Lately, I’ve had a lot of reasons to be thankful for all that moms do in this world.
First off , there’s the past 12-plus months of the pandemic, in which the EatingWell Magazine team has put together 10 issues of the magazine. For the most part we’ve been collaborating well, each of us sitting in our own home. But how that plays out is very different for someone like me (no kids) than for the moms on our team, especially those with young ones. I know, because I see the tug of war between being a teacher, entertainer, sibling referee, lunch cook AND dialed-in employee going down in the background of our video meetings.
While we’re deciding how to photograph a recipe, what edits to make to a story or what to cook on Instagram Live, the kids need help logging into their remote classes or permission to eat a bowl of ice cream … at 9:30 a.m. In the best of times, being a working mother is a tough feat. But this year, the level of eff ort required has been downright rough. (Dads, I appreciate that you’ve been right there through all this craziness too. It just happens that our team is mostly women.)
The momma current is also running strong because we’re in the midst of a baby boom on the EatingWell team. A full third of our staff will have had a baby this year. Photo director Maria Emmighausen was the first, last summer, then our lead recipe developer Adam Dolge’s wife had a baby in December, our Test Kitchen director Breana Killeen is about to have TWO any day now (and definitely by the time you’re reading this) and our associate editor Lucy Clark is going to have her fi rst in June. The maraschino cherry on top of this neonatal sundae: our managing editor just became a grandmother for the first time in September. Holy moly! In the midst of the cruelest year, our group has been extremely
blessed with these new additions.
Finally, of course, we’re coming up on Mother’s Day on May 9, and to honor that, we’ve included a couple of stories that celebrate the power of moms. In “Parsnips & Pop-Tarts” (page 72) we hear how our author, who started with high (unrealistic?) hopes of raising perfect healthy eaters, learned to breathe deeply and embrace the chaos that kids brought to her life.
On Magazine page 80, chef Brooke Siem shares memories and recipes from her journey around the world. In each location she tracked down a grandma who was willing to bring her home to cook a favorite dessert and swap stories. Siem was inspired to start what she dubbed “The Grandmother Project” by her early connection with a grandmother fi gure—forged over homemade lunches and reminiscences. Although these two features off different perspectives, they both underscore the outsize role that mothers and grandmothers often play in shaping our tastes as well as so many other aspects of who we become.
My own mom is a voracious reader of cookbooks and magazines, always looking to try new things. And each time I dip an artichoke in hollandaise sauce or stir a pot of cheese grits spiked with Frank’s hot sauce, I think of the childhood
lessons my mom imparted, and I know for sure that I am her daughter.

Jessie Price,
[email protected]

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• Food & Home Magazine – Spring 2021
• British Archaeology – May-June 2021