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Be sure to use the amount of olive oil noted to ensure this egg and potato dish slides out of pan. Photo by Amy Robb. 6-8 Servings Ingredients 1-1/4 pounds (about four medium) Yukon gold potatoes 1 small yellow onion 1 cup olive oil (Spanish extra virgin is best) 6 extra large or jumbo eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper to taste Instructions Peel potatoes, cut in half vertically and slice with a sharp knife or mandoline to quarter-inch thickness. Thinly slice onions. Heat 1 cup of olive oil in an 8- or 9-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. After three to fourminutes, drop in a potato slice. If it bubbles around the edges, the oil is ready. Add all potatoes, onions, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a dusting of pepper. Carefully coat mixture in pan with oil, using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula. Adjust heat to medium-low so the oil bubbles gently. Cook, turning the potatoes every few minutes, until they are knife tender but not browned. This should take 10 to 15 minutes. If potatoes begin to break, they have cooked too long. Drain the potatoes in a colander, reserving oil. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, adding the remaining salt and pepper to taste. Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the cooking oil to the pan. Mix the warm potatoes and onions into eggs, stirring to coat, then add all to the skillet. As soon as the edges firm up, about two minutes, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for five minutes. Run a heatproof rubber spatula all around the edge of the tortilla to ensure it will release from the pan. The top will still be runny, not set. Carefully slide the tortilla onto a dinner plate. Cover with another plate and, holding plates tightly together, flip them so the runny egg side is on the bottom. Add 1 more tablespoon of oil to skillet and carefully slide the tortilla back into the pan. Cook five more minutes, then slide onto a clean plate for serving.

Start your day with globally inspired dishes A variety of dim sum buns and tea at Lucky Cat Dim Sum in Jacksonville. Photo by Cole LoCurto. While coffee and tea tend to be the default morning ritual for many and eggs are undeniably popular everywhere, many countries boast their own unique and distinctive breakfast dishes that are sure to intrigue curious readers looking to change up their first meal of the day. The good news for all of us here in Northeast Florida is that a growing number of local breakfast and brunch restaurants are including many such items on their menu.   Shakshuka, which originated in Tunisia and is now commonplace throughout North Africa and Middle Eastern countries, features a pairing of poached eggs with a spicy sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic. Sunday Gathering Table in St. Augustine offers this on its all-day brunch menu. Be sure to enjoy it with housemade sourdough bread.   China offers a variety of regional morning dishes. "Dim sum is the de facto breakfast/brunch food for the Cantonese, always served with tea, while other regions of China have different morning traditions," says Guorong Fan, owner of Lucky Cat Dim Sum in Jacksonville. Breakfast at Lucky Cat offers plenty of traditional dim sum as well as their playfully conceived Everything Bun, a nod to the popular bagel topping. This steamed bun is filled with scallion cream cheese and sprinkled with "everything" seasoning.   Should you prefer foods that come from Latino cultures, there are a few places worth investigating. El Castillo Market & Restaurant in Jacksonville’s Sunbeam area is open early, serving chilaquiles, a morning favorite characterized as breakfast nachos which are made with tortillas, eggs, cheese, and salsa, as well as burritos de desayuno, or breakfast burritos. Pupuseria El Paraiso in Baymeadows offers Salvadorian dishes with flavors that are a unique blend of indigenous and Spanish influences. As the name implies, the menu’s focus is pupusas, a traditional Salvadoran breakfast item best described as a thick griddle cake made with corn or rice flour that’s filled with cheese, beans and meat. A similar dish, arepas, are the specialty of the Venezuelan restaurant Arepa Please, which has locations in Jacksonville’s Brooklyn neighborhood and Atlantic Beach. As versatile as bread, arepas are fried or baked flat corn cakes that are split and filled with a variety of ingredients. Arepa Please’s menu features an extensive selection with traditional ingredients, American favorites, and breakfast arepas filled with bacon or ham.   Heading out into the Pacific, Filipino breakfast includes a category of dishes called silogs. The name comes from the Tagalog words "sinangag" (fried rice) and "itlog" (egg). Kusina, a Filipino restaurant on Kernan Boulevard, serves a variety of silogs, each including garlic rice and fried egg along with a specific protein. Tapsilog features tapa, a thinly sliced, dry cured beef; longsilog includes longganisa sausage; and tosilog spotlights tocino, a caramelized pork. There's also an alluring selection of traditional Filipino baked goods including pandesal, ensaymada and pan de ube.   Other internationally inspired breakfasts around town include a traditional Irish breakfast served at Culhane's Irish Pub, consisting of smoked rashers, Irish bangers, black and white puddings, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs, baby cakes and toast. "A hearty Irish breakfast was originally made for farmers heading out to work their fields,” says Mary Jane Culhane, one of the restaurant’s owners. “Black and white pudding, also known as blood pudding or blood sausage, is one of the most popular items served in a full traditional Irish breakfast, as are rashers, a thin slice of bacon that's less fatty than American bacon. Bangers are yummy too,"   In Cuba, a universally enjoyed breakfast is pan con mantequilla. "We call it a Cuban tostada,” says Rebecca Gonzalez, owner of 1928 Cuban Bistro. “It's made with Cuban bread, butter both inside and out and toasted to perfection. And you can't forget the perfect companion – a steaming cup of cafe con leche."   Similarly, an iconic French breakfast consists of freshly baked croissants served with butter and jam, regularly accompanied by an espresso, latte or cappuccino. "Even when I was growing up, croissants for breakfast were my favorite,” says Le Petit Paris owner Alexander Chezaud. “On special occasions, a chocolate or almond croissant would be even better, especially when dipped in hot chocolate or coffee." For those seeking more than a pastry, croissants can be the perfect vessel for breakfast sandwiches.   What's truly exciting is the level of global influence making its way onto the menus in these and many other restaurants around town. For those not afraid to try new dishes first thing in the morning, Northeast Florida restaurants offer no shortage of enjoyable, memorable and tasty ways to spice up your morning ritual.

