday afternoon, six strangers on another stranger’s doorstep, buzzing with nervous excitement. At 1 p.m. sharp, the door cracks open to reveal a shy teenage boy with scruffy black hair, wearing a T-shirt and shorts. He ushers us inside. We slip off our shoes and make small talk in the hall. Then a woman’s—undoubtedly a mother’s—shrill command from somewhere above us summons our greeter upstairs—something about guests and chairs. As he bounds away, we exchange glances and chuckles. We know we’re in for something special.
We’ve come for a cooking class—but no starchy chef’s whites nor gleaming industrial stovetops await us here. Woworuntu is a proud member of the League of Kitchens, a cooking school unlike any other: Its instructors are immigrant grandmothers and mothers from around the world; its classrooms are the instructors’ homes across New York. Students can venture to Staten Island to learn Lebanese cooking; Brooklyn to break into Bangladeshi; and here, Queens, to indulge in Indonesian. Live online classes let home cooks around the world visit from afar.
Lisa Kyung Gross, who founded the school in 2014, was intentional about both the teachers and the setting.
The daughter of a Hungarian Jewish New Yorker father and Korean immigrant mother, Gross grew up eating traditional Korean dishes her grandmother cooked from scratch. But whenever she tried to help in the kitchen, she was shooed away by many a well-meaning immigrant parent’s refrain: “Don’t worry about cooking. Studying is more important,” her grandmother said.
She died before Gross could ask for her recipes.
Gross dreamt of finding another Korean grandmother to cook with in her home, to learn her family recipes—but then she thought, why stop at Korean?
Lisa Kyung Gross founded the League of Kitchens in 2014. (Kristen Teig)
She found two immigrant women, from Lebanon and Bangladesh, to teach cooking classes on their traditional cuisines. She envisioned an experience “that was not only about amazing cooking and eating, but also about creating an opportunity for meaningful cross-cultural learning, connection, and exchange,” she said.
She knew that she wanted her teachers to be home cooks, not restaurant chefs, because “in most places around the world, the fullest expression of a cuisine isn’t in a restaurant—it’s in the home,” she said. “Most culinary traditions have been oral traditions passed down between women in the home.”
She also wanted the classes to be held in those most intimate spaces. “When you see their cooking tools and how they store their spices, and you’re eating the food on their traditional dishware, being taught how you eat it, it’s such a deeper cultural experience,” she said.
For Gross, who’d felt disconnected from her own heritage, “it felt healing,” she said.
(Kristen Teig)
Kitchen Ambassadors
A decade in, the League of Kitchens has 14 instructors, from Argentinian to Uzbek. Gross’s requirements are rigorous. She estimates she’s interviewed 300 to 400 people and done 75 in-home cooking auditions to find their winning team.
“We’re really looking for people who are not only good home cooks, but exceptional home cooks,” she said. These are women who are known in their communities for their food, who “can cook for 40 people with their eyes closed,” and who possess deep knowledge of their traditional cuisine.
They are also, importantly, warm and dynamic teachers and hosts, passionate about sharing their stories with others.
I discover as much as we walk up the stairs of Woworuntu’s home and finally meet our host—as vibrant as the dazzling, multi-colored spread of food she’s already prepared. A “snack,” she says of the veritable meal, giggling.
Woworuntu is bubbly and high-spirited, punctuating most sentences with a joyful cackle of a laugh. She’s excited to introduce us to the rich and varied cuisine of Indonesia and its 17,000 islands. “Indonesia is not just Bali and Jakarta,” she says. Today we’re eating dishes from East Java, where she grew up. The people there love to party, she says, and the food matches their spirit. “You will experience spicy, salty, sour, sweet. All the flavors come together.”
As we dig in, we learn about each other: a married couple who lives in the neighborhood and wanted to try something new; a young UI/UX designer who loves to cook and is attending her third League of Kitchens class; a pair of newlyweds about to go to Indonesia for their honeymoon.
Woworuntu with one of her two backyard lime trees, from which she harvests both fragrant leaves and fruit. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
We also learn about Woworuntu and the dark story hidden behind her warm smile. After losing her job as a financial bank analyst and trader in Indonesia, she came to the United States in 2001 at age 25, thinking she was getting a job in hospitality. It was a trap: She was taken at the airport and sold into sex trafficking. She escaped—twice—and was instrumental in convicting her captors, only to spend the next three years living on the streets of New York. She’s since dedicated her life to giving trafficking survivors the support she didn’t have by founding a nonprofit, Mentari, through which she teaches cooking classes to help survivors find work. She traveled the world speaking and consulting with governments and NGOs, including as a member of the first U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking in 2015.
“Cooking is my healing,” Woworuntu says. Food also played a role in helping other survivors. “I used to sit with the victims, give them tea, and talk, giving them food and getting to know them.” That opens up the conversation to dig “beneath the surface of this person,” she says.
She brings that philosophy to her classes, too.
“‘How do I become a blessing for people?’” she asks herself. “It [takes] courage to come to my table without knowing who I am, who will be [there]. Food is a platform for people to speak, to get connected, to share. I think it’s just amazing how they open up.”
Cultural Immersion
It helps that she is a generous teacher and animated storyteller, welcoming us into the fold of her family and culture. We meet her husband, Randy, a retired police officer, and her 17-year-old son, Nick, our greeter—and her (paid!) dishwasher and trusty assistant.
Woworuntu introduces ingredients paired with folklore and childhood stories, or expert kitchen tips. She measures garlic and shallots by handfuls—“how my mom and grandma taught me,” she says—and passes them into our hands so we can feel the weight. She lets us taste some truly special items: fragrant lime leaves and juicy white ginger from her backyard; smoked coconut sugar and kopi luwak (civet coffee) from recent travels to Indonesia. To help slice through a block of tamarind pulp for us to try, she swiftly brings a hammer down onto her chef’s knife, grinning all the while, until the dense, sticky fruit yields.
She’s also a blazing-fast cook. As we don our aprons, she bounces between showing us our next tasks, tending multiple pans on the stove, and putting out our fires (once nearly an actual one) without breaking a sweat.
A resourceful cook, Woworuntu uses a hammer to help her slice through a block of tamarind pulp prepared for her by her mother. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
We are far less dexterous. But our teacher is cheerful and encouraging, even when we cut the garlic the wrong way and spill gobs of half-cooked omelet onto her stove: “Don’t worry, don’t worry!” she sings, unfazed as the flames leap up from the oil.
We bond as we cook, cheering each other’s triumphant omelet flips and reaching over to save wobbly bowls from disaster.
“How many chiles should we add?” Woworuntu asks us, mixing batter for fritters. “Maybe 15?” We glance at each other, mumble unconvincing “Sure”s. “Ten, then,” she relents. We collectively exhale.
When we fall unprompted into an assembly line to roll and fill klepon, balls of pandan mochi stuffed with coconut sugar and rolled in coconut shavings, Woworuntu can’t stop giggling and snapping photos.
Three hours later, we finally sit down for our feast: corn and shrimp fritters, perfumed with lime leaf and fried to a golden crisp; cucumbers dipped in bumbu kacang, a sweet-and-savory peanut sauce I want to eat by the spoonful; and plate-sized egg and tofu omelets, loaded with bean sprouts, a second kind of peanut sauce, and fried shallots, all served with rice and crackers. For dessert, we’ve made caramelized bananas topped with condensed milk, chocolate sprinkles, and shredded mozzarella (don’t knock it ’til you try it); and the klepon, crowded on giant platters like snowball cookies in pastel green. A student remarks that she now understands why our welcome spread was a “snack.”
“I like to feed people,” Woworuntu later tells me. “Because my grandma used to feed people.” Her family owned several food businesses in Indonesia, and from a young age she learned to help cook traditional dishes for their many employees.
“I think I got it from family culture,” she continues. “They believe if you feed people, one day, if [your family’s future generation] needs food, someone will feed them.”
It extends beyond the table, too. “I think if you share kindness with other people, it’s contagious.”
Students assemble klepon, sweet rice cakes flavored with pandan and stuffed with coconut sugar. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Breaking Bread, Building Bridges
Woworuntu sends us off with bursting stomachs, Tupperware full of leftovers, and yet more gifts: precious lime leaves and cucumbers from her garden, apples from her second home in upstate New York, and even an invitation to join her there on her next family escape.
