Food As Connection: Nourish and Gather with Chef Melanie Underwood

What if your kitchen could quiet anxiety and spark connection at the same time? We sit down with Chef Melanie Underwood—culinary educator, mindfulness teacher, and founder of Nourish and Gather—to explore how cooking, gardening, and simple rituals transform everyday meals into meaningful self-care. From farm roots and family dinners to high‑pressure hotel kitchens and meditation, Melanie shares the practices that helped her turn attention into ease and ingredients into anchors.

We dig into the power of seasonal, local food and why flavor is the best teacher for mindful eating. You’ll hear how phones‑off classes, garden harvests, and sensory prompts build confidence in teens and adults alike, and how a single request from a shy student can become a lifelong lesson in self‑advocacy. Melanie also opens up about navigating a rare cancer diagnosis and creating space for healing outdoors and at the stove, reminding us that solace lives in soil, steam, and shared tables.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make dinner feel less rushed and more restorative, this conversation offers practical steps: slow your pace, use all five senses, start a weekly family meal, and try thoughtful prompts—like Melanie’s Mindful Table napkins—to turn silence into stories. We also examine the culture of professional kitchens and why centering well‑being, mindfulness, and community is not just humane, it’s smart. Ready to cook with intention and gather with purpose? Listen now, then subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs a calmer way to eat and connect.

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Transcript

Welcome And Subscriptions

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Cake Therapy Podcast, a slice of joy and healing with your host, Dr. Altricia Foster. This is a heartwarming and uplifting space that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. The conversations will be a delightful blend of inspirational stories, expert insights, and practical baking tips. Each episode will take listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing, and connection through the therapeutic art of baking. There's something here for everyone. So lock in and let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Cape Character Podcast, which is your slice of joy and healing. I am grateful to you. I am and I'm excited about our listenership and our subscribership that's going up. So I want to big up everyone who subscribed. And if you're listening and you haven't subscribed to the podcast, please go right ahead, dive in, do your thing, you know, subscribe to the podcast. And guess what, guys? Leave us some comment, talk to us, share with us how each episode is impacting you and your takeaways. So Melanie, who is joining us, she is really a seasoned culinary educator. She's the founder of Gather Culinary. It's out in New York, and Gather Culinary is a platform dedicated to teaching the art of cooking with a focus on mindfulness and connection. She has over 20 years of experience. That's a long time to be in the kitchen, right? She has made a name for herself as a passionate advocate for transformative power of food and the transformative power of the kitchen. She began her culinary journey at the prestigious institute of culinary education in New York City. She's still there. And she has since developed this unique teaching style that emphasizes not just technique, but the joy of the kitchen, the joy of community and the joy that food brings to everyone. So through her initiative, Gather Culinary, she offers a variety of classes designed to inspire home cooks and professionals alike, all while fostering a deeper appreciation for local sustainable ingredients. We'll talk to her about that. What does that look like to her? You know, what is that? Can she define to us what local sustainable ingredients are, you know, from her point of view and her perspective? Her approach to the culinary arts and culinary education is really rooted in her belief that cooking mindfully can enrich everybody's life. And she believes that cooking also builds connections and nourishes the body while, you know, while we're while we're at it. So I'm excited for us to hear from Melanie today. So yes, welcome, Melanie. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Thank you so much for having me. I am super excited to be here.

Guest Intro: Chef Melanie Underwood

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah, we are we've been waiting on you actually. I know that we were supposed to record this, you know, episode a couple weeks ago, and then one of my kids got sick. So thank you for being flexible. Absolutely. I have kids, so I get it. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, typically, you know, on the cake therapy podcast, we start off with a mental health check-in. Like, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 3:36

I'm pretty good. You know, I recently found out that I have cancer. And sorry, yeah. A rare form of lung cancer, but I feel lucky in many ways because it's it's usually not something people die from, but it's definitely been hard and tricky navigating it because I've always been really healthy and it totally caught me by surprise.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yeah. Do you find that now that you have this diagnosis, you've been spending more time in your kitchen? What have you been doing?

