on "reformed tomboy" style, urban farming & the politics and psychology of food
meet tiana rainford
meet tiana rainford
Where you’ll spot Tiana Rainford depends on her food cravings, which change from week to week — she might be in Chinatown for vegan dumplings or in Williamsburg for pizza. But she’ll always come home to East New York, where she grew up and where she now works at a community farm, growing organic produce and helping feed and educate her neighbors. Tiana welcomed us into her apartment to talk about food and family, the ancient art of phone calls with friends, and being a reformed tomboy.
“Going into Food and Nutrition Studies, I thought there would be more emphasis on science. I'm a science and math lover. I thought I was going to learn about all these compounds in food and that kind of thing. And there was a lot of science involved. But that’s not necessarily all of it. The approach to health in the nutrition field is a lot more about the psychology around people's relationship to food. You can't really go into biology without learning about psychology. They’re hand in hand, you need both of them in order to give a proper diagnosis for someone or a proper intervention. Because before I can even get to a point where I as a nutritionist can recommend things to you, I have to know more about you: how do you see food? How is your relationship with food? Is there a cultural significance? Is that important to you?”
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