— Melissa Bryant

And so it goes, and I was thinking about this earlier today because when I first finished my Rouxbe, I thought, well, what am I gonna do? Because a part of me wanted to be like a caterer and cater for people all over who wanted to eat whole food, plant-based, no oil. That's a very small niche of a population because I find that even though some people want to eat that way, there's a certain comfort in their own lifestyle that might make it difficult for them to go to the other side. But when I finished Rouxbe, there was a thing on TV about the Free Library of Philadelphia, which is a four story, beautiful block long institution. On the fourth floor, they had just put in a hotel kitchen and that you could do banquets there. And they were also looking for instructors. So I sent a handwritten note to the director and told her what my name was, and I didn't give her a resume, I just sent a warm note. And she called me back and she said, well, this sounds interesting. We don't have a need for this right now, and you have to stop the clock. And remember that 10 years ago, the words plant-based were sort of strange words that it, it didn't kind of click with people because people still wanted to learn how to make the perfect burger or whatever. So she invited me to teach a class, uh, and we call it the big house in the city. And, uh, had a ton of fun. And that kitchen was wonderful and it had everything in it that you would ever want. But then she said, you know, we have, uh, at three of our libraries, we have a Charlie cart, and you've heard me speak about the Charlie Cart, which is a kitchen on wheels. It weighs 600 pounds as a cart, but it has everything that you need from ail oven to a Vitamix, to all clad pots and pans and so forth and so on. And, um, I fell in love with the Charlie cart because I felt as though every class that I taught had extreme purpose, because the attendees were people from the community, many of whom were retired, many of whom had lifestyle related diseases. And maybe you've heard me say before that the South Philadelphia Library is on the first floor of a building, and the second and third floors are primary care clinics, one for adults, one for children. So physicians were able to, uh, refer students to come to my classes. And here we are, I think eight years later, and my classes sell out. They're offered free. Uh, we, we read a lot of grants to get funding for them. So I think to Kathy's point is that, um, you start out working as a volunteer, I would love to come and teach this class for you. And then all of a sudden you realize that, uh, you have a following, and then that following takes you to other parts of the globe. Uh, this past summer, I did a cooking session at Rip Selten's, uh, plant Strong retreat from this kitchen, from this very spot and had such a wonderful time. So I think that it's being true to yourself, not compromising your own values, whatever arena you choose to practice, and just having a lot of fun. And I'm gonna just tell you this one little thing, Melissa. Um, a few Saturdays ago, I taught a class on making soup. Now, soup for some people is delicious and wonderful, but for many people who might have hypertension, how do you make a delicious tasting soup that isn't laden with so much sodium? And one of my participants walked in, and I hadn't seen her since last summer, and she had a plethora of illnesses, and her diabetes was out of control. And when she came into the class, she started to weep because she said, these classes help me stay on track. I don't know why, but when I come to these classes, I always start to feel better. So when I hear that, it says to me that, um, there is a need for whole food plant-based, no matter what kind of population you're working in, because I, I travel around a little bit. Uh, but I think it's being true to your own values and really more than anything else, loving exactly what you do. So I think Kathy and I probably share some very similar ideals. And I also think that Rouxbe helped to plant, uh, a really incredible foundation for sort of going after what you wanted to do. Um, I love reading students' assignments, and I love seeing their zeal and excitement. And maybe you've seen that graph where, um, how do you measure success? And some people think it's a straight rocket arrow, but in reality it's just a bunch of curves and curves and curves that keep on going. So, uh, Melissa, you can certainly, uh, head to Kathy's website if you have any questions.

Charlie Cart Info