Bryon White checks one of the yaupon bushes growing at Eagle's Nest. Photo by Melissa Marcarelli. Yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria , is a caffeinated plant native to North America whose history is intertwined with Indigenous cultures of the Southeastern U.S. It is one of three caffeinated Ilex species, alongside its South American cousins yerba mate and guayusa. Yaupon is traditionally roasted to create a mellow, earthy beverage, which has been imbibed for at least 8,000 years. Common in both casual and ritual use across the Native Southeast, yaupon tea was known by a variety of names, most famously as the black drink. The Timucua people of Northeast Florida were prolific cultivators and consumers of the tea, which they called casino, borrowed into European languages as cassina or cassina. Yaupon grows native from North Carolina south to Florida and west to Texas, yet its historical significance extends even further. Archaeological evidence suggests that it played a role in pre-colonial trade networks, with traces of yaupon found as far as the city of Cahokia in present-day Illinois and in central Mexico. Despite its misleading scientific name, yaupon does not induce vomiting. The name stems from later misinterpretations of the use of special forms of the tea, likely with added ingredients, in ceremonies involving induced vomiting for ritual purification. Indigenous communities revered the plant for its medicinal and ceremonial properties, and for centuries it was a popular beverage among Native Americans as well as European settlers and enslaved Africans. Given its abundance and historical significance, one might wonder why yaupon tea didn't become a commercial staple sooner. Duke University professor Christine Folch explores this in her research, noting that “beverages and food come socially encumbered.” She argues that the fact that its main consumers were marginalized people contributed to its decline in popularity in the 19th century. “There’s this sort of rejection around Indigeneity, which can be incredibly violent, and has been historically,” she says. This unfortunate rejection of Indigenous cultures pushed yaupon into obscurity for generations. Today a North Florida company is reviving yaupon consumption. The Yaupon Brothers American Tea Company, founded in 2015 by Bryon and Kyle White, is pioneering commercial yaupon production for its sustainability and climate resiliency. When they started, a commercial supply chain for yaupon didn't exist. This meant that a lot of the work in growing the company has been in convincing farmers that yaupon is a worthwhile crop to grow. Through partnerships with the University of Florida and local farmers, the brothers have slowly built a yaupon supply chain. Today, Yaupon Brothers processes 50,000 pounds of yaupon annually and has 250,000 trees planted across partner farms in the Southeast, with plans for further growth. Dr. Wendy Mussoline, a UF/IFAS Agriculture Agent in Putnam County, is optimistic about yaupon’s future. “The most exciting part of this journey for me is researching and commercializing a crop that is normally grown in native forest land in Northeast Florida,” she says. “We still have much to learn about plant spacing, irrigation and maintenance. The potential to reduce dependence on imported tea while benefiting our soils through carbon capture is promising.” With little precedent for large-scale yaupon cultivation, Yaupon Brothers sought guidance from yerba mate producers. They partnered with Las Marías, Argentina’s largest yerba mate grower and the producer of the popular brand Taraguï, to refine their growing and processing techniques. At Eagle’s Nest Farm, Yaupon Brothers’ farm in Crescent City, Bryon White shared insights they’ve gained over the years. “Male trees are preferred for tea production since female trees produce berries that complicate processing,” he says. “While yaupon trees can grow up to 30 feet tall, they are pollarded to six feet to encourage bushier growth. It takes about three years for the plants to mature and another three to four days to dry the leaves.” Eagle’s Nest Farm, originally an organic citrus farm founded in 1900, now serves as a research and development site for yaupon cultivation and an event and wedding venue. The farm is home to 3,000 organic yaupon holly plants, including their proprietary Potano variety, selected for its large leaves. A former citrus storage facility now houses their tea packaging operation, producing four million yaupon tea bags sold annually through suppliers like Whole Foods and Amazon. Yaupon Brothers also donates 5% of online sales to North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS), founded by James Beard Award-winning Chef Sean Sherman. Michael Pollan calls caffeine “the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world,” noting that 90% of humans consume it regularly. As the only caffeinated plant native to North America, yaupon provides a sustainable, locally grown alternative to coffee, matcha, energy drinks and traditional tea. With 40-60 mg of caffeine per cup, it delivers a smooth, sustained energy boost without the jitters or crashes of coffee. Yaupon is also rich in antioxidants, polyphenols and bioactive compounds. Polyphenols help reduce inflammation and protect cells from oxidative stress, while theobromine — a compound also found in chocolate — provides cognitive benefits without overstimulation. And unlike traditional tea from Camellia sinensis, yaupon lacks bitter tannins, resulting in a naturally mild, smooth flavor. Rather than competing with other yaupon producers, “Yaupon Brothers is competing with tea,” Bryon White says. The company’s mission is to encourage tea drinkers to choose yaupon over imported black or green tea. The brothers co-founded the American Yaupon Association to foster industry growth and educate consumers about yaupon’s health benefits. Reflecting on shifting consumer preferences, White says, “consumers have moved from wanting exotic imports to valuing local products and wanting to know where their food comes from.” With its rich cultural heritage, climate resilience and health benefits, drinking yaupon not only revives an ancient tradition but also reshapes a narrative of consumption — one that is both sustainable and nourishing for the body and mind.

