Who Am I?
Welcome! My name is Danielle Schwab and I founded the platform Illuminate Food in 2020 when it originated as a farm box for delivery in NJ at the start of COVID.
I am in constant awe of the world, including both the natural world and the systems we have built around us, specifically global trade.
I become obsessed with food and food systems when I realized my interest in global trade showed up on my plate everyday with the food I eat. The more I learned about the failures of our food system - that has destroyed countless acres of land and results in toxic runoff, animal harm, chronic disease, reliance on pesticides and still leaves millions hungry - the more I wanted to understand and spread the word.
As the voices of impending climate change got louder, it became clear to me the impact of our food system and further ignited my fire to work toward change.
Why subscribe?
My first challenge was to try and get folks more excited about local food and I started my business to deliver the best of what was growing. Today, I am focused more on connecting with those who are interested in changing the way they eat to be more mindful of the environment but are not sure how. Cooking is something many of us do on top of all our other daily responsibilities and tasks and it often falls by the wayside to take out or muscle memory meals.
This moment we are in requires big change from all of us, yes from governments and policymakers but as much as I wish they could solve it all, what we chose to eat and prepare at home is our own decision.
With this newsletter, I want to empower people to make any change they want to as I stumble along making these changes myself.
The more I thought about the effort it requires to me to menu plan, shop, cook and clean the more I felt cooking should be viewed as a radical climate solution and this is a message I want to share in my writing and recipes.
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Never miss an update.
Join the crew
For now my newsletter is entirely free, recipes and all. One day that might change but enjoy it all for now and please get in touch as I would love to connect with folks here.
