Author: Tori Garten

Tori Garten graduated from Bowdoin College in small town Brunswick, Maine with a degree in South Asian Religion and a passion for food. While in college Tori managed the Bear Buns cafe and worked for the campus dining service where she learned to make fruit salad for 500 people during the summers. Tori's passion for food probably stems from growing up in a family where bread was baked, gardens grew copious amounts of tomatoes, and countries were learned about by cooking a meal with her mother based on the food of the country in question. Tori ran cross-country and track from 7th grade through college and continued to run off-and-on until she began taking self-defense classes based on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and she was hooked. Tori is currently a blue belt, plans to train until she is 90, and helps teach a kids self-defense class where she frequently asks nutrition questions as part of the warm up drills. Tori also co-teaches the KickAss Women's Class at Bartman MMA, a Relson Gracie affiliate, with a focus on both the physical and mental self-defense. Tori values healthy eating and sees it as a complete experience from the selection of produce, the colors and textures, to picking a recipe, to sharing with a friend. Tori has a corn food allergy and sees the positive side as being able to ignore at least 90 percent of a regular grocery store. Tori recently gave up gluten to help reduce the amount of inflammation in her body and improve her overall health and is looking forward to the challenge of eating creatively.