From running kitchens to making policy, crafting baked goods to growing food, it's with great pride that we celebrate our region's movers and shakers. Pastry Chef Rebecca Reed creates desserts at b. the bakery in Jacksonville. Photo by Ian Bunch. Women play a vital role in building and sustaining our local food community in Northeast Florida. From running kitchens to making policy, crafting baked goods to growing food, it's with great pride that we celebrate the movers and shakers from Amelia Island to Jacksonville, St. Augustine to Flagler Beach. We have compiled the following list as a way of bringing recognition to the women who are changing the way we think about food and drink in our region, but by no means is this list complete. If there's someone we've missed, please drop us a line and provide their name and a bit of informationabout what they are doing. Make sure to also thank the following women for their efforts to strengthen our region's entire food system by supporting their programs and businesses. CHEFS Genie McNally – Chef-Co-owner, The Floridian Hope Dempsey – Chef, D'Vine Cuisine Catering Calli Marie – Chef and Owner, BREW Five Points Erin D'Antoni – Chef, Foo Dog Curry Traders Celestia Mobley – Chef-owner, Celestia's Coastal Cuisine DeeAnn Hobbs – Executive Chef, Renaissance Marriott Natasha Olivera – Chef de Cuisine, Michael's Restaurant Jessica Green – Sous Chef, The Reef Restaurant Constance Andrea Kingsmore – Chef de Cuisine, Asado Life Restaurant Vernetta Stewart – Executive Chef-Owner, The Palate Saji George – Owner, Mesa Restaurant Sarah Harper – Pastry Chef, Orsay Sabrina Clark-Dunn – Sous Chef, Bellwether Ellie Schultze – Chef, Chez L'Amour Andrea Bryant-Smith – Executive Chef/Co-owner, Farmery Bakery & Bodega LaTasha Kaiser – Co-owner, KraVegan Amanda Wilson – Executive Chef, Lakeview Health Addition Treatment and Recovery Center RESTAURANT OWNERS & MANAGERS Lorna MacDonald – Co-owner, Raintree Restaurant Rebecca Garcia-Gonzalez – Owner/Founder, 1928 Cuban Bistro Julie Stopelli – Owner, DOS Coffee & Wine Jenn Ashton – Owner, Juniper Market Meredith Corey-Disch – Owner, Community Loaves Liz Earnest – Co-owner, Chef's Garden, Cummer Cafe Nathalie Wu – Owner, Wicked Bao Sara Frasca – Owner, Trasca & Co Eatery Kiley Efron – Co-owner, Taverna Restaurant Sarah Marie Johnston – Co-owner, Prati Italia, Town Hall Barbara Bredehoeft – Owner, b the bakery Chantal Biergen – Owner, Belgium Barista Deborah Emmett Nicol – Co-owner, TacoLu Michelle Culhane-Kearney – Co-owner, Culhane’s Irish Pub Lynda Culhane – Co-owner, Culhane’s Irish Pub Mary Jane Culhane – Co-owner, Culhane’s Irish Pub Aine Culhane McClung – Co-owner, Culhane’s Irish Pub Lisa Asker – Owner, Jerry's Sports Grille Theresa Poynter – Owner, Karibo Cafe Erica Thompson – Co-owner, Osprey Tacos Renee Spadaro – Co-owner, Crave Food Elizabeth Simms – Co-owner, Late Risers Bar & Grille Grace Ellen Forgette – Co-owner, SubCultured Subs Misty Lake – Co-owner, Sunday Whitney Hobbs – Co-owner, Boat Drinks Bar Latunda Miller – Owner, Miller's Soulfood Haley Kirk – Co-owner, Vessel Sandwich Co. Brittny Lowrey – Managing Partner, The Happy Grilled Cheese Nancy Ruth Barber – Owner-Manager, Breezy Coffee Shop Wine Bar Amy Sears – Owner, Vitality Bowls Jax Amy Tarmey – Co-owner, Buena Onda Cafe Wendy Huyen – Owner, Paris Bánh Mì Daisha Jones – Owner, Funnel Cake Queen Florence Bermudes – Owner, Say So Sweets Courtney Sherman – Co-owner, Donato's Pizza Danielle Johnson – General Manager, Orsay Aisha Nieves – Manager, Orsay Madeline Hamrick – Foh Manager, Bellwether Sherry Ohl – Manager, Bellwether Brandye Mackey – Co-owner, Mackey’s Munchies Nicole Prieto – Co-owner, Josephine Terri Gamble – Owner, The Blue Hen Cafe Trish McLemore – Co-Owner, The Ice Plant Shandon Lucianna – Owner, 1 Foxy Lady Melissa Schroeder – Owner, Ancient City Brunch Bar, Bourbon And Boards FARMERS Dora Baker – Owner, Maggie's Herbs Tracey Westbrook – Owner, Atlantic Beach Urban Farm Kristin Lapinski – Co-owner, Down to Earth Farm Katie Versaggi – Farmer, Bee Hill Farm Mavis Renfroe – Farmer, Spuds Farm Amy Van Scoik – Co-owner, Frog Song Organics Caria Hawkins – Executive Director, Abundant Harvests Jen Barnes – Farmer, Barnes Family Farm Amanda Wesley – Farmer, Wesley Wells Farm Tina Harden – Co-owner, Somer's Garden Jolinda Kohl – Co-owner, Somer's Garden Lindsay Meyer – Co-owner, Congaree & Penn Farm Kimberly Bryan Ruessler – Farmer, Lola Farms Jordan Versaggi – Farmer, Bee Hill Blooms Toni Carter – Owner-Farmer, Cartwheel Ranch Sarah Salvatore – Farm Manager, White Harvest Farms Imani Vidal – Farmer, White Harvest Farms Mika Harrison – Owner, beekeeper, farmer and herbalist, The Herban Life Punita Patel – Owner-Farmer, Backyard Buffalo Ashantae Green – Farmer, Green Legacy Farm BAKERS & BAKERIES Meredith Corey-Disch – Owner/Baker, Community Loaves Allison Vaughan – Owner/Baker, 1748 Bakehouse Katie Riehm – Owner/Baker, Sweet Theory Baking Co. Christina Longo – Owner, Stella Dolci Desserts Sherry Stoppelbein – Hot Shot Bakery Pilar Langthon – PilArt Cakes Michelle McInnis – Owner/Baker, Sweet Spot and Urban Lounge Lela Pate – Owner, Luli's Cupcakes Nana Hammond – Owner, Jax Bread Co. Natasha Burton – Owner, Mixed Fillings Pie Tamera Rae Morgan – Owner, Low Five Bakes Mackenzie Frangie – Owner, Spoonful Bakery Kelly Crawford – Baker, Bell's Baked Stuff Brooke Sams – Co-owner, The Mini Bar Christy Lerin – Owner, Living Bread Co. Harshika Patel – Owner, Cozy Tea Charlotte Burch – Owner, Cupcake 50 Lara Lombardo – Owner, Seagull Bakery Asia McKnight – Cake Decorator/Baker/Owner, Frutastic Creations and Bakery Shar Caballero – Co-owner, Sweet Cravings by Shar Sonya Adams – Owner, Sonyas 2 Sweet for Words Rona Jakositz – Head Baker, The Urban Bean Coffeehouse Cafe Kelly Weaver – Head Baker, Spring Park Coffee Janelle Luce – Baker, Address Coffee Emma Sterzinger – Baker/Owner, Songbird Pies Brooke Wiisanen - Baker, Community Loaves Verousce McKibbin – Pastry Chef, Omni Amelia Island Heidi Kabath – Pastry Chef, The Ritz-Carlton Veronica Anderson, Co-founder, Arble Baking Co. Bailey Rowland, Co-Owner, Crème de la Cocoa Christine Apthorp, Owner, Alms & Fare Arlene Fores, Owner, Parfait Pastry Shop FOOD ARTISANS & SPECIALTY SHOPS Suzanah Raffield – Co-owner, CAMP Craft Cocktails Rhonda Stringfellow Ryan – Co-owner, CAMP Craft Cocktails Dana Stallings – Owner, Kilwins Jennifer Harvey – Owner, Grater Goods Colleen Messner – Owner, Spice and Tea Exchange Hillary MacDonald – Co-owner, Fresh Jax Crystal Israel – Owner, Little Black Box Jams and Jellies Bryanne Hamilton – Co-owner, Southern Horticulture Jean Dowdy – Co-owner, Southern Horticulture Julieta Aguirre – Co-owner, GuanaBana Ice Pops Ashlee Ham McCormick – Co-owner, Backyard Pops Charlotte Tzabari – Co-owner, Olive My Pickle Carrie Zarka Dooley – Owner, Shakti Life Teena Laquin – Owner, Sundance Fresh Market Treena Moreno – Owner, Mayan Summer Foods Yvette Musgrove – Owner, My Pepper Jelly and YUM-a Southern Market Jess Diebel – Co-owner, Makenu Chocolate Milouda Cline – Co-owner, Cline's Custom Meats Sarah McElrea – Co-owner, Summa Salts Meghan Barbera – Owner, Seeductive Foods Veronica Joy – Owner, Tex-Jax Foods Lisa Kiral – Culinary division