THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST
THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST podcast will give you bite-size action steps in each episode you can implement NOW in your kitchen, the most effective place to grow well-being for people and our planet. The host is the award-winning author of EAT LESS WATER and Kitchen Activist Florencia Ramirez.
THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST
Eat for Impact
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A simple lunch can be a lever for climate action. In this episode, I spoke with Tracy Moore, a passionate organizer, to unpack how she launched Eat For Impact, a global initative in her home community of Thousand Oaks, and convinced local chefs to feature plant-centered specials that taste amazing and shrink carbon footprints. What started as a scary round of cold calls turned into a citywide collaboration—with data to show real environmental gains and dishes you’ll actually crave.
We share the human side first: the fear that keeps many of us on the sidelines, the “mind trash” that whispers "not yet," and the moment Tracy realized restaurants wanted a concrete way to help. Then we get practical. You’ll hear how the campaign works, from chef-friendly guidelines to a two-specials format that fits any menu, plus the metrics that translate sales into reduced emissions and resource use. Mouthful Eatery’s basil-marinated tofu salad and a maple-drizzled grilled veggie pita headline the lineup, alongside a bulgogi-style tofu bowl and a bright “Green One” juice—all designed to be climate-friendly, affordable, and repeat-order good.
We also dig into sourcing with an honest lens. Florencia offers a “better and best” pathway—organic as better, regenerative and local as best—while Tracy explains why the program starts flexible to welcome more restaurants, and how it can deepen standards as momentum grows. Think of it like growing roots through the soil: start where people are, then move toward local suppliers, seasonal menus, and regenerative partnerships that keep dollars and nutrients close to home.
Whether you’re near Thousand Oaks or halfway across the world, there’s a role for you. Check eatforimpact.org to find active cities or get the tools to launch your own.
Bring a friend to try a special, tip your server, and tell the chef what you loved.
Subscribe, share this episode with someone who needs a nudge to start, and leave a quick review—it helps more eaters and restaurateurs find a practical path to climate action.
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Reach Florencia Ramirez at info@eatlesswater.com
Hi, this is Florencia. Welcome to the Kitchen Activist Podcast. I'm so glad to be back. It's been a little break as I finished the Kitchen Activist book, which I'm incredibly excited about. It'll be out on November 3rd, 2026, but there will be pre-sales in the next couple months. So I'll make sure I let you all know because that would be amazing, is to have a lot of pre-sales going into the launch of the book. But I am joined today, or this particular podcast, I'm joined by Tracy Moore. I brought her onto the podcast to talk about a particular campaign that she's working on, which is called Eat for Impact. It's happening locally. She's going to specifically talk about what's happening near my community, which is a town called Thousand Oaks, California, where you can go in and check out the food that she helped coordinate with Chef's. But in addition to that, it is a global organization. So you can check out what's happening in your community anywhere on the globe. But I what I didn't expect as part of this conversation was this larger conversation about getting involved and to break through some of the fear that holds us back from getting involved, because I know that's been the case for me in the past. I know, and so she shares about it as well of what she needed to go through her own process of becoming an activist in her community. And instead of thinking you want to make a change, actually taking the steps and putting yourself out there, and it feels raw, but as a through that process of how much growth there is as a human. So I think it's a really inspiring conversation, and especially for young people too, because Tracy is in her 20s and she is getting started with a lifetime of her own activism in whether it's in food justice space or it turns into something else because everything we do, it opens a door for the next opportunity. So I really hope you enjoyed this particular episode of The Kitchen Activist. And so I'm going to now turn it over to our converse, my conversation that I had with Tracy. Welcome to the Kitchen Activism Podcast. I'm so happy to be here with Tracy Moore, who is a passionate advocate for food system changes on the planet. So we're kindred spirits, absolutely kindred spirits. So, Tracy, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. I like to begin with an exercise, which I think is really important for me to understand where you're coming from and also for myself just to keep my work going. Because as an activist doing this work, it takes a lot of commitment. It sometimes doesn't feel like an easy path to understand where is it coming from for ourselves. I think is really helpful so that we stay the course. I like to ask you to complete the sentence, which is I'm doing this work because my heart desires what?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think I'm doing this work because my heart just desires like a healthier planet for the future of our children, our community, our neighbors, for animals, for everybody involved.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I love that. So you're volunteering with an organization called Planted Society, right? And it's global. Okay. And you are working specifically, which is what we're going to talk about more in depth throughout this conversation, the Eat for Change initiative, which I love and I want other people to know about it. You've been working as a volunteer for how long?