SPEAKER_03 4:08

I spend so much time in my kitchen. I don't feel that I'm spending any more time. I've actually spent a little less. I'm spending more time outside.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

I do naturally use my kitchen as a co-chanism. But I also use gardening and being outdoors. And because I really felt like I've needed some grounding, I've been going outdoors more and working with my hands in the soil. And I found that extraordinarily beneficial. And I do have it's in many ways related to my kitchen.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah. You know, it's amazing how we can find solace in so many other places. You know, it's we we we don't need to be on a sofa to have to talk about what we're going through. We can really go in our gardens or in our kitchen and find solace there.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

So you know, like, yeah, go ahead. I was gonna say it's so true. It's it's actually one of the things that I love about cooking is that most people do it every day. So they have opportunities every day to feel better just through an everyday activity.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, Melanie. So, you know what I'm the most excited about is the conversations that we could we will have, you know, because there's so much alignment with Gather Culinary and the Cake Therapy Foundation. I believe that our mission and you know, our mission and vision is really centered around the same thing. So I'm really, you know, excited to talk about that, so much alignment. But I want to first find out from you about your journey into the culinary art. What was the lead up for you and what what you know what got you interested in cooking?

Mental Health Check‑In And Coping

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Well, I grew up on a farm and I started Yeah, and so I started baking with my grandmother when I was about four, and I was always in the garden with my granddad. My granddad had a very large garden, and we would go out every morning. I lived right next to my grandparents, and I would pull weeds and pick little aphids off of leaves and do all the things. And I think because I had such a strong connection with my family, to me, that correlated to food. And growing up, I definitely never thought of food as a career. You know, I my whole life I was like, Oh, I'm gonna be a lawyer, I'm gonna be a journalist, boom, one of those. And then when I went to college, I was like, oh no, this I cannot do. I don't want to do this, I'm not happy. And my mom said, What do you love? And I said, I love to bake. And she said, then you better be a baker. And so my dad said, Absolutely not. That's ridiculous, absurd. You can't do that. And then I got a job at a local hotel that I sort of pounded my way into. I had to go back every day for a month. They could just open and they said, you know, you don't have any culinary training, you have no experience, you're 19. And then finally, the HR person was like, Well, you're pretty persistent, I'll give you that. And so she's I said, you know what, you can hire me two weeks if I'm terrible. You don't need to pay me. You can say I am, and I I do have a really strong work ethic. And so it worked out really well. And I worked there, and then I was I've always been at the right place at the right time. And I worked there for two or three years. And the girl I worked with was applying for a job at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, which was opening, and she said I could do this by. And I applied and I got it. And then that sort of like just changed my whole trajectory after working there.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah. So tell us what didn't you love? What made you initially think that you wanted to become a lawyer, even though you loved baking?

SPEAKER_03 7:43

So when I was eight, I had three cats that were run over in the road in a month's time period. And I wrote to my congressman and said, I think that there needs to be a study, like somehow, because there's no speed limit signs and everyone's speeds, and three of my cats were hit in the road. Yeah. And my congressman wrote back and said, we commissioned a study for with the Department of Transportation and will let you know the outcome. And I still have goosebumps about that to this day because I was eight. Yeah. I also wrote to the senator, but the senator said, like, you know, I'm we'll pass this on. But it taught me such an important lesson that one person makes the difference. Yeah, absolutely. I think learning that at eight years old, I thought, wow, if I can do that, I remember thinking if I can do this at eight, what will I be able to do when I'm an adult?

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah. Do you think the spirit of advocacy was birthed inside of you at that time because you recognized that if you used or elevated your voice, that you could actually get things happen?

SPEAKER_03 8:49

100%. I I do that to this day. You know, I was I was listening to a teacher speak because I, you know, I teach mindfulness as well as culinary. And this teacher said, people who have cancer are angry, and that's why they have cancer. And I wrote, I respectfully, as someone who has cancer, I respectfully disagree. And they were definitely trying to um sort of instigate with me, and I left the the live. But what it what I did literally two days later, I thought about it was I scheduled my own mindfulness meditations for people who have chronic illness and cancer because I want there to be a different voice. Yeah. I don't want people just hearing this and thinking, oh my god, it's my fault. I'm angry or I've done something because that's victimizing someone.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So tell me about how did you so you you went to the four seasons to work, but you ended up at the Institute of Culinary Education. When did this happen? And what made you decide to go further?