director, Rethreaded FOOD TRUCKS Ashley Amin – Chef, Fusion Food Truck Amanda Barry Asker – Co-owner, Funkadelic Food Shack Tera Waugerman – Co-owner, Wauga Wauga Food Truck Vanessa Kasal – Co-owner, Big City BBQ Natalia Lorencz – Owner, Mama's Food truck Laura Zuckerberg – Owner, Island Girl Seafood food truck Maritza Lathion – Co-owner, Latin Soul Grille food truck Lakita Spann – Co-owner, Mr Potato Spread food truck Eunice Coughlin – Co-owner, Cafe Ybor Food Truck Erin Zrikem – Co-owner, Ez Eatz by Yaya food truck Stephanie Goldsberry – Co-owner, Hapa Li food truck Heloisa Oliviera – Co-owner, Delish Kebabs food trucks and restaurant Karen Rojas – Co-owner, Josies Latin Fusion Food Truck Kellie Rice – Co-owner, Mother Truckin Pizza food truck Lisa ORourke – Co-owner, Roccos Pizza Heather Bracy – Co-owner, A Flying Sausage food truck Amy Rhoden – Co-owner, The Tot Spot food truck Bonnie Abernathy – Co-owner, Nitrogen Creamery Nipa Premsuk – Co-owner, The Hungry Owl Food truck Maria Rueda-Flores – Co-owner, Alma Food Truck Jen Ochoa – Owner, Daddy-O’s Portable Patio food truck Amy Geske – Co-owner, The Smoked Meat Militia Kristi Hopfer – Co-owner, Twisted Okie Amber Boudreaux – Co-owner, Roux Food Truck Aimee Freedman – Co-owner, Frio Gourmet Pops Christine Thorenson – Co-owner, The Stuffed Potato Truck / About Time Creamery Kerry McClure – Owner, Rad Ringo's Mini Donuts Lisa Wheeler – Owner, Le Petit Cheri Cupcakery Janete Carvalho Nunes – Owner, Brazilicious Food Truck Nita Millbrook – Co-owner, FAE’s BBQ Food Truck Dawn McDonald-Watkins – Co-owner, YAMO, Beachside Caffe by YAMO Morgan Fose, Owner, Bacon & Bubbles food truck DRINK Gabby Saul – Bartender/Co-Owner, Rue Saint-Marc Jessie Lane – Bartender, Boat Drinks Bar Samantha Morgan – Co-owner, Vagabond Coffee Co. Angie Brack – Co-owner, Really Good Beer Stop Emily Everson – Bartender, Restaurant Orsay Erin Gibson – Owner/Bartender, Root Down Samantha Jo Bush – Bartender, Dos Gatos Audrey Ancelin – Owner, Regard Libations Jamie Rice – Owner, Show Pigeon Coffee Kara Scremin – Co-owner, Engine 15 Brewing Andrea Conover – Owner, Azalea City Brewing Company Jessica Stern Harrison – Owner, Carrera Wine Cellar Julianne Baksh-Renfroe – Owner, Juicy St. Aug Alexandria Klempf – Owner-Founder, Sip C Valerie Kelley – Co-Owner, Brass Tacks Coffee and Spring Park Coffee CATERING, COMMISSARY & HOME DELIVERY Dana Stallings – Owner, Jax Kitchen Hope Dempsey – Chef/Owner, D'Vine Cuisine Jasmin Wooden – Owner, Blue Sage Cuisine Tasha Peters – Co-Owner, By Design Catering and BDC Meals Deanna Park – Founder, Magnolia & Thyme Culinary Concepts, Dir. of Innovation, Fresh Food Group Kathy Godwin – Owner, Kathy's Table Karen Fritts – Owner, Riverfront Cafe and Catering Chriss Brown – The Empowered Kitchen, Catering by Chriss and Beaver Street Commissary Florence Haridan – Owner, Conscious Kitchen Forrest Masters – Owner, The Sprout Kitchen Mimi Lan – Owner, Viglo Synaca Stevens – Chef-Owner, Homegrown Catering & Events Bri Murray – Chef-Owner, Culinary Experiences Intan Agan – Chef-Owner, Intan's Kitchen & Bakery Kelly Baxley – Chef-Owner, Kelly's Kucina Kathleen Catherall Osteen – Chef-Owner, The Goods TEACHING KITCHENS & NUTRITION Andrea Rosenblatt – Owner, A Chef’s Cooking Studio Dawn Hutchins – Owner, Florida Coastal Cooking and Wellness Brooke Brennan – Owner, B.B. Wellness WRITERS, FOOD ADVOCATES & ORGANIZERS Heather Schatz – Writer, Edible Northeast Florida Ju'Coby Pittman – CEO, President of the Clara White Mission Katie Delaney – Fresh Access Bucks Program Manager, Feeding Florida Leslie Kaplan – Food Activist Evelyn "Prissy" Fletcher – Extension Agent, St. Johns County Bonnie C. Wells – DPM Commercial Agriculture II, St. Johns County Genora Crain-Orth – River City Chicks Jennifer Wolfe – Women Writing for a Change Erin Thursby – Food Writer/Editor Julie Watkins – Executive Director, The Girls Gone Green Brittny Lowrey – Food Blogger, Jacksonville Restaurant Reviews Grace Stoyshich – Brand Manager, Jacksonville Restaurant Reviews, Restaurant marketer Lisa Watterson – Brand Manager, Jacksonville Restaurant Reviews Belinda Hulin – Writer, Cookbook Author Kelly Johnson – Wings, Worms and Wonder Brentley Stead – Writer Jen Hand – Writer Jessica Ward – Writer Siddie Friar – Writer, food advocate Ashantae Green – Supervisor, Duval County Soil and Water Conservation Board District, Group 4 Meghan Fiveash – Fresh Access Bucks Outreach Coordinator, Feeding Florida Tiffany Bess – Owner, Apple Rabbit Compost, Sustainable Food Advocate Hannah Werthman – Co-owner, Snaxsonville Food Blog Christina Longo – Writer Meghan Niemczyk, Chef Advisor, UNF Meals on Wings program; Associate Director, UNF Center forNutrition & Food Security Rachel McCandless, Registered Dietitian, Feeding Northeast Florida SPECIALTY BUSINESSES Andrea Jones-Downs – Co-founder/CEO, The Tasting Tours JoAnna Engel – Co-founder/CFO, The Tasting Tours Tory Eulenfeld – Director, Member Services, National Golf Course Restaurant Association Leigh Cort – Founder, Women’s Food Alliance Mindy Harwood – Founder/President, CFI Marketing Sarah Scaggs– Vice-President, CFI Marketing

Congee is a rice porridge that originated in China. For a savory breakfast, add Tokyo turnips, poached eggs and pork belly, then top with your favorite Szechuan chili crisp. Photo by Tanner Boyles. Serves 2   Ingredients 1/2 cup diced onion 2 cups white rice, washed 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup white wine 4 cups chicken stock or filtered water Kosher salt and black pepper, as needed 10 ounces cooked pork belly, skin on 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil 1 cup Tokyo turnips, cut in half (reserve turnip greens) 2 eggs 1 tablespoon white vinegar Reserved turnip greens, torn for garnish 2 tablespoons Szechuan chili crisp   Instructions To make congee: Sweat onion in saucepan on low heat. Add rice and toast while stirring. Deglaze with white wine until almost dry. Add stock or water and cook the rice, covered, until a porridge consistency is reached, about 1 hour. Season with kosher salt.   Preheat oven to 500°. Season pork belly with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a non-stick oven safe pan over medium heat. Add cooked pork skin-side down and place in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove pan from oven and add turnips, cut side down. Place the pan back in the oven for 5 minutes, then remove and set aside.   Bring a small saucepan of water and vinegar to barely simmer. Crack each egg into the saucepan and cook gently for 2 minutes. Remove eggs and set aside.   To serve: Spoon congee into 2 bowls. Place pork belly slightly off the center and place poached egg next to it. Scatter roasted turnips around. Garnish with turnip greens and spoon chili crisp over everything.