For the newlyweds, she ducks into a room and emerges with a vibrant Indonesian fabric sash for the bride to wear on their trip. “Are you sure?” she asks, eyes wide. Yes, Woworuntu insists, pushing it into her hands and telling them to let her know if they need anything else. “We’ll text you,” the husband says with a smile.
Gross says these scenes are common at the end of classes. “Everyone’s hugging, everyone’s exchanging numbers, people feel that the instructors are like their new favorite auntie,” she said. “There’s something really magical that happens on an emotional level of connection.”
The friendships formed can last long after. Damira Inatullaeva, the Uzbek instructor, recalled one student who took an online class and mailed her a painting of hands making Uzbek dumplings. Another student decided to travel to Uzbekistan, and they met up in Inatullaeva’s hometown of Samarkand.
“Before the class,” Inatullaeva marveled, “many of my students didn’t even know what Uzbekistan was.”
After spending time in an instructor’s home, she said, “you will think that our world is very different, very colorful, [with] a lot of different tastes.”
She’s experienced that firsthand: She loves taking other League of Kitchens classes herself, as many instructors do.
“I love Nepali momos, I love Argentinian alfajores, I love Greek salad and spanakopita,” Inatullaeva said. Her favorite is New York pizza.
So while she’s proud of her heritage, she stops short of calling Uzbek cuisine the best. “All the cuisines of the world, they are unique. I discovered that here in New York,” she said.
Uzbekistan kebab. (Kristen Teig)
She recalled that when she first came to the United States, she resolved not to cook Uzbek food—only “American food.”After 10 years in America—nine of which she’s spent teaching for the League of Kitchens—she’s revised her resolution.
“I want my Uzbek cuisine to also be part of American cuisine,” she said. “This is my dream.”
The rich tapestry that is America continues to be woven; Gross sees that as something to champion. “Our instructors, they are representatives of their cultures, but they’re also New Yorkers. They’re Americans,” she said. “They value very deeply preserving their traditions and recipes, but they also go out to eat Thai food, and love pizza, and cook varied cuisines in their homes. They interact with other people from other cultures, their lives are rich with many cultures, and the best things coexist.”
For Gross, fostering these cross-cultural connections is the most powerful part of the League of Kitchens.
“All the time we hear from students who say, ‘This part of the world that felt abstract and distant now feels personal and meaningful,’” she said.
“That is the great hope of what we do: create peace and love and connection between people who are different, through storytelling, through sharing, through food.”
Get Cooking
The League of Kitchens offers cooking workshops in-person in the New York area (2.5 hours for $175, 4.5 hours for $220) and online (2.5 hours, $60 per device). In-person classes include a welcome snack or lunch, hands-on cooking instruction, and a shared meal. Online classes include live, interactive cooking instruction and a virtual dinner party; a list of ingredients and equipment is provided in advance. All students receive a packet of the instructor’s family recipes and background information. LeagueOfKitchens.com
For a kitchen companion to keep closer at hand, Lisa Kyung Gross and the school’s instructors have published “The League of Kitchens Cookbook: Brilliant Tips, Secret Methods, and Favorite Family Recipes From Around the World” (November 2024). Gross’s warm encouragement guides readers through recipes detailed enough to be mini cooking lessons, while instructor profiles and anecdotes add deeper meaning to every dish.
Lisa Gross (center, in green) with the instructors of the League of Kitchens. (Kristen Teig)
Kitchen Secrets
For Lisa Kyung Gross, running the League of Kitchens has been “the best culinary school you could imagine,” she said. She shared some of her top takeaways from their instructors.
Use the best ingredients you can get. “Your food will only taste as good as the quality of your ingredients,” Gross said. Many instructors emphasize using in-season produce and shop at several different places to get exactly what they want.
Freshly toast and grind your own spices. Gross has noticed this makes an especially big difference in flavor for cumin and coriander. She recommends toasting the seeds in a completely dry pan over the lowest heat possible until they’re aromatic and crisp (cumin should be easily broken with a fingernail; coriander should almost shatter between your molars). Let them cool to room temperature before grinding in a spice mill or coffee grinder (one not used for coffee).
Pay attention to the little things. Here lies the difference between “good food and great food,” Gross said: the nuances and tricks that come naturally to a home cook with years of experience. Removing the seeds from grape tomatoes prevents watery guacamole; the contrast between paper-thin red onions and bigger-than-you’d-think tomato wedges makes an ultra-satisfying Greek salad; breaking down chicken into smaller-than-you’d-think pieces exposes more bone marrow and lends extra flavor to an Afghan curry. The delicious is in the details.
Cook with love. Every instructor prescribes this most important ingredient. This means “cooking with intention, with attention, with care,” Gross said. “If you’re grumpy, don’t cook,” added Shandra Woworuntu. “You have to be kind to the food.” For Damira Inatullaeva, it was her grandmother’s most important kitchen advice: “Don’t forget to think good thoughts about the people for whom you’re cooking.”
The rise in dementia cases in advanced societies presents a very real fear for most Americans. Many people become hyper focused or fearful about dementia-related conditions.
But Dr. Richard Restak, a clinical professor of neurology at George Washington Hospital University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, says there are preventative measures you can take to keep the brain sharp and build memory. Dr. Restak is the author of 21 books about the human brain, including his recently released book “How to Prevent Dementia,” in which he offers techniques to prevent losing memory recall, everyday speech, or diminished problem-solving skills as you age.
He added that if someone comes from a family in which Alzheimer’s is very common, then it should be a concern. He suggests early testing for diagnosis so that you can stay objective in early treatment. Early detection can also help differentiate between what could be early signs of dementia or normal aging conditions. Often, misdiagnoses can be avoided. Dr. Restak also provided tips on how to keep your cognitive functions sharp.
(David Travis/Unsplash)
Have your hearing and vision tested periodically. Most people think that the first signs of dementia are memory loss and confusion, but poor vision or hearing is often a first sign of dementia. Testing can help determine whether to heed a warning sign, or to start wearing hearing aids, for example—which are simply an augmentation of our ability to function well as we age.
(Omar Lopez /Unsplash)
The social aspect of preventing dementia is often overlooked, and Dr. Restak suggests a few behavioral social approaches: Be curious and learn new things. One way is to be socially active, meeting new people who have the same interests to keep your mind engaged in the here and now. Next, find ways to keep your mind busy with memory exercises like finding the definition of a new word every day. Dr. Restak often recites from memory the chronological order of American presidents.
(Bruce Mars/Unsplash)
Exercise and physical activity are important for living a healthy lifestyle. “What’s good for the brain is good for the heart, too,” Dr. Restak said.He prefers the Mediterranean diet to preserve his cognitive reserve.
(David Travis/Unsplash)
“Do the things you enjoy like reading novels or traveling (which is a kind of education) or listening to good music. It’s helpful to not live a stressful life,” Dr. Restak said.Realize that we don’t have total control over everything, and make peace with that for a happier existence.
Dr. Restak lives by what he recommends. His daily routine consists of reading a book or writing as the first thing upon waking. He eats a light breakfast and then walks the dog for exercise. When he goes to the office to see patients, he will often do various physical and mental exercises in between patient visits. In the evening, he reads with his wife, listens to audiobooks together, or watches a documentary of something interesting. He says he just keeps learning things that are of interest.
The former Hotel Alcazar now serves as the Lightner Museum and St. Augustine’s City Hall. (FloridasHistoricCoast.com)
Legend has it that Juan Ponce de León discovered Florida while searching for the Fountain of Youth. While that tale is probably untrue, the lovely southern state certainly feels effervescent with its ocean-scented air and its flourishing, year-round greenery. At least, it feels that way to a Wisconsinite visiting the state after a long winter, which I did this spring, hungry for the promise of warmth and life.
Whether or not he was motivated by the tantalizing tale of water that bestowed unending life, Ponce de León, governor of Puerto Rico and former companion of Columbus, waded ashore on the peninsula around 1513, somewhere near the present-day city of St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. He claimed the land for his king and faith, naming it “La Florida” because he came to it during the Easter season, known in Spain as “pascua florida”—“feast of flowers.”