Early Roots: Farm, Family, And First Kitchens

SPEAKER_03 9:50

Well, I kept working in hotels and restaurants, and then I had to have an emergency appendectomy. And they said, you know what, you can't lift anything heavy. And I knew someone that worked at the school, and I said, Could I work here for two months until I can go back to being a pastry chef? Because I can't lift, you know, anything heavy. And I said, I just want to work in the office, photocopying whatever needs to be done. And I met with whomever it was at the time there, and they said, sure, do you can do that? But then the owner, I guess he looked at my resume and he said, What are you doing? And I said, Oh, I'm going to back to the restaurant. I just need somebody to carry me over. And he said, Why don't you teach? And I said, That sounds horrible. I'm super opinionated, I'm really aggressive. I can't imagine being a teacher. And I'm so glad that he had the sight in me to recognize that I would be a great teacher because I think he really did. And I sat in on some classes and I realized I'm so passionate and emotional, but I'm also incredibly logical. And that I don't bring emotion to what people do. And that that's really one of the best things that a teacher can do is allow a student to be a student and not judge them. And that's where I operate from, is from a space of non-judgment. And that's, I think, one of the things that makes me a great teacher. So that's sort of how that evolved.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Okay, absolutely. So you're teaching at the Culinary Institute. Where did you, or when did you make the connection between cooking and its ability to foster mindfulness? When did you make that connection?

SPEAKER_03 11:25

I actually made that connection before I started teaching. I always had anxiety from 17 on. And I was working at the Plaza Hotel, and it was a very high stress job, and I was having a tremendous amount of anxiety, and I was trying to figure out what I could do. It was almost becoming unmanageable. And uh I started doing some techniques. I looked into meditation, I started meditating, and I realized how beneficial meditation was for me. And then I started putting two and two together. Like, you know, one of the things that why I always loved cooking was because cooking usually makes me calm. And cooking requires such or baking, they require such focus that they really help us do all the things that mindfulness and meditation do. It's just a different sort of medium. So I I did it for myself when I was that was in the early 90s, and then I started teaching in the late 90s, and I was always trying to bring it to my classes, but honestly, people really were not that into it.

unknown 12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

And so I there would be a few people here and there, and I would always work with those people, but it wasn't something that a lot of students were like, yeah, I want to learn this. But last five years, I feel like it's really taking off.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Right. You know, because right now I'm at the the tail end of my mindfulness coaching certification. So I'm really gung-ho um about bringing it to my students because I'm gonna be in some middle schools and some alternative schools, cake therapy um in the fall. So I I you know, I'm looking forward to that whole experience. You know, they're gonna receive all of that. Yeah, they're gonna receive all of that. But I I I started cake therapy out of purpose, you know. I got pregnant, had a little girl, it triggered my traumatic experiences, and I I found baking. And baking ultimately healed me, and I started cake therapy. But tell me what inspired you to start gather culinary. What is your core mission behind that?

SPEAKER_03 13:36

I think it was during the pandemic. So prior, prior to the pandemic where I taught at ICE, you know, I was realizing people aren't really into this mindfulness component. And I thought and I only taught really adults there. Once in a while I would teach kids, but it was it was the school that people want to do for career changers or just for fun, but mostly adults. And I thought, and I mean, you know, a lot of people are like, wow, Melanie, you have a very high opinion of yourself. But when you get feedback all the time that you're a great teacher, you know, okay, I'm making an impact. And it was sort of that same sort of moment that I had when I was eight. Yes. And I realized if I'm making this kind of impact on adults, what am I doing? I can really make an impact on a young person where I feel like we're not as invested in our young people as we should be. So I said, I really want to start working in a high school, but finding a job here in a high school that has a great culinary program is challenging. And I had always done professional development for teachers. And believe it or not, one of the schools that I did professional development at in called me and said, one of the people that works there, we have an opening. Would you be interested?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

And so I went there and I was working and I, you know, realized, okay, I'm here, but I've always very much been an entrepreneur and I've always done my own thing. But I was like, I really need to formalize it. And I words are really important to me. And I think they probably are to you because cake therapy is a beautiful name. Yeah, thank you. I thought, what is it? What is it that food has always done for me? What am I trying to bring forward here? And I kept hearing the word gather. And I realized that's because in my home we gathered at tables, we gathered in the garden, we gathered in the milking stalls, that everything that I did that made me have this amazing sense of connection was about gathering. And so that's where the name came to be. And, you know, my pillars really around what my company, I always hope to accomplish with everyone is that, you know, first and foremost, cooking makes us curious.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

And it brings us calm and creativity, and it brings us a tremendous amount of confidence when we have those things, and those all together are gonna make us connected, connected to ourselves and connected to each other.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Yeah.