This salmon tartine makes a great open-faced breakfast sandwich. Serve with whipped creme fraiche, capers, fresh dill, cucumbers and a scallion pistou. When in season, use ramps instead of scallions. Photo by Tanner Boyles. Serves 2   Ingredients For scallion pistou 2 cups scallions 1 cup basil leaves, packed 1/2 ounce grated garlic 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 cup olive oil For tartine 1 cup creme fraiche 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 5 ounces smoked salmon, sliced thin 2 slices pumpernickel bread, sliced 4" thick 2 tablespoons capers, drained 1 cup cucumber, deseeded, sliced 1/4 cup scallion pistou Fresh dill fronds, for garnish   Instructions To make scallion pistou: Char scallions in a cast iron pan. Let cool, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Add all other pistou ingredients except olive oil to a food processor or blender. Blend while slowly drizzling in olive oil. Do not overblend in order to retain bright color. Cool immediately. To assemble tartine: Whip creme fraiche to medium peaks. Butter either side of the pumpernickel slices and toast. Layer smoked salmon evenly on top of each slice of bread. Pipe or dollop crème fraiche randomly over salmon. Place cucumber slices around crème fraiche. Spoon pistou and capers over top. Garnish with fresh dill fronds.

This breakfast quiche will give your morning a little bite compliments of the scallions and goat cheese. Short on time? Substitute two 9-inch store-bought pie crusts instead of preparing dough from scratch. Photo by Tanner Boyles. Makes 2 quiches Ingredients For pie crust 3 cups flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 sticks (6 ounces) butter, frozen, cubed 1/3 cup vegetable shortening, frozen, cubed 1/2 cup ice water For filling 1 cup cherry tomatoes Olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste 1 cup goat cheese 8 eggs 2-1/2 cups half and half 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 cup chopped scallion Instructions To make pie dough : Add dry ingredients to food processor and briefly pulse to combine. Add butter and shortening and pulse until butter is broken into pea sized pieces. Slowly drizzle in water while pulsing the food processor until the mixture starts to come together. Turn dough out onto a clean surface and form into 2 equal disks. Cover in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°. Place 1 disk of the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface. Dust the top with flour and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a large circle about ⅛-inch thick to fit in 9-inch pie pan. Repeat with second disk. Pierce the base of the dough with a fork 6-8 times. Cover dough with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Parbake each crust 8 minutes and cool. To make filling : While pie dough is parbaking, cut up cherry tomatoes and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 8 minutes. Sprinkle half the goat cheese in each cooled pie crust. Whisk together eggs, half and half, salt, pepper and nutmeg until fully blended and fluffy. Pour half of the mixture into each crust. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and add scallions and tomatoes to each pie. Bake another 35 minutes or until middle is browned and puffy, with a very slight jiggle. Remove from oven and cool 45 minutes before slicing.

This fragrant tomato stew and egg dish from North Africa’s Maghreb region is perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch. Photo by Tanner Boyles Serves 4 INGREDIENTS For spice blend 4 tablespoons cumin seeds 2 tablespoons caraway seeds 2 tablespoons coriander seeds 3 tablespoons black peppercorns 2 tablespoons cloves 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds, removed from shells 3 tablespoons ground turmeric For stew ¼ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil ¼ cup chopped garlic ½ tablespoon Aleppo pepper 2 tablespoons spice blend 1 tablespoon piment d’espelette (substitute paprika if desired) 1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped (preferably heirloom tomato) 2 tablespoons kosher salt 1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano whole tomatoes ½ tablespoon lemon juice ¼ cup chopped parsley ¼ cup dill ¼ cup cilantro ¼ cup mint 4 eggs Whole parsley, dill, cilantro and mint leaves for garnish A few slices of good crusty bread for dipping INSTRUCTIONS To make spice blend : Toast cumin, caraway, coriander, clove and black peppercorns in a pan over low heat until fragrant. Put all ingredients except turmeric into a spice grinder and blend until fine. Add blended spices and turmeric to a medium bowl and combine well. Store in a glass jar for use. To make shakshuka stew : Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and stir so that it doesn’t burn or stick to the pan. Once garlic is soft, add Aleppo pepper, spice blend and piment d’espelette to toast the spices. When the spice mixture is fragrant, add fresh tomatoes and stir to soften them for about 2 minutes. Add canned tomatoes and season with salt. Continue to cook the stew for about 30 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently. Add lemon juice and fresh herbs and remove saucepan from heat. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. To serve : Preheat oven to 400°. Pour stew into a 10-12” cast iron pan. (If you are serving the stew after it has been cooled, warm it up in a saucepan before putting it in the cast iron pan.) Crack four eggs on top of warmed stew. Place cast iron pan in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the egg whites have set and the yolk is still runny. Remove from the oven. Garnish with some of the reserved herbs and a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil. Serve in bowls with crusty bread for dipping.