I, too, arrived in Florida with my wife and daughter during the Easter season. This was our second visit to St. Augustine, after our first a few years ago, when the town’s antiquity, beauty, and vibrancy first won our admiration. The historic district of the city resembles a colonial period settlement, and when you walk the winding, Spanish moss-adorned streets—some of which are brick, and all of which reveal their age by their narrowness, built for foot traffic and horses and carts, not cars—the mind naturally roves back over the centuries to those first settlers.
The Spanish Mission-style Cathedral Basilica is the oldest Catholic parish in the country. (GianfrancoVivi/GettyImages)
Centuries of History in St. Augustine
Ponce de León’s explorations helped identify Florida as a desirable place for settlement and missionary activity, which gave rise, in time, to the establishment of St. Augustine. That task fell, 50 years after Ponce de León’s activities, to Admiral Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who was sent to secure Spanish holdings in the region and expel French settlers. On September 8, 1565, Menéndez and his water-weary companions landed in a small natural harbor and founded a fort and settlement, named for the saint on whose feast day they had first sighted land. One member of the expedition, Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, recorded the triumphant moment in his diary:
On Saturday the eighth the General landed with many banners spread, to the sounds of trumpets and the salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet him, singing the hymn Te Deum Laudamus. The General, followed by all who accompanied him, marched up to the cross, knelt and kissed it. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and imitated all that they saw done.
Then, under an open, wild sky, with ocean winds blowing through the encampment, the same winds that had borne the explorers so many miles from home, Father López celebrated the first parish Mass in what is now the United States. Today, this location is called the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, a peaceful patch of parklike greenery under gently rocking palms. Old, sun-blanched gravestones rest among the ferns, bearing names all but worn away by time and nearly lost to memory. In the middle of this place, nicknamed “the sacred acre,” nestles a small chapel, so covered in ivy that it has become a part of the landscape. Inside is a statue of Mary nursing Jesus. The visitor center at the shrine contains an informative and well-run little museum with authentic artifacts that tell of the desperate, early days of settlers and missionaries laboring under the blinding sun and weathering ocean-flung hurricanes, pirates, and British soldiers.
The historic district of the city retains much of the colonial period’s look and feel. (Yijun Wang)
In fact, conflict with the nearby British intensified to a degree that the Spanish determined to build a permanent stone fortress. They began construction in 1672 and completed it toward the end of the century. The Castillo de San Marcos stood ready none too soon—a British force from the Carolinas attacked the city in 1702. The Brits could not take the fort, and they eventually retreated after razing the town. Years later, the town and fort came under British control due to the Treaty of Paris at the end of the French and Indian War, but a second treaty after the American Revolution returned the city to the Spanish.
The fort still stands at the edge of town, defying the ocean, looking much as it has these many centuries, impenetrable and unyielding. An art exhibit at the Governor’s House Cultural Center and Museum in downtown St. Augustine revealed many paintings of the fort over the years—a testament to the castillo’s ability to capture the imagination of generations of resident artists. In each picture, even as the town itself grows more modern with time, the fort remains the same.
The intricate stylings of Spanish Renaissance architecture inside Flagler College. (Carlos Smith)The exterior of Flagler College. (Joe Shlabotnik)
The fort is well worth a visit. It was built in a star shape, the “bastion system,” to help counter the (then) new technology of gunpowder. The shape could better withstand or deflect incoming cannon balls. Another advantage against cannon fire is that the biological history of the region is embedded in the fort’s walls in the form of “coquina”—a rare type of limestone made up of the shell pieces of ancient mollusks, trilobites, and other invertebrates. The rock’s porous nature better absorbed the shock of a projectile than a more solid material would have. The temporary docking of a full-size, seaworthy replica of one of explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s ships enhanced our experience of the waterfront. The view of the 17th-century fort and 16th-century vessel beside it easily transported us back through three centuries of history until we felt almost as though we had just come to port in a strange new land after treacherous weeks at sea.
Boats on the Matanzas River, with the landmark Bridge of Lions in the background. (Vasilis Karkalas/Unsplash)
Old-World Charm
Today, St. Augustine offers a great deal of amenities that our forebears didn’t get to enjoy. Along the waterfront and in the historic district, you’ll find many restaurants, often situated inside old, restored buildings and with ocean views. Old-fashioned wooden signs protrude above the narrow streets, announcing gift shops, galleries, and coffee houses. Half-hidden from passersby, walled-off gardens overflow with lush vegetation while majestic fountains spray water like liquid diamonds into the air of courtyards and plazas beside ornate, 19th-century hotels. The city has the most European feel of any American town I’ve visited.
The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fortification in the country. (CharlesLeRette/ GettyImages)Built in the late 17th century to protect the Spanish territory from invaders, the fort looks out at Matanzas Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. (FloridasHistoricCoast.com)
A walk through the Colonial Quarter will take you past the intricate, Spanish Renaissance architecture of Flagler College, the magnificent facade of the Spanish Mission-style Cathedral Basilica, and the twin, red-roofed towers of the Lightner Museum, formerly a Gilded Age resort. Unsurprisingly for the oldest city in the continental United States, there are at least a dozen museums, including the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, which offers visitors a view of the town and the surrounding beaches at the end of a 219-step climb.
What draws us to St. Augustine? I suppose it is the history, and our old-world sympathies, the serene natural beauty, and the distant crash and stir of the ocean in the background, the waves kissing the shore again and again, running over the sand like the years passing over the city, that draw us to St. Augustine. To me, the city is a link to a deeper past and an older story than most locations in this country reveal. At only 250 years, we’re a young nation, but St. Augustine reminds us of our roots and the inheritance that we carry with us from more than one European nation.
Flagler College was founded by Henry Morrison Flagler, a 19th-century oil and railroad tycoon. He helped to develop much of Florida’s Atlantic coast. (Brent Moore)
While I stood under the great cross that has been erected where Menéndez first landed and kissed the symbol of his faith, I thought of the early adventurers, wayfarers, villains, and heroes who make up the early history of our country. They couldn’t find the magical Fountain of Youth, but something of their culture and their spirit lives on. Without their story and their struggle, a struggle written into the walls and bricks of St. Augustine, America would not be possible.
Kimbal Musk is passionate about sustainable farming and widening Americans' access to local fresh produce. (Laurie Smith)
Imagine spending 18 months at one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world, and the first assignment you get after graduating is peeling potatoes in a volunteer kitchen.
But that’s only part of an unusual story that includes a near-death experience, a message from God, and a terrorist attack that led one man to a career dedicated to bringing local, sustainable food to Americans.
Then again, you wouldn’t expect anything less from someone with the last name of Musk. In this case, the tale belongs to Elon’s brother, Kimbal. While the more famous sibling is launching rockets and electric cars, Kimbal Musk is cooking up innovations in the kitchen. The former tech entrepreneur has dedicated his life to his nonprofit, Big Green, which supports sustainable farming, educating children about growing food, and expanding home, school, and community gardens.
He also owns several farm-to-table restaurants in Colorado and Chicago, with a forthcoming location in Austin, Texas. “The kitchen is truly where I have so much passion,” he said. “I love … walking into my restaurant and feeling the energy of the community.” He recently wrote a cookbook, “The Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking for Your Community,” in the hopes that everyone can experience the joy of sharing the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor; he feels that cooking a meal for someone is the ultimate act of sharing.
How he came to this point in his life is a story in itself.
Mr. Kimbal Musk with a copy of his cookbook, “The Kitchen Cookbook.” (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
From Tech to Social Entrepreneurship
Already successful and financially secure at age 27 when he and his brother sold Zip2, the tech company they founded together, Mr. Musk decided to pursue cooking. He enrolled in the French Culinary Institute in New York, thinking that the experience would be an exotic endeavor. Instead, it was a lot like the high-stress cooking shows on television.
“I thought of going in and it being somewhat romantic. And it was like the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket.’ It was screaming at you, all the time, breaking you down, in a boot camp kind of mentality.” Of the 25 students who enrolled in that class, only six made it through the year-and-a-half course, he recalled.