Anxiety, Meditation, And Culinary Mindfulness

SPEAKER_01 16:00

You know, when I hear gather, I hear community, coming together, right? And I when I first heard about you, I thought, okay, she's focusing on compete community and bringing people together because that's what I got from the name. And yes, names are important to me. I invested a lot of research into making sure that this works, pillars work, because it has to make sense and it has to align with your passion and your purpose. And I see that. But how do you incorporate your passion for fostering gathering or community, connection, and mindfulness through food into the classes that you offer? How do you do that?

SPEAKER_03 16:40

I think I do it in a way that sometimes people don't even realize. I never, for the especially younger kids, I'm not specifically speaking to them about mindfulness, especially in the beginning when they come in. Because I feel like if we really approach it that way, I can turn them off.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

But I talk about using their senses when they're cooking and paying attention. And so first and foremost, I don't let them use devices. They're not allowed to have phones in their classes. They, you know, my own children have phones, but when kids are in class, I'm like, just you have to either put it in your backpack or it needs to be in the other room. It can't be in the kitchen. Yeah. And then, you know, like today, we made um roasted chestnut mushrooms with grits, and we did roasted carrots with this harisa and tahini dressing. So we went in the garden and picked vegetables. So right there, I'm like, guys, you're touching the soil, you know, smell your hands after you pick the garlic and the parsley. So I'm having them use their senses. And one of the things that happens in the garden is that they're bugs. They always freak out about bugs. But it's just yeah, amazing to see. And then, you know, we get into the kitchen and I'll let it unfold as it does. And sometimes kids will start bickering or whatever they're doing as they do. And sometimes it's really minor, but even like last week, something happened, and I said, you know what, let's go sit just for a minute and talk about it. Let's take a five-minute break. I have sound bowls here, I have chimes, they can play. But I said, I want to know where is everyone from culturally, historically, like your ancestors. And then they all said, and then I said, I want you to go around the room and think about that. What is a dumpling that you have? And they all, you know, pierogi, um, shumai, I forgot all the dumplings that they said, Gyoza. And I said, So we're all different, but we're very much the same. And I said, You guys all have dumplings, and we all have different things that are different but the same. And that's what you need to recognize, not only historically, but today. I said, We're all different, but we still have a common core to all of us, and we have to expect the best in everyone. And the fact that someone is giving us their best, but also really expecting the best from that person. Yeah. And those little lessons, I really feel like they help them in ways that they don't even realize.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Yeah. You know, as you talk about having the the class in the garden picking, you know, and touching the soil. I I remember reading something on your website. I'm really a nerd, let me tell you. I will go through websites. Yeah. I remember reading um something on your website like a you know a couple months ago where you you said that you know it was important for you to have locally sourced and seasonal ingredients in your classes, and you teach this and you emphasize that. Talk to me a little bit more about that. Because it stood out to me because I'm like, okay, I would like to see, you know, what the significance of how does she tie it together.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

And again, like I also, you know, I teach on Insight Timer, and I always say, no matter where I am, this is my angle. Not everybody can afford locally sourced organic ingredients. And I think that's A whole nother issue to touch on, but it's always my dream that we'll be in that space because first of all, they taste so much better. Like even today, when we pulled up the carrots, the kids tasted them and they said, This doesn't taste like anything I've ever eaten before.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

And they were like, It is so sweet and has so much flavor. And then the mushrooms I don't grow. There's a mushroom farm here, and I purchased them from the mushroom farm. And the kids were just blown away. And I think that connection to who we are, the land we live on, and the earth, and the earth supports us, the ground. And so I really try to bring that in. And I and just for our own health, I always am like, you know, it's a little bit better for us. And when I, by the way, when I moved to New York, I remember thinking, how I remember before I got here, I was like, oh my God, the food is gonna blow me out of the water, but it didn't. And that's because I grew up on a farm eating food that literally came from the ground and went in my mouth. And in New York, I didn't have that experience.