Soil’s properties are analogous to a three-legged stool – if all legs are in working order, the stool sits firmly on the ground. Dr. Allen Skinner holds a handful of composted soil at Eartha's Farm and Market in Jacksonville. Photography by Jesse Brantman. How many things in our lives are hidden and somewhat mysterious, but play an important role in our existence? The plumbing behind our walls? The engine that runs our car? How corporate decisions are made? Out of sight out of mind, right? Microbes, microscopic organisms, can’t be seen by the naked eye and fall into this category of invisible things that are crucial to life on Earth. In the soil beneath our feet, there lives a complex and diverse collection of microscopic organisms called microbes that play a significant role in how plants obtain their nutrients and contribute to the sustenance of our planet. Microbes are the difference between “dirt” and “soil” – dirt has no living microbial ecosystem, while soil does. Dirt is dead; soil is alive. When soil has poor diversity and low populations of microbes, it can lead to unhealthy and disease-ridden vegetables; an increased need for tapping our aquifer for irrigation; erosion and runoff into our water bodies; and increased carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Shouldn’t we pay more attention to this? And more importantly, how do we do it? Fortunately, science and research have produced methods to improve and nurture this critical invisible underground ecosystem. Healthy soil has the right proportions of particle sizes, organic matter, minerals and microbes. Fertility is maximized when soil has ideal proportions and quantities of these elements, creating nutrient-dense vegetables free of disease, brilliantly-colored flowers, green grass and landscaping, healthy pastures for farm animals to graze on and more. THE THREE-LEGGED STOOL Soil’s properties are analogous to a three-legged stool – if all legs are in working order, the stool sits firmly on the ground, but if one of the legs is weak or broken, the stool topples. The three legs in soil are the physical, mineral and microbial properties. The first stool leg, soil’s physical properties, involves the composition and size of the particles. Clay has the very smallest particles, followed by silt and then sand. The ideal is a balance of all three, but soils vary significantly around the world. As a system, soil should be well-drained to allow movementof water and air through it and not be compacted or water-logged. There are various ways to compensate if you don’t have a balance of these particle sizes unless you have extreme cases like 100% clay, or gumbo. The second leg is the mineral aspect of soil, which pertains to the elements that all living creatures need for sustenance, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen, along with trace elements like boron, zinc, copper, manganese and iron. Soil laboratories can examine soil makeup and determine deficiencies that need to be corrected with amendments. Additionally,organic matter is basically anything living or dead that has broken down within the soil profile. This is what gives soil its dark color in the few inches below the ground surface. Sources can be leaf matter broken down by earthworms, dead microbes, roots from dead plants and more. Organic matter provides a food bank for plants and microbes, and helps retain water and nutrients to sustain plants under stress. Ideal organic matter in soil should be a minimum of 3%; most Florida soils are 1.5% or less. The third leg of the stool is the microbial aspect, primarily bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. Soil microbes were present on earth many millennia before plants, and plants evolved synergistically with the microbes. There are both beneficial and pathogenic microbes, but if soil is well-drained and aerobic, beneficial microbes generally dominate the soils while the pathogenic microbes go into a dormant state. However, if conditions create an anaerobic condition (e.g., waterlogged or compacted soils), then the pathogenic microbes wake up and the beneficial ones go dormant. Bacteria and fungi contain acids and enzymes to dissolve soil and organic matter, and when they’re eaten by protozoa and nematodes, these nutrients are released as available soluble nutrients to plants. Plants in turn pump compounds into the soil to feed the microbes. Since these compounds include carbon, this is one way plants can help sequester carbon out of the atmosphere. What are ideal microbe populations in good soil? While there are various technologies that address this in the scientific community, Dr. Elaine Ingham, one of the foremost soil biologists in the world, pioneered the use of a microscope to view, identify and quantify microbes in soil. Through her methods, soil biology can be assessed using the microscope and a prescription recommended on how to improve the soil’s biological populations. The research conducted by Dr. Ingham and others has defined optimum populations and diversity of microbes for various crop types. These methods are employed in Northeast Florida at Eartha’s Farm and Market on Moncrief Road. A restored brownfields site with very poor imported soil for remediation, it was the subject of a study through a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant from 2018 to 2021. The study incorporated Dr. Ingham’s research to bring dead soil to life by amending biologically rich compost over a period ofyears and the changes have been astounding. Little to no fertilizer is used and steps are taken to avoid disturbance of the underground microbial ecosystem, while regular maintenance applications of biologically rich compost are applied. The excellent soil health now supports the immune system of the plants, eliminating the need for pesticides and fungicides. In today’s world of heightened awareness of what chemicals are going into our bodies, this farm’s methods strive to mimic how plants grow in nature with little to no synthetic inputs. While this research was done on a larger scale than most home gardens, these methods can also be applied to any plot size. Getting educated is a great initial step. Visit Eartha’s Farm for a firsthand view of the successful transformation of soil and check out the courses it offers. When it comes to what we eat, it’s important to pay attention to the little things – all the way down to the organisms in our soil.

If the weather trend continues, Northeast Florida runs the risk of losing its traditional southern temperate plants that like a cold hard winter. Illustration by Cat Kahnle. In November 2023 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM), updating this valuable tool for gardeners and researchers for the first time since 2012. The map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature, displayed as 10-degree Fahrenheit zones ranging from zone 1 (coldest) to zone 13 (warmest). Each zone is divided into half zones designated as "a" and "b." For example, 9a and 9b are 5-degree F increments representing the colder and warmer halves of zone 9, respectively. Zones in this edition of the USDA PHZM are based on the average lowest temperatures in the 1991-2020 weather data, not the lowest ever. This does not represent the coldest it has ever been or ever will be in an area, but it simply is the average lowest winter temperatures for a given location for this 30-year span. Hardiness is used to describe a plant's ability to withstand cold temperatures. If a plant is “hardy” it often tolerates temperatures below freezing; a “tender” plant has little or no tolerance to temperatures below freezing. Hardiness zones are a convenient shorthand used in commercial nurseries and plant suppliers, on seed packs and by farmers, home gardeners, landscape designers and professional horticulturists to select plants for a given location. The new version is more accurate and contains greater detail than prior versions; it shifted many locations by a half zone, reflecting weather trends towards average warmer winter temperatures. According to the updated map, Northeast Florida is zone 9 with variations in half zone as you move towards the center of the state. Duval County west of the 295 W beltway is considered hardiness zone 9a while the eastern half of Duval is 9b. Zone 9b stretches along the east coast of Florida from the Georgia border down to Ormond Beach and then dips down into central Florida. In zone 9b the average low temperature is 25-30 degrees. Zone 9's average low increased 2-3 degrees since 2012. This gradual heat increase will not greatly affect well established perennial plants. However, if the trend continues, Northeast Florida runs the risk of losing its traditional southern temperate plants that like a cold hard winter. For instance, hydrangeas are affected by the heat with less blooms, smaller blooms, shorter bloom windows and persistent fungus when compared to hydrangea productivity 30 years ago in our climate. As the hardiness zone increases the perennial plant options in Northeast Florida become more tropical and tender. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is simple and easy to use. Enter your zip code in the search bar at the top at planthardiness.ars.usda.gov . The map will generate your hardiness zone for 2023 and display your previous 2012 hardiness zone. The map also displays the average temperature change from 2012-2023. For Northeast Florida zone 9b, previously zone 9a, there was an average low that was three degrees warmer.