SPEAKER_01:So I've been planning this initiative in particular for about six to seven months now, but I've been keeping up with Planted's work for years and years. And so this was the first time that I was actually able to work with them to launch an initiative.
SPEAKER_00:And as a as a volunteer, how did you come to be a volunteer? Because I know that there's a lot of people who might listen who are doing a lot of good work in their own homes and in their own practices when it comes to sustainability. That's how it always begins. That's how come I'm really a big proponent of kitchen activism and also eating, eat less water, because it begins with our individual actions. But eventually it does begin to leak out into other parts of your community. And then for you, like a global community, right? Yeah. Being connected to this global volunteerism. But I think for some people, they might feel a little bit just scared, really. Fear. Like fear, fear is what I feel like always is the thing. We just we peel it back and like an onion. And when we say we don't want to do something or it's not the right time, or the opportunity hasn't come, all of those excuses that we tell ourselves, if you peel it all the way back, it's always fear. Like you're just we're afraid, we're afraid. So for you, how did you get into this work or make that first action, that first call to move your activism from the individual into a community, into a global setting?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I totally hear you about the fear. I feel like that was definitely what was holding me back from doing this sooner. I've been doing this work in my own life for years, and I was like, oh, I've always heard about Eat for Impact in Los Angeles or like other big cities. And I was like, oh, that's nice. I'm so glad they're doing that. And I never really thought that it was something that I myself could do. Um but as I've been more like in an activism community and I'm surrounded by so many powerful women and organizations that are everyday people that are doing these amazing things for the world. And I can see the tangible change that they're making. I felt like, why can't I do that? And so it was definitely something where I had to take that leap and push myself into doing it. I got encouragement from a lot of different people to just go for it. And I'm so glad I did because it has been absolutely life-changing and it has connected me to so many different, amazing people in my community. And I'm just so thankful that I did do it. And the biggest thing was just overcoming that fear, just saying this is a great time to do this. I really think that our community could use this right now and just going for it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's that mind trash, right? That you have to just throw out. Not even recycle it, just compost it. So it's turned into something else, some kind of energetic matter. So that was like a big buildup to what is Eat for Impact and this work that you are doing, this campaign you've been working on for six months. That's a long time. Tell us what this is because I want other people to get on board and to support the work that you're doing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, definitely. So Eat for Impact is what we consider a grassroots initiative where we're empowering our community to expand access to sustainable foods and sustainable eating for everyday members of our community. And we're doing this by partnering with city leaders, small businesses, local organizations, anyone who would like to be involved in our community so that we can take direct action to food-related climate issues. And the initiative kind of brings together local restaurants. It's really important to us that we choose small, locally based restaurants so that we can work one-on-one with the owners and really understand their venues and support them. And we bring them on board for a month-loan commitment where they're going to feature plant-centered venue specials, developed with us and their team so that we know that they're 100% climate-friendly, but we also are catering it to like their demographic and we know that their customer base will really enjoy the food. And then at the end of the month, the sales from these specials will actually be able to quantify the collective impact that we had on the environment as a city. And we can demonstrate to the people that are supporting by buying these dishes the change that they're making just by making these small everyday dietary shifts.
