An Inspiring Guest, Marion Nestle, Debuts her Memoir, “Slow Cooked, An Unexpected Life in Politics”

Cooking is a metaphor for life. 

“Getting cooked means going through different experiences in life, and these help you evolve to become a better person” is a terrific quote I discovered on the web while writing this post. And it’s rather a delectable prelude (dare I say, amuse-bouche?!) to my post about Marion Nestle.  

The Marion Nestle was a recent guest on my Ladies Who Lunch Conversations Facebook videocast.

At that time, I preordered Marion’s long-awaited book, Slow Cooked. Now, finally, it’s getting ready to ship ~ very soon according to the tracker.

I’d been a card-carrying member of the Marion Nestle fan club for many years. 

I attended any NYC lecture and book event she spoke at. 

I’m privileged to own several of Marion’s previous books ~ she’s authored ten-plus by my count, including two on pet food. 

The books we have feature Marion’s autographs, which makes them even more special. They are a valued addition to our home library.

While preparing for the Ladies Who Lunch Conversation with Marion, good fortune struck. Twice, you might say.  I was thrilled to have been able to premiere the cover of her newest book, slated for October 4th shipping: Slow Cooked ~ An Unexpected Life in Politics. 

I preordered the memoir right after our Conversation.  

I wrote the good news to Marion and she joked that I may be the first buyer. 🙂 

I wrote back that while I highly doubt it, (she is so very popular and well-respected that I was sure her legion of fans had already shot her to the top of the best seller list) But not missing a beat, I joked in return: “I’ll take that distinction.” 

At that time in the spring, there wasn’t yet a cover image for the book, but Marion was so generous that she shared with me/us a Preview of her cover selection!  

It was very exciting. 

I remarked that she looked like a rock star. Shades of Janis Ian… 

Let the good luck continue! You can now pre-order/order the book with this link if you haven’t already or purchase wherever you get your books. (I don’t have any affiliation with Amazon. It’s just convenient and my books are readily sold there.) 

Marion is the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at NYU.  Maybe because it was Women’s History Month too, that I couldn’t have wished for and hosted a better guest than Marion Nestle. 

While you can read Marion’s extensive career CV via an online search ~ and there’s no doubt that her career achievements are head-spinning noteworthy, (thank you to those who wrote me prior to Marion’s Conversation to exclaim about her work), I wanted our Ladies Who Lunch Conversation to focus a bit more on her personal journey ~ how life and its challenges can help lead us (or hinder us, as the case may be) ~ to bring you that kind of intimate talk and exchange we’d all love to share over a delicious conversation at lunch with this star activist, teacher, and author. 

And her memoir details this journey. 

For our videocast Conversation Marion was in Ithaca ~ home to Cornell, where she is a visiting professor of nutritional sciences ~ and the alma mater of my beloved father, George. 

If you haven’t seen our Conversation or want to see it a second time, please be our guest. Here is the Ladies Who Lunch Conversation with Marion Nestle  link:

The videocast is also available on my YouTube channel  

For example, you’ll hear Marion describe her own rendezvous with luck. 

While I subscribe to the narrative that women’s success is more about their hard work and talent vs. luck, I also believe that luck does favor the prepared, and this is no truer than when Marion cited the opportunity that came out of a “crisis” ~ “any kind of crisis can be good,” she advised, to create the Food Studies program at NYU ~ the first anywhere!  

She also talks about her divorce, being a single mother, therapy, and managing her burgeoning career late-in-life ~ at a time and place when few women worked in this evolving field of science.

Please listen and watch to learn how she overcame barriers and bias while “getting cooked” ~ meaning, going through those different experiences in life that helped her ~ and can help you ~ evolve to become a better person.  Marion’s inspiring journey to the, ahem, top of the food chain is remarkable.  

Marion is truly a food pioneer and an inspiring leader.  

Thank you for being such an inspiring guest, Marion.  

Marion’s credentials read like the closing credits at the end of a Spielberg documentary; I’ve already cited some above and you can readily research all her academic and literary citations. 

I’ll reference just a few here: 

Marion was named Forbes magazine Number 2 of the “The World’s Most Powerful Foodies” and a James Beard Leadership Award, and has appeared in the “Super Size Me” film franchise.  More Hollywood glamour…

But make no mistake, Marion is the real deal ~ no stardust required. 

She is known for her public health advocacy opposition to unhealthy food and promotion of food studies as an academic field.  

Marion is a shining star.  A true inspiration.