Where Meal Plan Meets Game Plan Chef Atkins meets with the Jaguars’ registered dietitians Mindy Black and Jacqueline Trance to plan team meals. Photography by Logan Bowles. Having all the skills in the world is only one part of the equation for high-performance athletes who want to excel in the National Football League — eating the right foods can be just as important in competitive sports. Long before kickoff at the stadium, along with practicing passes and going over game strategies, these athletes are following strict meal plans geared toward making them better football players. They require plenty of carbohydrates for energy and enough protein to repair their muscles and recover betweenworkouts. Every athlete has different needs, but they all require fuel, and lots of it. So, what does it take to feed a football player in the NFL? If you’re Chef Keith Atkins, who oversees ordering and purchasing food in his role as head of performance and team dining for the Jacksonville Jaguars, your weekly shopping list during training camp might look like this: 500 pounds of potatoes, 1000 pounds of chicken, 450 pounds of beef, 200 pounds of onions and enough spinach, pineapple, apples and ginger root to make 70 gallons of fresh pressed juice. Plus, plenty of peanut butter and jelly for sandwiches. “All players stay in hotels during training camp, so we feed them breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks every day, seven days a week,” says Atkins. Now in his third season as culinary director for the Jaguars, Atkins has overseen a big shift in the team’s dining program. In a model that is relatively unique in the NFL, thecatering operations feeding the Jacksonville team are owned by the team. And that change has led to an expansion of Atkins’ responsibilities. “My first year we just fed the players,coaches and trainers,” Atkins says. “When we moved over to the Miller Electric Center training facility, we took on more, including the video and other staff. If you work in thisbuilding, you eat here.” Altogether that may be 200 people to feed, which translates into a cornucopia of options in the dining hall: pizza, pasta, a grilling station, deli sandwiches,a buffet line, a salad bar, desserts and fresh pressed juices. “Even though we have a count of 200, we’re really cooking food for 300 – the players are all big guys. A player may eatone and one half or two ribeye steaks,” says Atkins. With his affable personality and over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Atkins is well suited to his role in a demanding and fast-paced environment. After finishing at Penn State, he relocated to Florida but never thought about cooking before moving down here. He ended up taking some culinary classes, then was at Aramark for 20 years as an executive chef, foodservice director and district executive chef. He transferred to campus dining and moved to Flagler College as executive chef for 10 years. In a move that aligned with his love of sports, for the last five years he was a private contract chef for NASCAR, The PGA Tour, the NBA and rodeos. “I catered every sporting event other than baseball. I’m a big sports fan,” says Atkins. After working with professional athletes over the years, Atkins is aware of how important nutrition has become in meal planning; the type and quantity of food they eat is no longer an afterthought. “In the past, nutrition wasn’t necessarily as critical. Working the different sporting events, I would know the nutritional value, but the athletes didn’t have as much interest. Now, with the Jags, that’s our focus,” says Atkins. That’s why, before any food is ordered or prepared, the first step in his process is to sit down with the Jaguars’ registered dietitians Mindy Black and Jacqueline Trance to map out menus that support the dietary needs, including the daily calorie count, of each player. Black has been director of performance nutrition for the Jaguars for 10 years. She studied sports nutrition at the University of Florida and worked at a hospital and in private practice before landing her job with the team. “I played sports growing up and being a sports dietitian was in line with what I am interested in. My first job, in a hospital on the cardiac floor, didn’t allow for an in-depth relationship with the patients. I didn’t feel like I was changing anyone’s lives,” says Black. “I’m very health conscious and a competitive person. Working around people who are also competitive and want to be the best version of themselves is really compelling.” The Jaguars’ management recognized the value and need for two dietitians about five years ago. That’s when Black brought Trance on as an intern and then hired her as associate director of performance nutrition. Trance went to Florida State University because of its football program. “I knew I wanted to work in that industry, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that. It wasn’t until I saw that one of the majors was dietetics that a lightbulb went off,” Trance says. “During my sophomore year, I got an internship with the FSU dietitian and worked with their football team for three years.” She started with the Jaguars after obtaining her master’s and dietetic internship from Ohio State. Menu planning is a collaborative process between the two dietitians and the chef. Black reviews the schedule provided by the coach and notes when practice days will be extra heavy and hot. The players will need plenty of hydration foods and carbohydrates on those days; on recovery days, dietary needs may be different. Armed with that information,Trance and Atkins start to fill in the daily menus. “I’ll finetune the menu selections to make sure ingredients are not too repetitive and that we take into consideration players’ likes and dislikes,” says Black. Trance looks at the process as a game of Tetris. “We keep in mind food allergies, religious beliefs, what we can’t serve at the same meal,” she says. “Fifty percent of the guys wantrice at every meal, fifty percent want potatoes, so we figure out the rotation and different ways to serve the same ingredient. Chicken is our main protein but there’s the percentage who get tired of chicken.” A big part of the dietitians’ job is education, during training as well as the regular season, to help the players understand more of the science associated with the recommended foods served in the dining hall. “The old school line of thinking was fried chicken, maybe donuts the Saturday before. If you look at science none of that is what you should be eating,” says Black. The dietitians can show the players visually how their food affects their bodies. When they understand that a diet of 75% fat is not the fuel they need for gameday, the dietitians are able to help the athletes modify their eating habits. “We’re not going to tell them they can’t have donuts, because that’s a tradition, but we cut down on fried food,” Black says. “We help them incorporate more healthy foods, the fuel they need for performance. Not only have these guys said they feel better, but we can also see a reduction in injuries because they have what they need to go out on the field and do what they need to do.” The dietitians work with each player to understand what simple carbohydrate they need. And because training camp and much of the regular season takes place during hot weather, almost everything they do considers the need for hydration. Snacks like watermelon, hydration juices and Gatorade slushies are readily available to cool their internal temperature. “Each player has a hydration plan, so when we’re on the field we’re watching each of the guys to make sure they’re doing what their plan calls for,” says Black. Keeping an eye on calorie count is also essential, as some players may lose up to 20 pounds at practice. “The players may require 3500-7500 calories a day; we know what they need at each meal,” says Trance. “If a player is struggling to keep weight on, we may hover behind them to remind them what to eat as they walk through the food line.” While the 1980s version of the players’ diet consisted of a smorgasbord of food, now it’s more streamlined, with perhaps six ounces of protein, some pasta or potatoes along with some vegetables. “There’s a lot of science behind what we recommend. Even some of the players think, 'oh, she's just telling me to eat a piece of chicken’. It’s our job to monitor how they’re feeling, to keep track of that and figure out what calories are most important, what helps enhance their performance and keeps their weight within a a five-ish pound range for what they need to be on the field,” says Black. The players come to the dietitians with questions about foods and products they’ve seen in the media or in advertising and want to know more. That’s another opportunity for education. “A lot of times they ask about some popular diet trend that they’ve been hearing about, like a vegan diet,” says Black. “But if I know this player eats zero vegetables and comes to me saying he wants to be on a vegan diet, we need to discuss options, what that would look like realistically and would he be able to commit to that. Maybe we just start with veganism on Mondays and work our way into it.” While the food may be healthy, it is not bland or tasteless. One day the menu might be filet mignon and chicken cordon bleu; the next day, shrimp jambalaya and ribeye steaks. Atkins orders high quality ingredients such as fresh seafood from C&C Fisheries in Mayport and plenty of seasonal vegetables. The kitchen is gluten-free, and nuts are added on the side of any dish to make it easier for the players to choose what to eat from the deli or pasta stations. All types of cuisine are prepared, including Mexican, Spanish and Italian, as Atkins and his staff try to personalize the dining experience whenever possible and provide the players the feeling that they are being taken care of. With so much variety and number of meals, Atkins is confident he and his staff can handle the workload. Planning is the key to success. Along with Atkins, the kitchen staff includes 19 employees. “I’ve had this group of kitchen workers for a while, and I know what we can do,” Atkins says. He set up his staff like a football team’s coaching structure. “I’m the head coach and my two sous-chefs are like my offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. The two supervisors are like the strength and conditioning coach and offensive line coach, and the breakfast cook is my quarterback. She’s here first in the morning and gets things rolling. Everyone has their title, their position so they understand that it’s never going to work if we all don’t come together. I could be the best coach in the world but if I can’t get you to follow the plan, it’s worthless.” Both dietitians feel that through food, they can make a difference in the players’ lives and performance and help top athletes become even better. “We’ll get texts from players years down the road that something I told them years ago, which was small knowledge to me, changed their lives even off the field,” says Trance. “It’s rewarding when a player comes off the field and tells me, hey what you told me really works, I feel great,” says Black. While running the dining program for the Jaguars can be a little crazy and crowded, Atkins is not fazed. “I love it, it’s my dream job,” Atkins says. “I’ve worked a lot of sporting events and fed a lot of different professional athletes. It was a lot of traveling and now it’s nice to be home.”