Mr. Musk bakes a cake in New York, in 2000. (Maye Musk)
Timing is often everything in life, and this case was no different. Shortly after Mr. Musk completed his training, the 9/11 terrorist attack devastated New York. The city needed its firefighters, police, and first responders more than ever; it also needed people to cook for them as they worked around the clock in rescue and relief efforts. “It started out with me peeling potatoes, and I was there for six weeks, through the end of October.” Top chefs from around the world gathered to cook meals for the rescue workers. Eventually, Mr. Musk worked his way up to the point where he was preparing the dishes.
He enjoyed serving firefighters dishes they probably didn’t get on a regular basis, like sautéed salmon in a creamy dill sauce. During this time, he saw the effect good food had on people as he watched the exhausted, emotionally spent rescue workers renew their spirits as they ate. “We would feed them some of the best foods I think they’d ever eaten in their lives. … We were putting so much love into the food. And the color was circling back to their faces. They never stopped talking to each other. And by the end of that 45-minute break, the room would be full of energy and joy.” His immediate thought: “Wow. I can’t imagine a life without this. I have to do a restaurant.”
Mr. Musk knew that the best quality ingredients come from local growers, so around 2004, he started working with farmers to supply his first restaurant, The Kitchen in Boulder, Colorado. At about the same time, he wanted to do something to change the trend in America whereby “your average 10-year-old wouldn’t be able to tell you what a tomato looks like.” He provided financial support for school gardens, so children could learn the value and science of growing food. But he was a “checkbook philanthropist,” he said, basically letting others do the work.
Mr. Musk opened his first restaurant in Boulder, Colo., in March 2004. For the first year, he was sous-chef in the kitchen, working the line 5 to 7 days a week. (Maye Musk)
A ski slope changed all that. Along with a voice.
In 2010, Mr. Musk slid down a ski hill on an inner tube and landed on his head. He ended up with a ruptured spinal column that paralyzed the left side of his body. He thought he was going to die. While waiting for surgery, he heard a voice that led him to his current calling.
“I really had this profound voice in my head that I can only describe as God. … And it told me that I would go work on kids and food. It wasn’t specific instructions. It wasn’t like, you’re going to do school gardens, you’re going to do restaurants. It’s just kids—you’re going to help kids connect to food. And I was going to be fine.”
Surgery was successful. “I also got my movement back in my body. And the voice didn’t go away. It wasn’t like a flash of light or anything like that. It was a beautiful, clear voice.”
That experience led to the creation of more than 650 “learning gardens” in schools around the country through Big Green. Teachers can incorporate gardening into the science and math lessons that are part of their curriculum, allowing students to learn outdoors. Mr. Musk hopes that every American will eventually learn to grow food. “You’re going to get a whole new appreciation for the flavor of things, the seasons of things,” he said.
Mr. Musk teaches students at Eucalyptus Elementary School to plant a vegetable garden in preparation for Plant a Seed Day in Hawthorne, Calif., March 13, 2019. (David Mcnew/AFP/Getty Images)
The Future of Food
Mr. Musk is already seeing the trend of American farming changing toward becoming more sustainable. More farmers are embracing regenerative farming, which is designed to improve the quality and health of the soil. It’s not a new concept, as Native Americans have applied regenerative farming principles for centuries.
A farmer might plant corn and beans together: The corn provides a natural trellis for the beans, while the beans put nitrogen into the soil, which helps the corn grow. A rancher might move cattle around and let grazed land “rest” for a while. Periodically rotating the land on which crops are grown can reduce or eliminate the need for pesticides and fertilizer, on which many farms have become reliant.
While many farmers still need time to learn and adapt to these concepts—“it’s a very risk-averse community,” he said—it is catching on around the country. “It grows food better and more nutritionally. And then the farmer can also charge more for their product. So that’s a win for them, too.”
Looking toward the distant future, his vision lies with his Square Roots company, which has nothing to do with math, but focuses on growing food indoors with less energy, such as through hydroponic systems inside upcycled shipping containers. That will become useful if, say, humanity starts living on Mars. The red planet will have less sunlight and fertile ground than Earth. Technology to grow food with fewer resources “will be critical for our expansion on Mars,” he said.
Mr. Musk has ambitious plans to develop hydroponic farming for future food production on Mars. (Phynart Studio/Getty Images)
A Family Legacy
The creative spirit within the Musk family traces back to his grandfather, who moved the family from Canada to Africa in 1948. “My grandfather was a cartographer mapping Southern Africa. He mapped the Kalahari Desert, and pioneered understanding geography down there.” He tells of a unique family trip in family lore: On a single engine plane, his grandfather, his wife, and their daughter, Mr. Musk’s mother, went from South Africa to India, Indonesia, and down to Australia. Mr. Musk describes his grandfather as a real adventurer, and that the innovative spirit of the family is “in our bones. In America, that translates into being an entrepreneur, but whatever it is, it’s some sort of a pioneer breaking new ground.”
Maye Musk, mother of Mr. Musk, cooking in the Kalahari Desert, 1956. (Maye Musk)
Mr. Musk, who became an American citizen in 2004, talks about how grateful he is for this country, having lived through the apartheid era in South Africa. “My kids, I love them to death. They’ll critique America if we let them,” he said, but he often tells them, “Maybe you should try somewhere else first, before you dive in on the criticisms.”
Mr. Musk with his sister Tosca and mom Maye. (Laurie Smith)
Mr. Musk feels a need to give back to the country that has given him so much. It hit him five years ago during a family trip to the Rocky Mountains. “We were just going for a hike and spending a day in the mountains. And I just had this epiphany—that I have the American dream. I have my wife, I have a beautiful home. I’ve got wonderful kids, and built beautiful businesses that make a difference in this community.”
As a celebrity holistic nutritionist, she spends a lot of time digging into the latest nutrition and metabolic health research and distilling it into information people can easily understand. Often, “our media will take whatever the latest study is and find a scary headline to get readers,” she said. Rather than peddle doom and gloom, she focuses on the good: how easy it is to take action.
Before starting her own health consulting business, Be Well by Kelly, Ms. LeVeque worked in cancer research for Fortune 500 companies. “Not all diseases are preventable, but I was inspired by spending so much time in cancer centers and seeing the benefits of taking care of ourselves and developing holistic habits,” she said. Now, she’s passionate about helping her clients, which have included A-listers like Jessica Alba and Jennifer Garner, do just that.
Her ultimate goal for her clients—and herself—is to make wellness an intrinsic part of daily life, and to see it as a fun adventure. That especially applies to mealtime.
Kelly LeVeque makes smoothie bowls that balance blood sugar levels by using ingredients high in protein, fat, and fiber instead of loading up on sugar. (Courtesy of Kelly LeVeque)
“Every single meal is an opportunity to show up for yourself,” she said. She loves seeing a plate filled with a rainbow of real, nutritious foods. “How we nourish our bodies really plays a role in how we show up in our lives—mood and temperament, tolerance of stress.”
Ms. LeVeque spoke to American Essence about the easy-to-remember formula she follows for eating well; dealing with “mom guilt” as she balances her business and three young sons; and her research-backed advice for getting picky kids to eat their vegetables.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
(Courtesy of Kelly LeVeque)
I wake up: around 5:30 to 6 a.m. My boys are early risers, so I am up early every morning. First, I’ll have a glass of water with electrolytes; I use a high-sodium electrolyte mix with magnesium and potassium. Having electrolytes makes sure you’re fully hydrated, and I tend to drink less caffeine when I’m fully hydrated. Then I’ll have a black coffee or a coconut milk latte.
When it comes to diet: I’ve always prioritized blood sugar balance. The research there is so robust. We know that dysregulated blood sugar affects mood; it increases your chances of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and a myriad of other diseases. If we understand the science of blood sugar balance, it’s really easy to implement: Eating whole foods will elongate your blood sugar curve [the changes in your blood glucose level over time].
One of the principles I live by is the “Fab Four”: protein, fat, fiber, and leafy greens or vegetables deep in color [in every meal].