SPEAKER_00:You are located in Thousand Oaks, California, which is close to where I am right now, which is Oxnard, California. But I did notice online that this it is a global initiative. I saw Nairobi, for example, and so different parts of Europe. This is happening in many communities around the globe, but need somebody like you who's willing to take it on, right? As a volunteer. So then you're given a template. Is that from as as a campaign of who do you call? So there's a lot, there's a lot of um, I mean, you really had to roll back the fear. Yeah, because you are then saying, all right, I'm gonna take this on in my community of Thousand Oaks. And so then now I need to call restaurants.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Restaurants of people who likely you don't know you didn't you before this, right? Convince them or talk to them about what it is that you're doing. They might have a menu that is very different than what you are putting together for them. Yeah. And which is what makes it really exciting, right? That you are you're coming in there and potentially helping them to reimagine the kinds of offerings that they have on their menu. Because in our kitchens, we have so much, we have complete control about what we bring into our kitchens, right? But it is, and we're making an impact that way as home cooks. But think about restaurants and how much food procurement they do, how much food that they purchase versus how much a single family home or a single person is purchasing. So that leverage is multiplied when we can work and partner with chefs to have them think about not the whole menu. I love that too. You're not saying change the whole menu for the whole month of February, because that's the month we're in right now, but you're saying consider these particular change or these, not even changes, you're just asking them these add-ons, right, to your current menu. So tell us I I want to know which restaurants said yes to your invitation in Thousand Oaks that we can support this month of February. And I want to know what that was like, like calling these different restaurants and the kind of response that you got.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So it I will admit it was very scary and overwhelming at first. You're can I do this? It's nerve-wracking to be like, can I put myself out there and kind of sound like a person who's might be introducing something to them that they've never heard of, and you don't want to push something onto people. But I felt it's a cold call. Yeah, it is. And it's literally it literally is cold calling. And by your third or fourth restaurant, you're like, okay, these are just people. It sounds scary, but it's just people in our community. And you would be surprised. Like, people are really excited about something like this. They're really excited about giving back in this way, like ways that they can get involved and connect with organizations and nonprofit organizations like ourselves. And as I started to do it, I started to meet just wonderful restaurant owners that were super excited and invested in something like this. Um, maybe they had never done something like this, but maybe they had done something kind of similar and they were like, I would love to keep it going. And so after calling a lot of the restaurants in the area, we were able to solidify a partnership with three local restaurants. So we have restaurants mouthful eatery, honey and herb, and all good eats and drinks who are participating. And they have been nothing short of amazing. They've been so excited. We really love their enthusiasm. They've been great in planning dishes that are using the climate-friendly like outline that we've given them, but also that use a lot of great organic vegetables and show that this food can be delicious. And just because it's you know plant-centered doesn't mean that it's any less delicious than anything else on the menu. In fact, I feel like they're even better. It's they're absolutely fantastic dishes.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know if we should tell the chefs that. I want to just dial back a little bit because I feel like your story is certainly about the campaign and what you're doing, but there's also a larger or deeper story for me, which is your journey to become involved in your community and to align yourself with an organization that you felt really committed to the work that they were doing and composting that mind trash that might stop you from doing it. So here you are taking on this task of making cold calls to restaurants. How many restaurants did you have to call before you got the three to say yes?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness. I think we did something like 60. Something. Yeah, a lot of restaurants. And it's one of those things that like this does require a little bit of planning. So I understand that not everybody's on board, but we did about 60 before we were starting to get like those yeses.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Oh god, that's amazing. Like, hats off to you for the tenacity that it took. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I I have a reputation now for being relentless, I think is how they described me. But I'm taking that as a compliment. I think that's a great way to describe it. You do have to be relentless in this work, but it's because you're passionate.