Founding Gather Culinary And Its Pillars

SPEAKER_01 21:02

The farm to table experience is really amazing. Because I am a country girl myself. I was raised in the impoverished community in Golden River, Jamaica. And I was a farm to table girl. And that food was delicious.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

And also, that can save people a lot of money. If you garden yourself, it's something you know, people like I don't have the time, I don't have the inclination, but it's actually so much better for us, and it saves us money. It's a little bit of work, I get it. But I actually made a vow today. I don't watch a lot of TV at all. It's not my thing. But I'm like, you know what? I don't need to watch any. And I'm no judgment to people who do. I was like, I just I don't want that energy that of all the things that are going on in the world coming to me right now. And I was like, I'm just gonna go outside more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

My husband is um cutting the lawn. For some reason, I'm not sure why he's at my office cutting. Do you hear anything? Okay, good. I'll edit that though. I don't like for some why are you cutting the lawn? Yeah, yeah. I know. So um, we are a part of this amazing collective right now because we see this whole science and this art form emerging. And we are, you know, we're we're intentional about increasing knowledge around the culinary arts and the benefits of it thereof. How do you envision the role of culinary education evolving in the coming years?

SPEAKER_03 22:30

I think if it's I if you know, for it's for people who want to do this as a career, I really hope that they'll be more educated about their own well-being because just my experience is working in professional kitchens. There's an extreme amount of alcohol and drug abuse, people do not take care of themselves. And when I first started teaching mindfulness, I actually tried to really bring it to the professional kitchens. And I didn't have a lot of success there either. You know, there's a lot of resistance because people want to know what's my return rate.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

Right. And people think, well, there's no return rate here. Uh, teaching people mindfulness isn't going to help them, but it actually makes this much more productive and much more calm, and there's a lot of benefits, as you know. So I would love in that professional space if the powers that be and the people that make the decisions understood the importance of the well-being of their workers. Yes. And then in a recreational sense, where people are doing it like kids or people that I teach for fun, that they go home and use these strategies for themselves and that they are using it, you know, as a way to connect and to really uh one thing I'm super passionate about is a family dinner. And living in New York, I feel, and this might be worldwide, but I hear all the time, well, my kid has got activities Monday through Friday, so we can't eat together. And then I really believe that we're overscheduling children and that we need to like slow down a little bit. I think we're we're moving at too fast of a pace and that we need to just slow down and say, and I tell people, just pick one day then that you're cooking together. If you can't do more than one, but again, when I reflect back, because I'm a very confident person. There's no, I know very few people that have the level of confidence that I have. And part of that comes from my family and eating dinner together every night. I had, I know, you know, up until my my dad passed away in October, I said to my husband, I could call my dad at any point and say, I need you, and my dad's gonna be helping me because I knew that I had that kind of level of support. He would, they weren't helicopter parents, they let me do my thing, but they were supportive. At dinner, it was like, tell me about your day. And we had conversations and we connected and had community, and these things make such an impact today. We need that now more than ever. And I really because I as a teacher, and you know this too, kids feel disconnected, and it's you know, I just feel like it's up to me and others like me to bring connection back and help kids feel loved. You know, it's nobody's fault. This is where we've got to be in society, but we really need to be taking care of our kids and lifting them up.

Teaching Mindfulness Without Saying Mindfulness

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yes. You know, I I see you promote so much more than wellness through food, really. Um to me, I when when I when I hear this and I I hear you, I'm hearing gathering gather culinaries seeks to empower individuals through culinary skills, right? And I see the alignment with cake therapy because we're trying to to empower people, you know, in their own personal journeys through healing and growth and cake. And um and I really love the work that you do, and it amazes me how much alignment we have. And when in our little, you know, we are part of this collective and just hearing how so much of our work aligns, you know, it's I don't feel alone anymore in my thoughts because I'm always thinking, oh my God, no one else was when as I was experiencing my baking and the therapeutic power of it, I thought no one else knew how I was feeling, you know, and the experiences that I was getting from this food. But thank goodness we found ourselves together somewhere talking about it. But I'm gonna quote from your website, right? Um, Melanie says, Cooking with us is also a profound self-care opportunity. We guide you to use all five senses to the mindful, turning the act of nourishing yourself into a holistic, rejuvenating experience. Obviously, to me, cooking has served you in a more personal way before it became transformative and before Gather Culinary became this transformative platform through which you know you you serve the community. Can you share any specific times or experiences where cooking has helped you cope with the stress or the challenges that face you on a day-to-day?