For breakfast, I make a Fab Four smoothie. I’m using a scoop of both of my [Be Well by Kelly] protein powders—a vegan plant-based protein powder and a grass-fed beef protein powder—to get 40 grams of protein. Protein satisfies most of your hunger hormones, and it’s needed for many facets of health: your neurotransmitters, hormones, gut lining, collagen production, and muscle mass. Most women drastically under-eat protein, and they feel it. My fat of choice is avocado. For fiber, I use psyllium, which is great for cholesterol and phenomenal at upping your insoluble fiber intake. I add leafy greens—spinach, kale, romaine, basil—and berries.
My lunch and dinner also follow the Fab Four—roast salmon, chicken, roasts with veggies on the side. I never limit the quantity of vegetables.
When I meet my body’s protein requirements and eat real, whole meals, I don’t even think about snacking. It’s counter-intuitive, but if I’m helping a client meet a weight requirement, I’ll have them eat more. Whenever a client has a bad habit of snacking, it’s not about removing those things they’re used to doing; it’s about replacing them.
(Courtesy of Kelly LeVeque)
My best skincare secrets are: sweat and sleep. If you sweat and get good sleep, you see it in your skin.
The more antioxidants in my diet, the more they improve my skin; those are fighting oxidative stress. I try to avoid seed oils because they oxidize under high heat. Those oxidated omega oils become part of your cell membrane.
I do splurge on One Skin products; I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my skin health since using them. I also use a vitamin C product from my dermatologist, and I use a skin brush all over my body.
The wellness equipment I swear by are: my infrared sauna and Peloton. Before kids, I loved going to yoga classes with other people; I love the community aspect. As a mom, carving out that time is hard. I had to become OK with home workouts, and I got a Peloton.
I love my Vitamix. If you get one, you’re investing in something that helps you make healthy food faster.
I also love my red light. I used it on my son when he had eczema; my husband used it for a toe infection. If I’m working on my computer, I turn my panel on.
I use a Yogasleep Dome sound machine in our room and wear a Cozy Earth eye mask. My emotional and mental health depends on whether I’m sleeping well. I have all these screen time limits on my phone, and I can’t get into a single app after 8:30 p.m.
I’m constantly trying to be: outside. We go to our local beach once or twice a week. We take our dinners down there; we watch the sunset. Our boys are used to being in the sand and surf. We put in the effort [to do this], and what we get is our kids being in nature, us being off our phones. It lowers our stress levels in a way that just being at home can’t.
Ms. LeVeque with her two sons. (Courtesy of Kelly LeVeque)
Finding a balance between my business and family life is: hard, but really important to me. You can’t replace Mom, and I don’t want anyone to. I was so blessed to have my mom there for everything when I was growing up, and I do have a level of mom guilt that I’m not showing up for my kids in the same way. But I’m also learning to have boundaries with my work to be able to show up for them in the way that I want. It’s constant negotiation and learning. I have changed my business drastically to prioritize the life and flexibility that I want; that sometimes means turning down big brand contracts.
One thing my husband and I do over the weekend is have a cup of coffee together and make a schedule for the next week, plan recipes, and try to get excited. We work together to make sure we each have time to ourselves so there’s no resentment. Asking what’s really important, and having the strength to set boundaries, are key to making healthy decisions.
My work is most rewarding when: I see long-term beneficial changes in my clients. I once had a client who was a type-A overachiever. She was engaged to be married but not taking care of herself. We took an entire year leading up to her wedding to help her change her lifestyle. She lost over 30 pounds, and her confidence skyrocketed. She was amazing on her wedding day, but what excites me is that she went on to have two daughters, and she now inspires her daughters to take care of themselves through food. To see that generational change feels really good.
My best advice for parents of picky eaters is: to model healthy eating to your children and don’t give up. Research tells us that exposure and modeling are the biggest drivers of instilling a mature palate in a young child. Exposure doesn’t always have to be eating food: Get kids to help with simple tasks in meal preparation or take them shopping to see the food at the grocery store.
It can take 12 to 15 exposures to a new food before a child under 18 months will like it. From 18 months on, that number [of exposures needed] can double. Most parents give up after the third or fourth attempt, but don’t lose hope. Do not stop making that food, plating it up, and eating it in front of them. Don’t put pressure on them, but don’t stop exposing and modeling.
Lately, I’ve been especially excited about: creating content to help moms involve their kids in the kitchen and feed them blood sugar-balancing meals. I’ve learned a lot in the last five years that I want to share with other moms who feel overwhelmed. I feel like my wheels are really turning to support that community.
We all have the power to be happier, regardless of our individual circumstances or the stage of life we’re in, starting now.
That’s the key takeaway from the growing body of research on the subject—one studied by ancient philosophers to today’s scientists. It starts with making small changes in behavior and mindset that, with practice and consistency, build up to powerful results over time. Here are eight science-backed ways anyone can boost his or her mood and promote long-term satisfaction.
1. Invest time and energy in your relationships.
The world’s longest-running study on happiness, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, has followed the same group of 724 men—and now more than 1,300 of their descendants over three generations—for 85 years and counting, taking health measurements and asking detailed questions about their lives at regular intervals. According to its findings, the number one key to happiness is good relationships.
“If you’re going to make that one choice, that single decision that could best ensure your own health and happiness, science tells us that your choice should be to cultivate warm relationships,” write Dr. Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, the current director and associate director of the study, in their book “The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.”
The authors emphasize the importance of practicing “social fitness,” regularly assessing the health of our relationships and taking care of them over time. “Our social life is a living system. And it needs exercise,” they write.
Start by taking stock of your current close relationships: Think about how each relationship makes you feel, how often you connect, and the kinds of support they give you (or don’t). Identify which relationships you’d like to improve. Then get to work. Here are a few tips from “The Good Life” to help.
(ingwervanille/Moment/Getty Images)
Make time: “Think for a moment about a relationship you have with a person you cherish but feel like you don’t see nearly enough,” the authors write. “Now think about how often you see that person. Every day? Once a month? Once a year?” Make the intentional effort to spend more time on important connections. See if you can dedicate certain days of the week or month to certain people, or change your daily schedule to fit in a coffee or walk with a loved one. It can start small: Take a moment to reach out with a text, email, or phone call to reconnect.
Be curious: Make it a point to engage your curiosity in your next conversation, whether you’re talking with an important person in your life or chatting up a complete stranger (the latter has been proven, by the way, to give us small boosts of well-being—as much as we may avoid it). Cultivating “real, deep curiosity about what others are experiencing” is a powerful tool for opening conversation, fostering connection, and deepening relationships, the authors say. “Genuine curiosity invites people to share more of themselves with us, and this in turn helps us understand them.” Ask questions, and really listen to the answers. Then—a crucial step—communicate your new understanding of them, giving the life-affirming, bond-strengthening gift of feeling seen.
Tell someone what they mean to you: The authors leave readers with a suggestion for a simple but powerful exercise: “Think about someone, just one person, who is important to you. … Think about what they mean to you, what they have done for you in your life. Where would you be without them? Who would you be? Now think about what you would thank them for if you thought you would never see them again. And at this moment—right now—turn to them. Call them. Tell them.”
Here’s an idea: Turn your front porch into a welcome mat
You might not think of a front porch as having the potential to be the most social place in your home. But back in the day, it was a place where people would sit and relax and enjoy the weather after a day at work, or simply sip morning coffee as the day began, inviting connection with neighbors walking by. Joanna Taft, who runs the Harrison Center for the Arts in Indianapolis, Indiana, and hosts regular gatherings on her own porch with food and drink, says it’s time to bring back that old-fashioned hospitality.
(Maskot/Getty Images)
“We’ve all lost that neighborliness. People are inside with air conditioning, TV, laptops. We have privacy fences and attached garages. We need to connect with our neighbors,” she said. Several years ago, Ms. Taft started inviting people to hang out on her front porch. The trend soon took off in her neighborhood. In 2016, alongside a partnership with the Indianapolis 500, the Harrison Center launched a “Porch Party” movement that quickly spread through the state.
Want to host your own porch party? It doesn’t take much as far as decorating is concerned. “Make it hospitable,” said Ms. Taft. “Have attractive pillows and consider plants. Ferns make it like an outdoor room. Think of your porch as a living room where people can be connected.”
No porch? No problem. Use your driveway or front yard.
