On March 13, 2025, Joi Chevalier, Founder and CEO, The Cook’s Nook; Roy Steiner, Senior Vice President for the Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation; and Brandon Lombardi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Sprouts Farmers Market led a compelling discussion on the important topic of “Food Is Medicine”. The conversation was moderated by Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank.

Food is Medicine initiatives are crucial in promoting overall health and preventing chronic diseases. By focusing on the nutritional value of food, these programs emphasize how healthy, whole foods can support the body’s natural healing processes, improve immune function, and manage conditions like diabetes, renal and heart health. Integrating food as a therapeutic tool empowers individuals to take control of their health through diet, potentially reducing reliance on medication and lowering healthcare costs.

“Texas Table: A Feast for a Cause” an Unforgettable Culinary Experience – With Purpose!

The Cook’s Nook once again hosted “Texas Table: A Feast for A Cause” event on February 25, 2025, at Lenoir in South Austin. This event is more than a fundraising dinner — it’s a movement to advance food equity and to support organizations making a real impact in our communities. This was the fourth year and the only event of its kind in the city, focusing on food access, resilience, and health outcomes.

Food as Medicine in Practice: From Study to Standard of Care

We had a fantastic webinar “Food As Medicine in Practice: From Study to Standard of Care”, on November 6th 2024. Moderated by Joi Chevalier, Founder and CEO of The Cook’s Nook, this webinar was co-hosted by The Cook’s Nook and Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living. The event emphasized the importance of Food As Medicine and its role in improving health outcomes. Thank you to all the amazing panelists – Dr. Polinard, Dr. Sharma, Dr. Van den Berg and Dr. Hollis-Hansen for sharing their research and insights in this field, and to all the participants for joining the webinar.

The Future of Food:

“The Conference on Food Resilience, Access, and Equity, presented by The Cook’s Nook, provides a forum to facilitate much needed dialogue and cooperation between local private and public organizations to share experience, know-how and best practices that address food insecurity for people most at risk during emergencies and disasters in local communities. We look forward to bringing together local, national, and international experts to collect best practices and create a workbook that all can use to strengthen their communities in central Texas and beyond.”

A Texas Table: 

The Cook’s Nook held its annual event at Lenoir in South Austin that was a resounding success. You can read about it in detail here.

Official SXSW panel:

50+ luminary speakers discussed food systems most pressing topics and themes, which was curated by Food Tank and Huston Tillotson University. Joi spoke on the  “Stop Separating Food and Health” panel.

A Texas Tale: Stories of Food Resilience, Access, and Equity

The Cook’s Nook’s second annual fundraising dinner, A Texas Tale. Highlight stories of food resilience, access, and equity in the Austin/Travis County community on December 8, 6:30-9pm! Proceeds went to Farmshare Austin and Green Thumb Farming, two innovative, upstart organizations that are working to diversify our local food systems.

A four-course meal designed by Joi Chevalier (The Cook’s Nook), Adrian Lipscombe (Uptowne Cafe), Todd Duplechan (Lenoir), and Michael Fojtasek (Olamaie).

BCL Financial Literacy Series 2022

The Cook’s Nook is excited to partner with BancorpSouth and BCL of Texas to offer a Small Business Financial Readiness series. This four-part series includes topics on how to tackle small business financials, find hidden markets and capital for growth.

June 11: BCL Part 2: Understanding SWOT and Operations for Growth
July 16: BCL Part 3: Finding Hidden Markets
August 13: BCL Part 4: Show Me The Money! Finding Capital to Grow Your Business

Saturday, June 18: Juneteeth outdoor cooking demo

Texas Farmers’ Market at Lakeline
11200 Lakeline Mall Dr, Cedar Park, TX 78613

Joi hosted an outdoor cooking demo as part of a Juneteenth Celebration at Texas Farmers’ Market at Lakeline.

Saturday, March 12 1-5pm, SXSW Center, 14th/Lavaca, Austin Texas

Join SXSW, Huston-Tillotson University, Food Tank, The James Beard Foundation, Little Herds, The Cook’s Nook and more for an unforgettable series of activations, discussion, art, memorable tastings, and interactive experiences all curated around building more sustainable food systems.

Day 1, on Saturday, March 12, of The Future of Food Festival at SXSW concludes with the Conference on Food Resilience, Access and Equity (CFRAE), from 1:00PM-5:00PM.

Dec 9th, 2021: A Texas Tale: Stories of Food Resilience, Access, and Equity

A Texas Tale dinner is a unique, five-course dining experience is brought exclusively to you by four chefs, whose food shows a love and commitment to Texas foodways: Joi Chevalier of the Cook’s Nook, Adrian Lipscombe of Uptowne Cafe, Robert Hale of the Texas Beef Council, and Uyen Pham, CEC, of the Culinary Institute of America.

April 15th, 2021: Creating A New Channel and Partner

Join Dwight as he introduces Bill Price from ProMark, a local food broker, to understand what food brokers do, how they get paid, and how to leverage their services.

April 22nd, 2021: ePac Visit and Packaging Program Class

Partnering with the right flexible packaging company can make all the difference. ePac is pleased to offer custom flexible packaging solutions and digital printing services for brands of all sizes in and around Texas. ePac helps your brand stand out on the shelf while keeping your product protected and extending shelf life. Join Jeff Jacobs, Director of Digital Marketing at ePac to learn more about how to work with a co-packer.

January 27-28, 2021: Conference on Food Resilience, Access and Equity

The Conference on Food Resilience, Access and Equity, presented by The Cook’s Nook, provides a forum to facilitate much needed dialogue and cooperation between local private and public organizations to share experience, know-how and best practices that address food insecurity for people most at risk during emergencies and disasters in local communities.

Food Talk – Lessons Learned: Distributing Your Product

May 15th

Hear first-hand the experience of Arpit and Elora, Founders of Bhoomi super-botanical cane elixirs. Hear how they took the leap and learn from their experience: looking out for charges, approaching large and small retailers, and more.