About Us
Our Mission
Food at the Center is a lifestyle company that uses food to promote health and well-being. Food at the Center’s courses and materials draws upon the legacy and diversity of Black women’s lived experiences, Caribbean and African culinary heritage, mindfulness practices, and radical self-care.
Michelle teaches about the culinary influences of Africa in the US and Caribbean cooking.
Clover harvested callaloo (amaranths), a Jamaican leafy green, from her urban kitchen garden. Her daughter, Michelle, encouraged Clover to plant vegetables in her flower garden in 2008. Gardening is essential to her health and wellness.
Our Story
Food at the Center was created by Michelle Beadle Holder, Ph.D., a medical sociologist, mindfulness practitioner, and Jamaican-born food enthusiast. In 2018 she left a promising yet unfulfilling academic career to follow her passion for growing, cooking, and eating delicious food. Along the way, Michelle discovered hidden aspects of herself and her cultural heritage that shifted her mindset around food, health, success, and happiness.
Food at the Center is also inspired by Michelle’s mother, Clover Beadle. Clover is a self-identified strong Black woman who loves to cook and eat delicious food.
In the face of chronic health conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, Clover took steps to reclaim her health, beginning with her plate. Through her healthy cooking, eating, gardening, exercise, and self-care practices, Clover dramatically reduced her sodium intake and reversed her prediabetes diagnosis.
Clover’s decision to put her health first helped to redefine her view of strength and served as an inspiration for self-care for her family and friends.
In 2018, Michelle combined her own experiences with that of her mother to form Food at the Center. Today the organization provides resources and support to help others on their health and wellness journey, beginning with the plate.
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
Past Community Projects
In 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, our founder joined forces with her mother, Clover (aka Mong-ga) to conduct a 6 month live virtual cooking class. They called the class Cooking with Mong-ga.
In 2019, Michelle Beadle Holder, Ph.D., taught mindful eating as part of a one-day women’s retreat at the Newark Center for Meditative Culture. The retreat focused on how to use mindfulness practices as an approach to self-care and inspired the development of our mindful plates daily curriculum.
Above is a picture of the mother and daughter team demonstrating how to prepare homemade Jamaican ginger beer, a popular non-alcohol beverage. This class was part of the larger 6-month virtual cooking class called, Cooking with Mong-ga. Other dishes prepared included jerk salmon, cabbage, stuffed butternut squash, jerk bean chili, and Jamaican rice and peas.
An Introduction to African Culinary Heritage. Michelle Beadle Holder, Ph.D., taught a three-part series at the Howard County Library System (HCLS). This program supplemented the Millers Branch’s Cultural Connection Garden Project and offered insights into the African Diaspora version of the Mediterranean Diet.