Ms. Taft brings out “conversation pieces” to get things rolling. She might take a bowl purchased from a local artist, fill it with local foods, and use one of her grandmother’s antique spoons for serving—these items create interest and invite questions. “Don’t have things that match. Go around your house for things that are interesting,” she suggested, “things that tell your family’s story and celebrate your neighborhood.”
Over the years, Ms. Taft has made friends with people who have a lot in common and others who have different perspectives, as her porch has become a little melting pot. It’s also become a networking tool for those looking for jobs, and for those singles who don’t want to go to bars, it has served as a matchmaker: Two single people met on her porch, had their first date on her porch, and eventually got engaged and married.
“The weekly rhythm of sitting on our front porch enriched our lives in ways we didn’t expect,” Ms. Taft said.
2. Don’t be afraid of hard things.
The strongest and largest trees are the ones that mature slowly and experience the most stressors—wind that allows them to sway, for instance. It’s a field of study called seismomorphogenesis, how movement affects plants, and it’s been used architecturally to reduce structural brittleness, said Gad Saad, psychologist and author of “The Saad Truth About Happiness: 8 Secrets for Leading the Good Life.”
Gad Saad is a professor of marketing at Concordia University in Canada. (Courtesy of Gad Saad)
Humans, he said, can learn to adapt and thrive by adopting anti-fragility and embracing failure. People can even choose to train themselves to experience hardship in order to maximize resilience.
“If everything in life is easy, that’s not the pathway to optimal flourishing. You actually need to be exposed to stressors to be maximally happy,” Mr. Saad said. “I don’t think you can live a fulfilling life if you always take the shortcuts that make things easier, more comfortable for you. Once in a while, you need to challenge yourself.”
Research shows that people over 100 have healthier guts compared to those who die sooner. A balanced diet is important for gut health. (Pixabay)
An award-winning research scientist and functional medicine provider, Dr. Datis Kharrazian is knowledgeable about autoimmune diseases in part because of his intimate understanding of immune health.
Most Americans are metabolically unhealthy, he explained. Despite that being a risk factor for more severe COVID-19 infections, the pandemic did little to change how we address personal health. That’s because most people lack the motivation to do anything until their symptomatic pain exceeds their perceived pain for fixing their health, he said.
(Courtesy of Datis Kharrazian)
Immune health gets harder as we age, but it’s never too late to address it. Dr. Kharrazian shared some bite-size wisdom for better resilience, energy, heart health, and brain health when we focus on immunity.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
American Essence: Is there one common underlying cause for weakened immunity? Dr. Datis Kharrazian: Not exactly, although perhaps you could point a finger at the standard American diet and industrialized lifestyle. More specifically, high blood sugar and insulin resistance, poor nutritional status, low vitamin D, low glutathione, poor gut health, obesity, and endotoxemia—when pathogenic bacteria escape through an inflamed gut wall into the bloodstream—are outcomes of most Western diets.
Start your immune health journey by choosing to eat healthily. (Pixabay)
AE: What is the connection between our immune system and autoimmunity?
Dr. Kharrazian: Multiple factors can trigger autoimmunity, including genetic predisposition, but clinically we see inflammatory triggers make people more vulnerable. These include ignoring food sensitivities and eating a diet high in starches, sugars, and processed foods and low in nutritional quality. Infections can trigger autoimmunity, as can chronically high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and environmental toxins.
AE: Why are you interested in non-pharmaceutical approaches to autoimmune conditions?
Dr. Kharrazian: If people can understand what’s causing symptoms, evidence-based diet and lifestyle strategies may slow or even stop the progression of the autoimmunity. This doesn’t mean they might not need medication. But by using non-pharmaceutical strategies to dampen inflammation and regulate immunity, many people can largely resolve symptoms and improve general health.
Getting good sleep is a critical part of building a strong immune system. (Unsplash)
AE: How is immunity related to brain function?
Dr. Kharrazian: Chronic systemic inflammation often leads to brain inflammation, which causes symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, depression, and lack of motivation. Additionally, we see, clinically and in the research, correlations between poor gut health and poor brain health. Brain inflammation has been shown to promote neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, so it’s vital to take inflammation seriously.
AE: What are some steps to regulate our immunity well?
Dr. Kharrazian: Sleep is underrated when it comes to immunity, yet it is probably the most important factor. Eat enough protein (about one gram per pound of body weight), and drink about one ounce of water per pound of body weight. Exercise releases multiple beneficial compounds that support immune resilience. Ensure you are sufficient in vitamin D and glutathione, track your blood sugar to ensure you are not insulin resistant, and deal with your gut health. Of course, eat healthy—skip the fast foods, desserts, and processed foods. There are tons of strategies, and most of them are not in a supplement store.
The tranquil shores of Navarre Beach, Fla. in spring. (Courtesy of Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Office)
It’s known as “Florida’s most relaxing place”—where the Gulf of Mexico touches the sugar-white sands and turquoise waters of the Sunshine State’s gulf coast. It’s almost a trip back in time to the days when a vacation wasn’t filled with the stress of travel and dealing with crowds.
Navarre Beach, part of Santa Rosa County, Florida, isn’t a tourist trap and doesn’t intend to become one. If your dream vacation includes a long stretch of beach all to yourself, this is the place. Located between Pensacola and Destin on Florida’s Emerald Coast (named because of the water color), it’s a unique destination, offering a beach community without the usual overcrowding that often accompanies vacation destinations. Mom-and-pop restaurants offer unique dining and a break from the chains. And during the offseason, it’s about as quiet a beach as you can find in the state. It’s a family destination, with no rowdy bars that attract wild spring breakers.
(GotAnotherPhoto/Shutterstock)
Natural Wonders in Santa Rosa County
One of the absolute jewels in this county is the Gulf Islands National Seashore, 7 miles of federally protected beachfront property connecting Navarre Beach to Pensacola Beach on the Florida panhandle. Parking lots are scattered alongside the road, so pull over and take a walk. During the winter, you might find yourself the only person on this pristine beach. It’s also a bird sanctuary, and during nesting season, the speed limit decreases to 25 mph to keep our flying friends safe. But you’ll want to drive slowly anyway to enjoy the spectacular, unspoiled scenery and crystal clear waters, taking in the Gulf breeze as it blows between the sea oats.
Fishing from shore takes on a whole new meaning, as the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier stretches nearly a third of a mile into the Gulf of Mexico and is the longest fishing pier in the Gulf. Even if you’re not an angler, it’s a relaxing walk, an opportunity to breathe in the salt air. You can also fish from the beach, and don’t be surprised if a heron flies up to you, waiting for the too-small catch you intended to throw back.
(Carlos Carreno/Moment/Getty Images)
Take a short walk from the pier and get a unique look at nature at the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center. It features interactive exhibits and displays to educate visitors about sea turtles, their life cycle, and the challenges they face in the wild. Even more nature is just up the road about a half hour, as the Gulf Breeze Zoo offers a variety of animals on its 30-acre African preserve.
Vietnamese American homesteader Sophia Nguyen Eng with her husband, Tim, and her two daughters, Emily and Natalie, at their farm in eastern Tennessee. (Neeli Brisky)
Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Sophia Nguyen Eng was poised for success in the technology world.
She was good at what she did—growth marketing campaigns for startups and Fortune 500 companies—and was well on her way up the corporate ladder. She founded an organization, Women in Growth, to support other women working in the tech space. Hers was a resume that would make any aspiring professional envious.
Then the birth of her oldest daughter, Emily, in 2011 inspired her to reach new heights—not in tech, but in the kitchen. It’s the beginning of this unusual and fascinating tale of how an ambitious American family traded the boardroom for a farm.
Ms. Eng goes by the philosophy of returning back to the earth what comes from the ground. (Fiona Bryne)
Reaching for Ancient Wisdom
Ms. Eng’s journey began at the grocery store, where the selection of baby foods looked gray and unappetizing. A first-generation Vietnamese American who wasn’t accustomed to cooking fruit, she decided to research how to make her own applesauce for Emily.
A line in a cookbook gave her pause. Organic is best for babies, it said, because their bodies cannot tolerate or process pesticides and herbicides.
“At what point can her body process it?” Ms. Eng mused. “Or are we doing it wrong, and should we be changing the way we think about food?”