A Collaborative Recipe for Community Building Extensive remodeling is underway at the Corner at Debs Store to accommodate for the supermarket, banking and employment services that will take place at the store. Photography by Cole LoCurto. Extensive remodeling is underway at the Corner at Debs Store to accommodate for the supermarket, banking and employment services that will take place at the store. In Jacksonville’s historic Eastside, (also known as Outeast to residents), a local grocery store that supported the community for decades will soon get new life – and help write the neighborhood’s next chapter. The red brick building at the corner of Florida Avenue and East 5th Street with the hand painted “DEBS STORE” and “Drink Coca-Cola” sign was an important symbol of vitality and life in the Eastside for 90 years, and with a new mission, The Corner at Debs Store is once again offering fresh produce, meats and muchmore to the next generation of Eastsiders. Debs was founded in 1921 by Lebanese immigrants Nicolas and Rosa Debs, who lived above the store. Sons Nick and Gene Debs took over operations in the late 1940s, with Nick managing the books and Gene purchasing fresh produce from the farmers’ market to stock the shelves. More than a grocery store, Debs was a centerpiece of the Eastside’s commercial strip along Florida Avenue and served as a gathering place and community hub. The brothers ran the store with help from their families and neighborhood kids untilNick’s death in 2011, when the doors were shuttered for good. Nick’s son Joe Debs, who worked in the store until he went off to college, has been a fierce advocate for reopening Debs since its closure. He started working with LIFT JAX, a nonprofit that seeks to help break the cycle of generational poverty in Jacksonville by focusing on pillars of housing, education, community wellness and financial vitality.Working with neighborhood stakeholders, they found there was substantial demand in the neighborhood to bring Debs back, but it would take some heavy lifting to pull it off.“LIFT JAX’s role is to work with community leaders to understand what’s important to them – in this case, access to healthy food, and bring the partners and resources to thetable to make that happen,” says David Garfunkel, president and CEO of LIFT JAX. The new Corner at Debs Store is the result of a collaboration between LIFT JAX, the Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation , the Debs family, Goodwill Industries of North Florida , Vystar Credit Union and other partners. The partners funded a two-year, nearly $3 million renovation which updated and expanded the old building, bringing it up to 2024 standards and roughly doubling its size to more than 5,000 square feet. Goodwill Industries of North Florida now operates the grocery store, which is the only affordable, sustainable, healthy grocery in the Historic Eastside. The Debs project is also Goodwill Industries’ first ever foray into the grocery market, anywhere in the country. Dane McGraw, vice president of new mission ventures at Goodwill, oversees the project. He aims to keep prices competitive and accessible for the community while sourcing from smaller Florida-based growers and producers, just as Nick and Gene Debs did. Because of Debs’ smaller footprint, sourcing smaller quantities from localized growers and producers makes sense. "One of the biggest barriers we faced was getting distributors to take our tiny store seriously compared to larger buyers. To overcome this, we started sourcing directly from local farmers and entrepreneurs, and as a result we've been able to fill a need for our neighbors Outeast while also supporting neighboring business owners. Our local growers and producers are able to provide us access to the freshest variety of products.” McGraw and his team also collaborated with the Eastside community extensively to ensure Debs stocks items that folks want to buy, including name brand items and culturally relevant produce. “We’ve spent a lot of time listening to our neighbors, ensuring that the items on our shelves reflect what the community truly wants and needs,” says McGraw. “This approach not only ensures that we offer fresh and relevant products but also strengthens the ties within our community." The Corner at Debs Store project is part of a wider strategy to revitalize the Eastside while combating the negative repercussions of gentrification. Lying adjacent to the stadium district where construction of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ new facility will soon begin, the Eastside has seen considerable interest from developers, along with the likelihood that this new investment may drive property values and costs up to the point that it displaces current residents. To mitigate this pressure, Eastside leaders and civic organizations are pursuing community-driven projects like Debs as part of a strategy called “withintrification,” in which revitalization is focused on existing residents and their needs, rather than developers and newcomers. To that end, Debs will serve as much more than a grocery store. The project also includes services the community has identified as significant needs. Goodwill will host employment services and training on the upper floor, while Vystar will offer banking services and an in-house ATM. "The key to transforming our communities lies in our ability to come together, innovate and breathe new life into the forgotten spaces around us,” says Suzanne Pickett, president and CEO of Historic Eastside CDC. “Just as we restored an old Debs grocery store, we can revitalize our neighborhoods and nourish our souls with the power of unity and resilience." The restoration of the original Debs Store is a project that has always held dual purposes. “First and foremost, we’re restoring access to fresh dairy, meats and produce that have been absent from this neighborhood for far too long,” says McGraw. The store will once again serve as a community hub, offering new services through collaborative partnerships under one roof. “This is more than just the opening of a grocery store,” says McGraw. “It’s a significant step towards eradicating the food desert Outeast and bringing much-needed services to our neighbors.”