Philip Lee

Philip was the co-founder and publisher of Lee & Low Books, an award-winning publishing company focused on multicultural children's literature. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, he got his start in publishing at Condé Nast, working at a number of their magazines, including Glamour and GQ. As a host and producer for KBCS radio in Bellevue, WA, he reported on educational issues. But it soon became clear to him that youth obesity, hunger, and lack of access to good foods are major obstacles for children learning in school, which led to his reporting on farm-to-school, food security, and the local food movement. Philip sits on the board of Slow Foods Seattle and is a member of Seattle Parks Urban Food System.

“Growing up in Hong Kong, eating fresh was simply part of my culture. Before major holidays, we would buy live chickens and keep them in the back stairways until it was time to slaughter them. Most vivid in my mind is when my grandparents came to visit us and I saw an eel swimming in our bathtub in preparation for their favorite meal.”

June Jo Lee

June’s first job was in the produce department at the original Whole Foods Market in Austin (the one with the big fruit on top), after graduating from University of Texas. She went on to study medical history and food anthropology at Harvard. The more she studied healers and patients, the more she realized that health and wellness begins with the foods people eat, and that what and how people eat are usually determined by culture. In addition to her work at R2E, she is also a full-time food ethnographer, traveling across the country to observe how people shop, cook, and eat in their everyday lives.

“I was born in Korea, and first came to America when I was three. I remember my mom used to make broccoli and red radish kimchi because she couldn’t find napa cabbage at the grocery store in Houston in the ’70s. I remember craving sliced cheese and mayonnaise when we moved back to Seoul in the early ’80s. I've mostly lived between these two cultures. So for me, studying anthropology was an attempt to understand myself. And, I found food a symbolically rich, intimate, and delicious way of getting to know my own cultures as well as others.”

Books for Children

• Bee-Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park
• Bring Me and Apple and I’ll Make You a Pie by Robbin Gourley
• Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens

Books for Middle Readers

• Omnivore’s Dilemma for Kids by Michael Pollan
• What the World Eats by Faith D’Aluisio and Peter Menzel
• World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky

Gardening for Kids

• The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
• Grow It, Cook It by Jill Bloomfield
• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

Food History

• The Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage
• Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient by Jennifer McLagan
• Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson
• Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlasnky

Eating Habits

• Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
• The End of Overeating by David Kessler
• Mindless Eating by Brian Wansik

Farming

• The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
• Epitaph of a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm by David Mas Masumoto
• Food Fight: A Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill by Daniel Imhoff

Food Literature

• The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
• My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki
• The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Food Memoir

• Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
• Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter
• My Life in France by Julia Child

Cookbooks

• Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food: A Grocer's Guide to Shopping, Cooking & Creating Community Through Food by Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough
• Eggs by Michel Roux and Martin Brigdale
• Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo by Steve Sando and Vanessa Barrington

Grow your own food

• The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! by Carleen Madigan
• How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers by Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Kathleen Pringle
• Your Farm in the City: An Urban Dweller's Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals by Lisa Taylor and The Gardeners of Seattle Tilth