SPEAKER_00:And how much you've grown by doing it. I remember years ago how I got into this whole into food change was through water. I love to say, um, we get ready to get ready to get ready to get ready, which is something I've heard somebody else say. And it's so true, right? Because the things that we do, we don't understand what's going to come next, how it's getting us ready for the next thing. So years ago, I had this little small business which was called Azul Conservation Products, and I was selling shower timers and water collection things. Yeah. It was like taking my public policy training and turning it into like the individual behaviors, which I guess I'm still doing. I'm still focused on the individual behavior. But I remember having to make those cold calls to water agencies and to stores and so that they would carry these products or that I could come in and give them a talk to them about how they should purchase it for their customers. And oh my God, in the beginning, I would spend like I feel like almost all day just like building myself up. Oh yeah. Like just that one call to Montecito Water Agency or whatever. The or that I had to build up that confidence.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_00:So hats off to you that you did that for 60 of them and were willing to take a lot of rejection before you found your three. But that really is the path for all things, right? Like, especially as a writer, right? You get so many rejections before you actually get the yeses. So if we were to base ourselves all the work that we do based on easy yeses, that's not that's we're not going to do very much in our our lives, our world's become very small. And it seems like through this process, your life has really expanded. I know that's that's been the case for me. You know, and just you reaching out to me with about connecting with me as well. And then we now have made this connection, and I really look forward to working with you in the future as well. So just there's beauty in it. There's so much richness and beauty and depth and expansion that comes when we say yes to participating in in bigger ways in our community to be part of the change we want to see in the world. Yeah. So I want to know what is the menu that or what are those when I go to because I will go to these restaurants this month. And are they do they all have the same thing or is it's different things at each restaurant? How does that work?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so we never want to come into a restaurant and say, oh, we want you to make X, Y, and Z. Instead, we just give them like an outline of ideas that other restaurants in the past have done, suggestions on the type of ingredients they would that they can use, and then we let them take the reins from there. And then we're always here if they need any concentration, if they need any guidance, if they have questions for us. We're here, we would love to develop the specials with them, but we really want them to feel like this is something authentic to their restaurant, to their clientele base, and something that they're excited to create. And so each restaurant has developed their own specials that they feel like fits their menu, and that makes it that the menus a little bit different at every place. For example, a mouthful eatery. Um, he has something like a Mediterranean salad, which uses all these amazing ingredients, mixed greens, um, red onion, garbanzo beans. He has like this amazing basil marinated tofu. It like gave me so many ideas of how you can prepare tofu. I had never seen something like that before. So, how is he marinating it? I'd have to ask him on that. That was amazing. It was like the best tofu ever. It was like, wow, this is it's just being inventive about new ways to present these ingredients. It was like it truly blew me out of the water. But yeah, he has Mediterranean salad because that's something that he felt like really fit in well with his menu. And then he also has a grilled veggie and pea wobble, um, which has these, it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. Anytime I show people the pictures, they're like, What is that? Where can I get that? And I'm like, you can try it all month long. It's amazing. But what I really love about that is he has this delicious like butternut squash and maple drizzle on top of it. Oh, I had never had vegetables that tasted that good before.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, a piece of syrup on anything.
SPEAKER_01:It's like I gotta start doing that. That was amazing. Oh my gosh. But it is absolutely delicious, and it just goes to show you that if you're preparing these dishes in like new and creative ways, people will really want to try it. It doesn't matter if it's just vegetables. Like it's absolutely amazing what people can do. So he has gone above and beyond for these dishes, and we're really excited.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so those are two offerings on the menu. Yes, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Each place has about two offerings for the Eat for Impact.
SPEAKER_00:And so you offer ideas, and then the chef for each one of these eateries or restaurants then develop something on their own or in partnership with you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's really up to them. We want to leave the door open and be like, if you want that support or in partnership with us, we're here to help. We give them like a participation guide, which kind of outlines those different things that they can utilize when they're developing these. And then we're always just one phone call away. They can call us at any time they want, they can text us, we're here for them. We really want to support them and be like their guidance through all of this, but we also want to give them the reins and be like, we want this to feel authentic to you. Um, and so they really just take what we give them and run with it. And then the creations are amazing.
