Food Lab Talk

Olivia Thomas is a registered dietitian, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of “Rewire Health”, a culinary medicine platform that simplifies healthy home cooking and expands access to teaching kitchens. In this episode, Olivia shares her experiences building a culinary medicine startup, including how active listening and a multidisciplinary approach can lead to impact-focused solutions. 

Olivia Thomas: “We need to be focusing on how resources, especially within food as medicine, can be used to reinvest into disinvested communities... I have been redefining how I work on projects based on the impacts. What foods am I marketing? Who is it benefiting? How is the data being used? And the idea of sovereignty is important and making sure that it aligns with the communities we're focusing on and working with.”

00:00 Intro to Olivia

01:09 From childhood cooking to culinary medicine 

02:13 How food-based interventions help manage chronic disease

04:50 Overview of Rewire Health from pitch to startup

07:58 Cultivating a culinary medicine platform

09:49 Enabling personally relevant food choices

11:22 Investing in local communities to impact the whole food system 

12:30 Embracing change and using technology to stay ahead

14:24 Why navigating complex systems requires a multidimensional approach

17:00 The role of collaboration and community building

18:14 Using culturally affirming recipes to empower choice

20:51 Accelerating behavior change with personalization, practice, and insight

23:37 Shifting perspectives on the role of food’s impact on health

25:44 Creating sustainable habits

28:15 Redefining problem-solving

29:23 How active listening builds trust and drives impact

30:13 Looking towards the future of culinary medicine 

32:23 Takeaways for changemakers

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