[Preorder for 2027] Finding Your Food Story – Pay it Forward Tier

Finding Your Food Story

Bonus preorder gift through December 31, 2024: Everyone who preorders Finding your Food Story in 2024 gets free access to their choice of Ferment and Chill, Rooted in Place, or Creative Cooking Playground. 

Next session dates (virtual): March – September 2025 

 

Are you passionate about food, and want to express that passion in a way that lights you up and shows people all the many reasons why what you have to say is unique, powerful, and important?

When was the last time you embarked on a creative project began with connections and possibility, rather than picking a topic and just studying it in same the way you always do?

What if you had the power to unlock your own unique, specific way of expressing yourself while connecting with your audience?

Finding your Food Story is rooted in traditional research methodologies as well as intuition, interdisciplinary creativity, and your sensory experience of the world around you. 

Our food stories, and our research into them, don’t happen in a bubble: They happen in the context of our real lives. Rather than treating our research, our writing, and our experience of food stories like they’re happening in a sterile laboratory, when we treat our food stories like an ecosystem of interconnected experiences, our understanding becomes deeper and richer.

Whether you’re a professional researcher, writer, or other creative, or you just want to explore your relationship to food and express that relationship in the world, Finding your Food Story is a unique opportunity to find and tell the stories only you are able to tell.

 

Finding your Food Story is a six month-long experience that blends live virtual calls and community forums with self-study resources, meditations, and more.

We meet from March-September 2025, and all programming is virtual: So you can join wherever, whenever works for you.

This course is for you if: 

  • You know that food is central to your story, and the stories you want to share with the world.
  • You value intentional, high-quality research AND intuitive and somatic ways of knowing: And you want to find places where you can explore how they all come together.
  • You know you have a unique story to tell, that only you can share: And you want to tap into the power of your creativity to tell that story fully.
  • You’re driven by curiosity: You adore learning and self-reflection and you have an insatiable appetite for ideas.
  • You’re eager to expand and explore your creativity in new ways, particularly around food.
  • You love being creative, whatever your medium: And you want to tap into your creativity more deeply.
  • You thrive in liminal spaces: Where you can explore multiple research disciplines, or topics, or creative media all at once.
  • You love spaces that are supportive and fun, and also push you to grow and expand as you play and learn.
  • You want to explore your own unique, intimate relationship to food, as well as our collective relationship: However that looks and whatever that means to you.

Finding your Food Story is as much about self-discovery and remembering what’s already inside you, as it is about learning how to conduct scholarly research or analyze historical sources.

Finding your Food Story includes:

  • Monthly virtual meetings to deep dive into your questions, and to explore our monthly themes in community.
  • Lifetime access to a huge self-study resource library (a $1200 value) with everything from scholarly research resources to guided meditations, so you can approach your food story from multiple paths: And find the story unique to you.
  • A community Slack channel to stay connected, get support, and ask questions between live calls.
  • Surprise experiences and guests to help you expand your writing practice, learn new skills, and think about your food story in new ways.
  • Free gifts for everyone who shows up consistently throughout the program.
  • And more!
  • Plus, everyone who preorders Finding your Food Story in 2024 gets free access to their choice of Ferment and Chill, Rooted in Place, or Creative Cooking Playground.

You’ll leave with a clear sense of how food fits in your larger story, and with the skills and tools to conduct practical, rigorous research while also following your intuition and allowing your inner guidance to lead you.

Finding your Food Story is the only course that combines both: And it gives you a new way to approach researching and thinking about food rooted in multiple forms of wisdom and creativity.

About your teacher

Dr. Julia Skinner is an award-winning author, a longtime teacher, food historian, writing coach, and culinary educator.

Her work sits at the intersection of all her creative interests: In food, in writing, in history, in visual art, and beyond. She has over a decade of experience writing about food and teaching, both as a university professor and as a community educator.

In her work as a writing coach, she blends tried-and-true writing support practices (like routine building and goal setting) with pleasure and play to help writers reconnect with the joy of their work while also starting and finishing their dream projects.

She loves helping fellow creatives and culinary professionals think about their work in new ways and bring their biggest dreams to life: Whether it’s a book, a series of paintings, or a new community space, or just a richer, deeper, and more fulfilling creative life.

