Mindfulness in the Kitchen: Cooking as Practice
with Laura Smallwood

When: 11AM-Noon US Eastern, the third Saturday of each month, April-November 2025
Join sessions live online as you can. Each session will be recorded and shared with everyone: those present and those who need to miss.
Cost: A donation of any amount. Suggested donation for all 8 sessions: $100-$150. Joining after the series begins? Use your best wisdom to adjust your donation amount to cover the number of remaining sessions.

Using Anne-Marie Bonneau’s book “The Zero-Waste Chef” as inspiration and guide, we will meet monthly for eight 1-hour sessions to explore how we can bring mindfulness to the procurement, preparation, and conservation of food for the good of our bodies and for the good of the earth. Themes include:

  • Understanding the environmental impact of food waste, plastic packaging, and food production
  • Mindfulness as the underpinning of compassionate awareness, creativity, and joy in the kitchen
  • Plant-forward cooking as an environmentally compassionate choice
  • Cultivating a Community of Practice—growing our combined knowledge from the sharing of our own experiences with reducing kitchen waste, choosing environmentally conscious ingredients, and cooking plant-forward recipes

In the month between each session, community members are invited to read a few sections of Anne-Marie’s book and try out one new thing. There is an open invitation to explore and share resources and recipes from other sources as well. Each month we will gather together to practice mindfulness and share from our experiences in the kitchen.

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Proceeds from this program will be donated to the Food Well Alliance, a collaborative network of local leaders working together to build equitable and thriving community gardens, urban farms, and orchards across metro Atlanta. Their mission is to provide resources and support local growers to connect and build healthier communities, and to provide fresh food to communities with limited access to produce.

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Laura Smallwood

Laura is certified to teach in-person and online MBSR through East Coast Mindfulness and is a member of the East Coast Mindfulness faculty. 

Laura’s interest in cooking began in childhood under the guidance of her mother. One of her favorite childhood memories is her mother helping her make tiny jam-filled turnovers from leftover pie dough—perhaps her first introduction to not letting food go to waste. When she was 13, Laura took on the responsibility of making dinner one night a week for her family. Her favorite memory from that stage of her cooking career is when she found a recipe for Polynesian Pineapple and Ham Flambé in the Sunset Holiday Cookbook and her mom not only allowed her to make it but helped her light it on fire.

Laura went on to become a veterinarian and not a chef, but cooking remains one of her greatest joys—alongside her family and the natural world.

Required Technology and Preparation:

  • High-speed internet connection

  • Please, no phones

  • Join on a computer that has a full-sized screen on which you can see at least 25 Zoom participants, without having to scroll

  • Ensure that your computer is situated on a stable surface (instead of resting on your lap, etc.)

  • Video and microphone capability (so that you can be seen and heard)

  • A place for practice that allows for being undisturbed

  • Current version of Zoom installed

Schedule Register

Note: all times shown are in US Eastern Time.

Dates Times Theme
Session 1:
Saturday,
April 26 		11AM-noon Getting Started: Mindfulness of Cooking
(Chapter 1)
Session 2:
Saturday,
May 17 		11AM-noon Cooking Like Grandma, Fermentation, and Jars
(Chapters 2, 3 and 4)
Session 3:
Saturday,
June 21 		11AM-noon Getting Real, Stocking up, Staples and Scraps
(Chapters 5, 6, 7)
Session 4:
Saturday,
July 19 		11AM-noon Breakfast and Breads
(Chapter 8)
Session 5:
Saturday,
August 16 		11AM-noon Side Dishes
(Chapter 9)
Session 6:
Saturday,
September 20 		11AM-noon Mains
(Chapter 10)
Session 7:
Saturday,
October 18 		11AM-noon Snacks and Sodas
(Chapter 11)
Session 8:
Saturday,
November 15 		11AM-noon Just Desserts
(Chapter 12)

To register for this workshop:

  1. Please make your donation. Suggested donation for all 8 sessions: $100-$150. Joining after the series begins? Use your best wisdom to adjust your donation amount to cover the number of remaining sessions.
  2. You'll receive a confirmation email from East Coast Mindfulness (please check your Junk/SPAM folder in case you do not see this arrive).
  3. Before the date of the session, you'll receive an email from East Coast Mindfulness containing the Zoom link for the session.
We would love to have you join us!

You can make your donation via PayPal or Stripe (both accept credit cards and do not require you to have a PayPal or Stripe account).

PayPal:

Stripe:

REFUND POLICY:
No refunds for this donation-based program. Donations go toward providing resources and support for local growers to connect and build healthier communities, and providing fresh food to communities with limited access to produce.

Questions? Please email us at info@eastcoastmindfulness.com

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