SPEAKER_03 27:03

I mean, definitely. You know, I mean, so first of all, as a kid, my parents bickered all the time. They had this really, I can't even describe the relationship. They loved each other so deeply, but they bickered all the time.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

And for me, I actually was like, oh my God, do my parents love each other? And of course, then I got older and I realized, yes, but their dynamic was just, especially my dad. And the only time there was no bickering, not the only, but most, was when we were eating dinner. And so I think that also subconsciously taught me cooking and eating are calming. And again, you know, whenever I was feeling stress, like I like I started having panic attacks at 17. But the one time I wouldn't have panic attacks would be when I was baking. And so I really believe that that was something I didn't even I wasn't even aware of at the time. I wasn't aware that I'm baking as a coping mechanism.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

But I was making mostly cakes because that's so detailed and you have to really focus. And I was like, in retrospect, that's what I was doing was creating these opportunities for myself to soothe myself. You know, it was just instead of eating or drinking, I because that's numbing. I don't find that baking and cooking are numbing, they're actually really connecting, but because the level of focus that you need, especially if you're baking, yeah, just provided all these opportunities. And even today, like if I can't sleep at night, I have a tendency, I'll go downstairs and I'll bake, you know, a loaf of banana bread or something just to soothe my mind.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Yeah, absolutely. You know, you've mentioned sitting around the table, you know, and a calmness and a certain confidence that comes from having conversations with your family around the table. Share with our listeners about, you know, the mindful table. What is that?

SPEAKER_03 28:56

It literally you mean my company, the mindful table?

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yes, tell us about the mindful table.

Garden-To-Kitchen And Seasonal Sourcing

SPEAKER_03 29:02

Um, the mindful table sort of was born out of witnessing people not knowing how to have conversations. Because I know you're a conversationalist, I am too. I can talk to anyone and get their life story, but I realize watching people, they're they're not sure what to ask, how to ask it. So I designed these napkins that have conversation starters on them. So I don't have one with me, but one of the things that I mean, and they say all different things. There's probably 70 words or statements on there, and they prompt conversations. So the way that it would work is that if we're all around a dinner table, we've got a napkin. You can sort of choose your own methodology. Like you can ask everyone to answer their own, you pick one and everyone answers. But I did some test markets, and the one that stood out, and that actually watching people the most surprised me was the word ghosts. All it says is ghosts. Yeah. And I almost didn't include it, but that was the one that people had such stories. And so these prompts are to get people to tell a story. And when storytelling occurs, questions occur, curiosity develops, and we ask questions of each other that we wouldn't know. So it's a way to help people, you know, get to know each other. And I'm doing ones for teens and then for little kids, and they're linen napkins, um, which I, you know, environmentally I always want, but and I'm doing a line of salt, sugar, brown butter, and honey, which are infused with florals, and they're also to sort of generate conversation, right? Because that also it's a it's like a hostess gift. And so then it starts to get people to think. And I love that. I really hope I'm really I was supposed to release it this summer, but with my diagnosis, I put everything on hold. And I said, because I'm a doer. So I was like, I need to just the doing I need to do is healing for myself. And I was like, I'm putting this on hold. And so it's coming out in the fall, but I'm super excited because I did have such a positive response from people using them because they were like, oh my gosh, I never would have learned that about that person.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

I had never and it's good to have um conversation starters at a table because sometimes it gets really, really awkward. I am curious. What do you think is the most rewarding thing about your work?