It was then that she remembered the yellow book on nutrition gifted to her by a fellow military family when her husband, Tim, was an officer in the U.S. Army. The family lived on a homestead, had a dairy cow, made their own medicinal tinctures, and homeschooled their eight children. They often shared wisdom with the couple.
“She was telling me, ‘You’ve got to try this grass-fed raw milk,’” Ms. Eng recalled, laughing at the memory. “I thought, ‘Oh no. This is how I’m going to die.’”
But the responsibility of raising a child, and her own intuition, were driving her to seek out the truth about food. Suddenly, she felt that knowing the habits of this odd but healthy and happy family was vital to her own. The new mother was older and wiser, and she knew that different didn’t equate with detriment. Not to mention her firsthand experience: Growing up, she was teased for the homemade—and sometimes pungent—ethnic food in her brown bag lunches, while peers devoured processed food from brightly colored packages. Back then, she was envious of the vending machine snacks in their lunch boxes.
Ms. Eng as a young toddler with her mom, in 1984. (Bang Pham)
Written in 1995 by Sally Fallon Morell, the cookbook is based on Weston A. Price’s 11 dietary principles that emphasize eating real, unprocessed traditional foods. Price, a Canadian dentist, traveled the world in the 1930s, studying isolated indigenous cultures that had not yet been industrialized. He found a strong correlation between their traditional diets and better dental and overall health. The common characteristics from his findings, known as the Wise Traditions principles, include no refined ingredients; choosing traditional animal fats over industrialized seed oils; enjoying lacto-fermented condiments and beverages; and balancing nutrient-dense foods from both land and sea animals, including organ meats, eggs, raw dairy, and fish.
Like others before her, Ms. Eng was captivated by his work. The book gelled with her experiences with healing that came on the heels of dietary changes. In one instance, her husband’s fiercely itchy eczema disappeared when they changed their meat source from supermarket beef to grass-fed and grass-finished beef from a local farm.
It also resonated with her heritage: the rich Vietnamese flavors and traditions that influenced her parents’ wholesome, nutrient-dense cooking and sparked her own lifelong interest in nutrition. She recalled something that her grandfather, who spoke rarely, told her as a child: “Eat to live. Do not live to eat.” So began a journey following a trail of breadcrumbs that would lead her back to her roots.
Victor Gillam's 1896 political cartoon, Uncle Sam stands with rifles between the Europeans and Latin Americans. (Public Domain)
Though James Monroe is hardly the most memorable president, his foreign policy doctrine known as the Monroe Doctrine is without question the most lasting. Sean Mirski, in his new book “We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus,” discusses just how the Monroe Doctrine was formulated, implemented, altered, and manipulated to transform the Western Hemisphere into a quasi-American protectorate.
The Monroe Doctrine may have been the foundation for America’s diplomatic and, at times, less than diplomatic foreign policy decisions, but as Mr. Mirski makes abundantly clear in his book, there were other foundational principles at play. The law of unintended consequences seems to be the bane of many of America’s diplomatic good intentions. These consequences were the result of America’s limited options, most of which were less than favorable. The author demonstrates how policies throughout various administrations, especially during the post-Civil War and early 20th century era, came to fruition out of sheer necessity. Those necessities arose out of fear and anxiety during a time of growing and fading empires, like the British, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. Along with those Eastern Hemispheric empires, America found herself establishing her own in the Western Hemisphere by either conquest, happenstance, or the aforementioned necessity.
President James Monroe. (Public Domain)
The Doctrine Tested
At the tail end of 1823, when Monroe addressed Congress in what would be coined the Monroe Doctrine, he advocated for remaining unentangled in European affairs (a reflection of George Washington’s 1796 farewell address), refraining from colonizing, and resisting the temptation to intervene in the affairs of other countries, unless of course the affair was an attempt by a European power to establish a foothold, by either governmental or corporate means, in the Western Hemisphere. These noble aspirations, as with all noble aspirations, are much easier to conceive than uphold.
As colonies throughout Latin America erupted with independence movements, revolving revolutions, and intrastate wars during the 19th and 20th centuries, this doctrine would be tested to the extremes, often resulting in unforeseen, or more appropriately, unintended consequences. In the book we are introduced to great and not-so-great diplomatic thinkers, like William Seward, James Blaine, Richard Olney, Elihu Root, Philander Knox, Robert Lansing, and Sumner Welles; varied foreign policies, like “masterly inactivity,” “reciprocity,” “Dollar Diplomacy,” “moral diplomacy,” and the “Good Neighbor Policy;” and geopolitical altering events like the annexation of Hawaii, the Spanish–American War, the Panama Canal, and World War I.
President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill seated on the quarterdeck of HMS Prubce of Wales during the Atlantic Conference, 10 August 1941. (Public Domain)
One of Mr. Mirski’s successes (among the many in his book) is his argument that America typically made its decisions based on national security interests, and not based on the notion of conquest and empire, or even economics. Indeed, it often came down to the aforementioned fear and anxiety that if America did not annex or intervene, one of the swarming imperial powers would.
A Problem at Every Turn
Readers of this review should not take this as Mr. Mirski writing an apologetic. “We May Dominate the World” is not revisionist history. Rather, it is a correction on much of the propagandistic history that has been issued over the decades by talking-heads rather than researching-brains. Mr. Mirski has, instead, taken the difficult route of demonstrating that foreign policy is a difficult science―far more difficult than we credit it.
While many historians and political scientists choose a singular politician and his or her foreign policy, say a Theodore Roosevelt or a Woodrow Wilson, or a particular motivation, like racism, colonialism, culture, or economics, Mr. Mirski shows that American foreign policy has always been a multi-faceted arrangement of motivating factors, decisions, actions, regrets, and the continued cycle of such an arrangement. The author’s work proves that no matter how powerful a nation is, it cannot control the world; it can only try and fail.
Those failures ironically stemmed from attempts to stabilize newly independent countries or nations laden with incessant and violent revolutions. Unfortunately, these attempts often “created perverse incentives” for further revolutions in order to initiate American military intervention (such as the Platt Amendment with Cuba).
The Logical Result
The failure of American diplomacy in the region seemed to hit a fever pitch deep into the Wilson administration. As Mr. Mirski notes, “By the end of the Wilson administration, the United States had boxed itself into the ultimate catch-22: any leader who cooperated with the United States, lost the domestic legitimacy needed to govern, but without the United States’ support, no leader could hold onto power. In the most extreme cases, the logical result was direct American rule.”
The Atlantic Charter. National Archives and Records Administration. (Public Domain)
The logic behind America’s growing power seemed evident to Roosevelt well before Wilson’s term in office, when he stated during his 1904 State of the Union address that the Monroe Doctrine, if strictly adhered to, would force America into an “international police power.” By the middle of the 20th century, America had taken all of its experience―successful and otherwise―and expanded the regional doctrine internationally.
“After the war the United States scaled up its regional policies and institutions to create the new international order,” Mr. Mirski writes. “It is no coincidence that the Atlantic Charter―FDR and Winston Churchill’s celebrated blueprint for the postwar world―was drafted in large part by Welles, the State Department’s preeminent Latin American expert. Welles also drafted the United Nations Charter, a document that reflects Welles’s Latin American experience through and through.”
Mind Your Own Business
This book proves the difficulty of minding your own business, especially when it appears that doing so will only make matters worse. But as the author points out, more often than not, America did try to mind its own business.
“Officials in Washington had no premeditated plan to reduce the whole region to vassal status,” Mr. Mirski states. “As impressive as the number of American interventions is, the more revealing figure is the far greater number of times that Washington declined its neighbors’ invitations to send troops, annex territory, or establish protectorates. For all its interventionism, Washington proved remarkably reluctant to take advantage of opportunities to extend its regional control.”
This statement will no doubt be the ire of some who believe that there was always a plan for domination and to keep the weaker Latin nations under America’s thumb. Cynicism has long been the order of the day, and any statement, much less a book, contrary to that belief cannot possibly be true. But if truth is actually the pursuit, then Mr. Mirski’s work should be at the very top of the reading list for foreign policy hawks, history buffs, and young people going to college. No doubt the latter will encounter the onslaught of academics who profess to have the market cornered on American foreign policy—but are typically mere subscribers to the aforementioned propagandistic history.
