Mississippi alumni Lauren Rhoades and Liz Broussard were profiled in Southern Living’s “30 Incredible Women Moving Southern Food Forward.”
Mississippi alumni Lauren Rhoades and Liz Broussard were profiled in Southern Living’s “30 Incredible Women Moving Southern Food Forward.” Read excerpts below.
By Hannah Hayes, Southern Living
Lauren Rhoades
Jackson, Mississippi
When Lauren Rhoades meets customers at her farmers market booth in Jackson, Mississippi, older folks tell her about their grandmothers tending crocks of sauerkraut and Korean War Veterans come to sample her kimchi. With her line of fermented foods under the name Sweet and Sauer, including kombucha, pickles, and mustard, Rhoades is hoping to redevelop the knowledge and taste for good bacteria-infused foods in a new generation. After moving to Jackson from Denver, Colorado with the FoodCorps program, Rhoades took Sweet and Sauer from a side project to a full-time business. Located inside The Hatch, a nonprofit business incubator in Jackson’s Midtown Arts District, she turns local produce into jarred products sold at independent grocery stores and cafes in central Mississippi.
Liz Broussard
Jackson, Mississippi
When Liz Broussard’s Jackson, Mississippi-based fellowship with AmeriCorps’ FoodCorps program was finished, some expected the New Hampshire-native would head back North. Instead, she chose to grow her roots in Jackson and continue her work teaching students about healthy eating. As the coordinator of Mississippi Food Justice Collaborative (a part of the National Center for Appropriate Technology), Broussard works with groups like Mississippi Farm to School Network and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to increase healthy food access for disadvantaged families and children.
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