In her spare time, she loves intuitive cooking and eating, gardening, nature time, foraging, and time spent with family, friends, and pets. She lives between Atlanta, GA and Cork, Ireland.

Q&A

How is Finding your Food Story structured?

This course is structured in three paths, like a choose your own adventure story: one focused on research methodologies, one focused on intuitive wisdom and your own relationship to food, and one focused on sharing your stories through practical writing skills and reflections on legacy and craft. You can explore one at a time, or wander between them.

The paths are never far from each other, and you can always redirect if you want some new scenery.

What do the live calls include?

Our live calls are semi-structured to explore our monthly themes while also leaving space for your questions, to make sure you’re getting the support you need as you work through the program.

We begin each call by celebrating ourselves and our achievements, then dive into our monthly theme. I talk about our theme, with a focus on practically applying it to your own work and life.

We save the last half of the call for questions, whether they’re about the theme of the month, a sticky research question, or something else. Then we wrap up with setting intentions for the month.

What’s in the resource library? 

I love a good library (my PhD is in Library Science), and I’m especially proud of this one: You get a wide variety of resources that address various aspects of your creative work, including:

  • Research resources: Best practices, resources for conducting historical research and building a bibliography, how to critically evaluate historical sources, and more.
  • Self-reflective resources: Resources to help you tap into and cultivate your intuition as a creative and a researcher, including journaling prompts, readings, and activities.
  • Meditations and other practices: Guided meditations, somatic practices, and more to help you feel grounded and calm and find pleasure in your creative work, plus a meditation to help you find clarity around your given subject.
  • Writing and journaling prompts: Practical workbooks and activities to get you thinking about your topic, move past blocks, track your progress, and clarify your ideas.
  • Creative expansion and the future of your work: Playful creative activities plus other resources to help you build connections between different ideas and areas of study, and to think about the legacy of your work.

What’s the best way to go about the course so I get the most out of it?

The wonderful thing about this program is that you can tailor it to what you need right now. I recommend starting with the introductory materials in the library, then choosing one of the three paths to start exploring: Either focusing on research methodologies, on mapping out your own relationship to food, or exploring how you want to share your work with others.

You have lifetime access to the library, so no need to rush through it.

Like any class, you get out what you put in: So the more you participate in our Slack channel and show up to the live calls, the richer an experience you’ll have and the more you’ll learn. That said, life happens and calls don’t always align with our schedules: So all calls are recorded and uploaded to our resource library, so you can catch up with them later if you aren’t able to make it live.

I encourage you to ask questions regularly in our Slack channel, about the resources, and your own work, and to celebrate your achievements in our group too (celebrating your work helps you witness your own progress, build your confidence, and actually helps you make more progress too). Remember, I’m a resource who’s here to support you during these six months together, and asking questions in our group is a way to get support from me and everyone else in the group.

What is included in the Slack channel?

Our group Slack channel is a place to stay connected, ask questions, and celebrate your wins between our live calls. Virtual classes can feel isolating, and having an ongoing group space gives us room to be in community continuously: And gives you access to me for coaching and support throughout the week.

The Slack channel includes space to ask research-related questions, prompt and reflections around our monthly themes, opportunities to request feedback on your ideas and get coaching support, and to celebrate and set intentions.

You mentioned free gifts! How do I get those?

I love giving gifts to celebrate folks, and this program is no different. To thank you for showing up for yourself and your work consistently, you’ll get a free gift at the end of the program if you attend at least half the calls and post regularly (at least once every 1-2 weeks) in our Slack channel.

Free gifts include free access to bonus courses, 1:1 writing support and coaching sessions with me, free intuitive guidance sessions, and more.

Do you offer payment plans?

Yes! We offer payment plans through PayPal: Select your preferred payment plan below to set up your payment profile.

Do you offer payment plans?

Yes! We offer payment plans through PayPal: Select your preferred payment plan below to set up your payment profile.

Pay it forward pricing: 

Divide pay it forward pricing into four payments, three payments, or two payments. 

Full price:

Divide full price payments into three payments, or divide into two payments. 

Supported tier:

You can divide the supported tier pricing into two payments by heading here.

(As a small business, we’re unable to offer additional, smaller payment plans due to the additional processing fees we pay for each transaction).