SPEAKER_00:I can't imagine that in this particular case of these offerings that you just described, that he would want to pull them off his menu. I know. I was really surprised if they do not continue beyond February. But tell us about what the other two chefs have come up with.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, our other restaurants are all good at eats and drinks, and he's doing like a play on a teriyaki bowl, but he's doing it with tofu. So he's doing bulgogi tofu, which was really uh interesting because I've never had something like that before.
SPEAKER_00:What is it called? I haven't heard of that.
SPEAKER_01:Bulgopi tofu. So it's like bulgogi beef, but instead of using beef, he's using tofu. So it's like the different way to marinate it, and it's absolutely delicious. And white rice and imame, broccoli, carrot, cucumber, all of those wonderful things. And that's another one where people saw the picture and they're like, where can I get that? That looks amazing. And then also what he does there is he has a whole line of to-go juices. And so something that he developed was something called the green one juice, which is using like really high-quality local produce, spinach, cucumber, celery, apple, lemon. And I love that option, especially if you're on the go and you just need something quick, but you can just choose something like that to fuel you for the day, and it's also helping make a difference. And so that was great. I love that kind of like creative take on it.
SPEAKER_00:Is he procuring from the farmer's market, or do you know where he's purchasing his?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm not sure exactly I could ask him and see, but I know that like we really tried to emphasize to try. To source sustainably, trying to source locally as much as we possibly can to make sure that we're supporting like our local farmers and all this stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But that's not necessarily something it's optional in terms of having organic produce.
SPEAKER_01:Definitely. It's optional, but we would love if people would, because I really think that's also a great way to support your community even further with this, is to work with the smaller local people who are who could provide you with those things.
SPEAKER_00:So for me, get it. I frame it into thinking about better and best. So better is one is organic, and and the second would be not just big organic, because I had this aha moment when here in Oxnard, we have some, we have mostly conventional agriculture.
SPEAKER_01:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And but we do have some of those organic farmland here. And there was one time when I was re when I was writing Eat Less Water, and I am driving, and I see on one side the field has it says peligro, which means danger, and it has the crossbones because it had just sprayed. Yes. I've seen that. Yeah. Yes. And then across the street, it had there was an organic farm. So I pull over and I ask who owned who owned the because it was the same crop. They were both lettuce. So I pull over because the farm workers were leaving for the day and ask the question of who owned the farm across the street, the one that had the peligro, yeah, sign. And the she tells me it's the same.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_00:You know, when we talk about big organic, okay, yeah, it's great that we're getting some of the their cropland and we're showing we're hope hopefully by us purchasing more organics, we are getting more crop, like they they understand that there's money there. So then let's have more of our farmland organic. But at the same time, if you could, the best thing would be to support those farmers who are only doing organics, right? They're small scale, they're working hard, they're going beyond the minimal like organic guidelines. They're not trying to fight the organic guidelines as some of the big guys are trying to do, right? They're trying to they're constantly trying to weaken the guidelines versus strengthen the guidelines. That's where I started to think about better is organic or no pesticides, and best is regenerative, small scale, somebody in your local community that's even better. Right, yeah. So that's how I think about it for myself is better and best. And that's a framework that I present in the book. But I also then have taken it into the next book, into the shopping guide that is available to anybody who wants it for free. But that way when we go to the store, we understand what are these concepts so that we could start aligning ourselves with them. Because if we don't have a vocabulary, and that's essentially what you're doing with these chefs, is you're building a vocabulary.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And if they don't have that, or if they don't understand that these particular ingredients are better for climate than others, or for soil health, you know, then how can you make changes? We need to have that understanding first. It's not that we don't want to do the a lot of people want to do more. They just need the language to do it or the understanding of why to make different changes. Yeah. So they so you're but it it's interesting to me that you are not requiring organic as one of the climate-friendly pieces, because when conventional agriculture is so laced with fossil fuels, which is the leading cause of climate change. So that that is interesting to me if you want if I'd like to hear more about why you think the policy of the organization is not to ask for organic ingredients.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think at this point, it's more so just an ease for the restaurants participating, because we know that a lot of them sometimes have people that are like they have their ways of sourcing different ingredients right now. We would like as many people to participate and we don't want to be driving them away by being like, oh, you might have to use something like a new ingredient, for example, or find a new way to source it. But as the program scales, as we work on something like this, I think that there is definitely opportunity for it to grow into something where we're able to work with hopefully more locally sourced things, organic things, regenerative farming, that would be an ultimate goal because we as an organization are really mindful of how much resources are used growing the a lot of the produce and a lot of the things that are going into these meals. And our whole goal at the end of the day is to lower the emissions and the resources that we're using. And so we really want to be mindful of that. And I think there's an even greater impact that we can make that once as people hear about this and they get more interested in it, that there's definitely a door that we can open to that and encouraging that and the participants.
