Hi,
I’m Lauren David.
I’m a trusted and resourceful journalist covering food, gardening, health and travel. I also help garden, food and health businesses and travel brands educate their audiences via newsletters, blogs, and website copy.
Food and travel have always gone hand in hand in my life. After graduating college and saving money, I booked a one-way ticket to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania with a 60-liter backpack and an East Africa Lonely Planet, my trusted pal. My journey took me from East to South Africa over 9 months, mostly traveling with local transport. During my my travels, I noticed top-quality produce grown in South Africa wasn’t readily available at the grocery store because they’re exported for a higher price. This prompted me to learn more; I soon realized the complexities of our global food systems.
I’ve spent most of my professional life steeped in food culture. Before becoming a writer, I managed a farmers’ market in the SF Bay Area, where I learned plenty about the challenges farmers face and interviewed farmers to share their stories for a bimonthly newsletter. I also worked as a garden educator and program manager for a K-12 garden program for underprivileged youth, managing a quarter-acre urban garden, developing garden and nutrition curriculum, and teaching daily classes, nurturing kids connecting to nature and tasting new foods. I’ve also worked as a Market Manager for a woman-owned and operated artisanal jam company and as an intern for The Cheese School in San Francisco, where I set up and assisted various instructors in cheese classes, such as wine and cheese pairings.
I’m a teacher at heart (I also have over a decade of experience as an international English as a Second Language Teacher teaching in two regions in Spain–Andalucia and Basque Country) and my clients often say that this skill shows most clearly when simplifying difficult concepts in my writing. My goal: To make complex ideas easier to understand, which is fundamental in our complicated global food system— it isn’t as transparent or honest as one might expect and it often doesn’t make sense.
My journalism work has been published in The Washington Post, AARP, Ambrook Research, Better Homes & Gardens, CNN Underscored, Consumer Affairs, Dwell, Eating Well, Everyday Health, Foodprint, Fodor’s, HuffPost, Martha Stewart, Modern Farmer, Real Simple, Southern Living, The Spruce Eats, more
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