“We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus” by Sean A. Mirski. (Public Affairs)
Don’t Oversimplify
Mr. Mirski speaks to this issue of oversimplifying the history of foreign policy. “Observers often see international politics as a clash between good and evil. Sometimes it is,” he writes. “But more often than not, international politics takes place in a gray world under gray skies, where every decision requires trade-offs and difficult choices, where legitimate ends pursued rationally still lead to unsavory destinations, and where tragedy is all but inescapable. Tales pitting good against evil appeal to the human desire for moral certainty, but they are often poor vehicles for understanding the choices nations face.”
“We May Dominate the World” thoroughly demonstrates just how gray that world is and just how inescapable the consequences of good intentions are. As the author notes, this is “the tragedy of great-power politics.”
Mr. Mirski has proven himself to be a researcher and a writer of exceptional talent. My expectations for his future works are now practically limitless. “We May Dominate the World” is an absorbing read and is quite possibly my favorite selection of 2023.
Sean Mirsci, author of “We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus.” (Public Affairs)
‘We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus’
By Sean A. Mirski
PublicAffairs, June 27, 2023
Hardcover: 512 pages
Sean A. Mirski is a lawyer and U.S. foreign policy scholar who has written extensively on American history, international relations, law, and politics. He graduated from Harvard Law School and holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago.
A cowgirl at heart, singer and actress Reba McEntire shows off her custom boot closet. (Courtesy of Reba McEntire)
Some would say the McEntires are a very set-in-their-ways, stubborn, hardheaded bunch of people. But I think that hardheadedness is what got Daddy to where he was, Grandpap to where he was, and his father, Pap, to where he was. Some might say it wasn’t all that far—but it was much further than where they started!
None of us McEntires came from money, but each generation’s been a little more prosperous than the one before it. My daddy, Clark, was determined to make a better life for himself than the one he’d been handed. Like Grandpap before him, Daddy had the rodeo bug. He knew that rodeo couldn’t pay all the bills, but it sure helped get him started.
Take, for instance, one time when Daddy won a roping competition. The prize was a new car and 500 dollars cash. He gave it all to Mama and sent her to swap it for 80 acres of land that Uncle Dale, Mama’s brother, owned. That gave Daddy enough space to expand his ranch with more cattle. It was the start he needed. A few years later, in 1957, Daddy and Mama were able to buy a much bigger plot of land in Chockie, so he moved the family and all the cattle over there. Not exactly the land of milk and honey, but little by little, he was moving on up.
Ms. McEntire’s grandfather, John McEntire, competing at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyo., 1934. (Courtesy of Reba McEntire)
Land in Chockie was only $6.40 an acre, and there was good reason for that! A lot of neighbors called it “sorry land,” and they warned Daddy not to buy it. It was rocky, hilly, and didn’t grow much except briars and scrub brush, but he saw something no one else saw in that “sorry land.” He turned a profit selling timber to the paper mill and rocks to the architects in Dallas. Then he struck gas.
That sorry land turned out to be worth more than anyone realized.
Daddy liked the rodeos, but he loved ranching. Rodeoing and selling timber, rocks, and natural gas all helped in the progression of our ranch. Daddy had to travel to compete in rodeos, but he wanted to be home on the ranch.
But ranch life is not an easy life. Maintaining the land and cattle takes time, and you can’t skip a day just because you’re worn out. Working the land was a whole family affair. The only time you wouldn’t find us kids helping out was when we were in school. I thought that going to college would give me a break. Nope. I was wrong. Daddy had leased some land halfway between home and the Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma. So every other day, after my classes, I loaded 30 fifty-pound sacks of feed into my pickup truck and fed the 300 head of cattle.
Not quite the college experience everybody else had!
I didn’t really know anything else though. I had started pitching in before I could even sit in a saddle. I don’t remember exactly the first time I was on a horse, but it feels like I was born riding. Us kids spent a lot of time rounding up cattle. It was rough country, and often we’d have to ride through brush and briars taller than we were on the off chance we’d find even one lonely steer. There was always more work than hands to do it. We got cattle in the spring, straightened them up, and shipped them off to the feed lots in the fall.
Reba McEntire (center) rides on the family ranch in Chockie, Okla., alongside her parents and siblings Susie, Alice, and Pake, while filming the “Reba: Starting Over” CBSTV special in 1995. (Courtesy of Reba McEntire)
Daddy always had a plan to get the job done. Problem was, he wasn’t the best at relaying his plan to the rest of us. He was usually looking the other direction or doing three things at once when he was giving us our instructions for the day. Most of the time, we only got a quarter of what he was trying to tell us. We always looked to Grandpap for an interpretation. I’m sure glad we had him to help us out!
The most important thing about helping out on the ranch was getting in line, doing your part, and following instructions. If our instructions were to sit at a gate until Daddy returned, under no circumstances were we going to abandon our posts. You sat at that gate until Daddy came back and told you that you could leave. It could be several hours, but that didn’t matter. Hot or cold, rain or shine, you stayed glued to your saddle.
It was out there in those hills that I first learned that the work is in the waiting.
Fast-forward 15 years, when I got into the music business. I knew less than nothing about how it all worked. I thought that once your record got on the radio, you got a tour bus and a big ol’ check. You’d made it. You were a big star. Wrong!
I remember being so excited when I heard my debut single playing on our staticky, old radio for the very first time. Mama, Susie, and I were all sitting on the floor, crying with joy, thinking, “This is it.”
But then—not much happened. No fancy tour bus or big royalty check appeared. I felt pretty sure that God had called me to the dream of singing, but much like my daddy giving me instructions up in the hills, it felt like I had only gotten a fourth of what God said, and I knew I needed to wait for more information. So just like I learned as a kid, I stayed patient. And I kept working.
“Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots” by Reba McEntire (Harper Celebrate, 2023).
From hearing that first song on the radio, I spent the next seven years traveling around, playing everywhere I could, living on greasy burgers and corn dogs at truck stops and county fairs from Los Angeles to Boston—seven years of performing at fairs, rodeos, and honky-tonks, singing over bar brawls, tractor-pull competitions, and bull sales. Seven years of patience before I had a real hit, “Can’t Even Get the Blues,” in January 1983.
Even with that hit, the first time I headlined my own show, in 1984, only 800 people showed up, and I actually lost money. I had to write a check to get out of town because I didn’t sell enough tickets. And I thought, “Welcome to the big time!” I sure did appreciate the few who did show up, though!
Thank God for that McEntire determination.
When it came my turn to be a parent, I was determined to teach my son, Shelby, how important hard work is too, but I didn’t need to worry. From an early age, Shelby was a very determined young man. He has a great work ethic. When it came time for him to start his own career, he put his nose to the grindstone. When Shelby told me he wanted to be a race car driver, I wanted to help but had no clue where to start. If there had been a “Racing for Dummies”book, I would have bought 10. I asked anyone I could think of for information, but no one I knew had much advice to give. Scott Borchetta, head of Big Machine Records and a former race car driver himself, told me to buy him a go-kart. But Shelby already had a go-kart! So, we bought Shelby a membership to the Skip Barber Racing School. It’s a school that teaches kids the racing business, and it allowed him to race in as many races as possible. You have to pay your dues in racing, just like you do in the rodeo and music businesses. Shelby raced in the Southern and the Western series. He drove eight to nine races a day for three days every weekend. I gave him my airline miles and hotel points from years of touring, and he flew on Southwest and stayed in the cheapest motels to make the most of it. Funny part was, he was too young to rent a car, so he had to get a taxi or bum a ride to the track.
Ms. McEntire with her son, Shelby, at the race car track. (Courtesy of Reba McEntire)
Shelby could have followed his daddy’s, Narvel Blackstock’s, footsteps into music management, but he chose to chart his own course. He’s now into real estate and developing property. You don’t think your kids listen to half of what you tell them, but Shelby did. I’m so proud of him. He’s kind and confident and is building a life that he’s proud of and that makes him happy. And he still wants me to be a big part of that. I am so grateful.
Most of what you hope for in this life takes time and some old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness. None of us in the McEntire family were overnight successes. From generation to generation, we just keep learning, dreaming, and working hard.
One thing I’m sure of: Good things won’t come if you give up and go home.