SPEAKER_03 31:30

Um, that's a tough question. I think the most rewarding thing is watching kids develop trust in themselves and and also adults, um, but really watching a person who hasn't felt secure in their choices and their decision making feel really good about it. I last week I had a class and the mom emailed me, and her daughter's very shy. She barely speaks, and when she speaks, it's it's such a whisper. And her mom wrote to me and she said, Is there any way that if you have extra time, you could make, I forgot what it was, X. She really wanted to learn to make it, but she was too shy to ask. And I didn't really have the extra time, but I said, I'm gonna make it because I want her to learn this lesson that when she asks for something, she can get it. Yeah, because that's the lesson I learned at a young age. And people tell me all the time, and people do not always love this about me. They say, Oh my god, you always get what you want. I have a very good friend who says that a lot. And if she listens to this, she's gonna know who I'm talking about. And she here. And I said, you know, I get what I want because I ask for what I want. Yeah, I'm clear about what I want, I ask for it, and my expectation is I am going to get it. Yeah, and so I want children to have that same experience, and that's what's rewarding is to watch that progress.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

So that's the blog, Melanie. That's the blog you're gonna, you know, for the Cake Therapy Foundation website. That's the blog, right? That's what you're gonna work for us. Yeah, we just found our our topic. So what's what's next? What's next for you? You know, new projects, new goals. What are you excited about in the future?

SPEAKER_03 33:13

Just growing what I'm doing. I want to continue doing the classes, I want to continue growing the mindful table with other pieces that I'm doing and bringing people together. I feel like I'm really able to do this in a positive way, and I'm getting people to recognize the importance of it, and I want to continue down that path. And I I think the one piece that I that people often don't know is I am very connected to nature. And I really would love to bring that piece into the rest of the world. You know, my logo is you know what my logo is because you've seen it, but each of those four circles represents my pillars, and then the middle represents connection, but those pillars to me also represent the new moon, the waxing and waning moon, and the full moon. And they represent earth, air, fire, and water and all the elements. And that's a piece that I think when people see me, they don't realize. And I would love to start developing that out a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Okay, and so much more. And for our listeners and our subscribers, if you want to find Melanie's um website, um, it's linked in our link tree on KickThares Foundation. It's linked in our link tree on our Instagram. But Melanie, you can also share with them as they're listening how they can find you.

Rethinking Culinary Education And Well‑Being

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Yes, I can be found at gatherculinary.com, and of course, my email is on there, and I'm always open to helping people with whatever they need. I'm also on Instagram at Chef Melanie Underwood, which is more of a personal account, but it's always what I do. And then I have Gather underscore culinary on Instagram, and those are really the best ways. And my favorite way, though, that a lot of people don't know, is that I teach mindfulness on Insight Timer. And Insight Timer is an amazing app. And I do all kinds of things on there. I do mindful cooking, intuitive baking, and that's where I'm doing these meditations for chronic illness and cancer patients. And I'm also doing one for teachers that I just started because I thought about who am I serving? What am I missing? And I'm gonna do a monthly meditation for teachers because and someone said to me, Oh, can you come if you're a nurse? And essentially it's for people who are nurturing and nourishing others as a way to refill their own cup.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Thank you so much. I hope that our listeners have found your converse the conversation with us um uplifting and exciting and you know, become more curious and visit your website. I personally am grateful for your time. I love you. I love the work that you do. I love that we're so aligned. I love that we think similarly, and I look forward to all the things that you and I are going to do together because we will. And I want to encourage everyone to, you know, subscribe, subscribe to the podcast, follow us on Instagram at the Cake Therapy Foundation. The podcast is also on YouTube, and um I look forward to your listenership and your subscribership. I want to thank Melanie for joining us today on the Cake Therapy Podcast. This has been your slice of joy and healing. Thank you, Melanie, for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 36:20

Thank you. This has been amazing, and I'm really looking forward to working with you in the future. We are very aligned.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Thank you guys for joining us on the Cake Therapy Podcast. Today's mindful moment is a reminder that the best dishes come from experimenting. Don't fear a little mess. It's part of the process. It's all a part of the process.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

Thank you for tuning in to the Cake Therapy Podcast. Your support means the world to us. Let us know what you thought about today's episode in the comment section. Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. And if you found the conversation helpful, please share it with a friend. Also follow Sugarspoon Desserts on all social media platforms. We invite you to support Cake Therapy and the work we do with our foundation by clicking on the Buy Me a Coffee link in the description or by visiting the Cake Therapy website and making a donation. All your support will go towards the Cake Therapy Foundation and the work we are doing to help women and girls. Thanks again for tuning in, and we'll catch you on the next episode.