SPEAKER_00:I tend to think of things in layers of soil. So it's it's essentially let's get to the beyond the topsoil. So the way that we work, we I think conventional kind of thinking is topsoil, like the shallow part of soil. So it sounds like what's a work is moving into the subsoil. Okay, let me let's be more intentional. It's not perfect, right? It's it's just doing more than what you're doing now, but then eventually getting them to be in that kind of bedrock or the regal the regolith is called in the bedrock, which is those deeper layers. So yeah, uh I agree that sometimes it just takes its baby steps, it's not all at once. And I'm so glad that you're sticking with it and you're gonna help help your community to grow those deeper root systems into those deeper layers of soil.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm so pleased by the work that you're doing. It's just incredible. And can you name those three restaurants for us again? And I didn't notice on the website if there was a place where you could click where you live, like a map to see if there's any restaurants that are participating.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, okay. The three restaurants that are participating are Mouthful Eatery, All Good Eats and Drinks, and Honey and Herb. And all of those are based in the Thousand Oaks area. And you can visit our website, eatforimpact.org. And then there's a little kind of button that you can click in the corner that says cities, and you'll be able to find Thousand Oaks' City on there, but you can also see a big list of cities where it's happening right now. And so if you live somewhere where it's happening in your community, you can go out and support it. It's happening all over the world right now. We have people doing it in Mexico, we have people doing it in Nigeria. And if you're interested in doing it in your community, you can absolutely do that as well. You can start it up in your community. And so we really want to show people where everywhere that it's happening.
SPEAKER_00:So it's not necessarily only in November. This is happening all year long.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's happening all year long. It's really whenever you would like to start it, you can get in touch with Planted Society and they'll work with you to develop it. Does take time to develop this, but they'll work with you to come up with a window that they would like to launch it or you would like to launch it, and then they can go from there.
SPEAKER_00:That's great. So there's as someone who's listening, there's many ways that you can plug in to this campaign. It could be that you are supporting those different, which I hope all of us will do, supporting the restauranteers who said yes to thinking about food differently and how they can make an impact. And then there's the other piece, which is if you want to volunteer, whether it's with this particular organization, to start a campaign where you live, or maybe this conversation helps to get you thinking about saying yes to other volunteer or community organizing opportunities that will make a difference because there it isn't just one of us, it's the collective. It's the collective that is going to make the changes that we need with the way food is grown on this planet so that we can curb the negative impacts, right? The exploitation that's happening on the planet and is causing climate change. I know I feel inspired by this conversation, and I'm sure that other people who are listening will are feeling inspired as well. And in the show notes, I will place, I will make sure that I put the listing of the restaurants and also your email address to learn more.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:And also, what about your information? We is that if that's okay, I could put your information as well. Yeah, if you just want to email you directly to get involved if they happen to live in your area or just need that little motivation so that they can start it in wherever they live.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so thank you so much for coming on and for the work you do in the world. And maybe we'll meet. How about we meet in person at one of those restaurants?
SPEAKER_01:I would love that.
SPEAKER_00:That Mediterranean salad.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, it's so amazing.
SPEAKER_00:That sounded amazing. So thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.