Where I Stand

A bowl of peaches in a metal pie tin sits in the foreground on a dark wooden counter, with a large black cast iron Dutch oven, a wooden bowl of dried red chiles, a bowl of collard greens, and rice in the background. The composition is a Southern foodways still life, photographed at a Michael Twitty presentation.
Cast iron, peaches, and collard greens. The history is in the ingredients.
(Photographed at a Michael Twitty living history event.)

This page exists because food is political and pretending otherwise would be a lie.

What we eat, who grows it, who can afford it, who has access to it, how climate change shapes what we can grow, whose traditions we credit and whose we erase: all of it is shaped by policy and power. I’ve spent too many years trying to keep “Kara who cooks” separate from “Kara who exists in the world,” and the separation never held. It just made the writing worse.

So here’s where I stand. If you want to know what you’re walking into before you stick around, this is the page that tells you.

What I Believe

  • LGBTQ+ rights. Full equality. Marriage equality. Adoption rights. Protection from discrimination. Healthcare access. The right to exist safely and openly without fear. Trans rights are human rights. Love is love.
  • Reproductive freedom. Your body, your choice. Always. Abortion is healthcare. Access to contraception is essential. Reproductive decisions belong between a person and their doctor, not in the hands of politicians.
  • Racial justice. Black Lives Matter. Systemic racism is real and needs to be actively dismantled, not just acknowledged. I’m committed to doing the work, learning, and using whatever platform I have to amplify marginalized voices.
  • Climate action. Climate change is real, it’s happening now, and it’s caused by human activity. We need policy solutions at every level. I’m going to keep talking about how climate change affects gardening, food production, and what shows up on our plates.
  • Immigration reform. Immigrants make this country better. They grow our food, cook in our restaurants, enrich our culture, and contribute to our communities. They are our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends, our family. We need comprehensive, humane immigration reform.
  • Healthcare access. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Everyone deserves access to affordable, quality healthcare regardless of income, employment status, or pre-existing conditions.

I’m liberal. I oppose Donal Trump and the current iteration of the Republican Party. I vote accordingly.

What This Means for the Blog

You’re not going to get a policy screed with every recipe. But you’re also not going to get silence when things matter.

When I write about my GLP-1 journey, I’m going to acknowledge that healthcare access is a justice issue. When I write about gardening, I’m going to talk about climate change. When I write about Southern food, I’m going to honor its African American origins and name the people and traditions that built it. When I share recipes from cultures that aren’t mine, I’m going to credit them properly and link to the people doing that work better than I do.

Sometimes I’ll write explicitly political posts. They’ll be clearly labeled so folks who want to skip them can. Most of the time, the politics will live underneath the food: in what I cook, where I source it, who I credit, what I won’t pretend isn’t happening.

Here’s what you’ll see in 2026 and beyond:

Recipes that are delicious and make me feel good. Garden updates, successes and failures both. Stories about Remy, Callie, and Finn. Honest conversations about health, food, and life. Values-based content that reflects what matters to me. Amplification of voices and perspectives beyond my own. Occasional explicit political content when things matter.

Here’s what you won’t see:

Pretending politics doesn’t affect daily life. Silence when things matter. Apologies for my positions. A sanitized, neutral version of myself.

Comment Policy

Respectful disagreement is welcome. Different perspectives on seed starting techniques, pizza dough hydration, whether Tex-Mex counts as real Mexican food (it doesn’t, but it’s its own thing and it’s wonderful): bring all of it. I love a good argument about food.

I’ll even entertain political discussion on explicitly political posts. Folks who want to talk about policy approaches, push back on specifics, share their own perspective: that’s the kind of conversation I want.

Bigotry, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and cruelty get deleted. I don’t owe anyone a platform for hate, and I’m not interested in “both sides” discussions about whether certain people deserve basic human rights.

This is my space. I set the boundaries.

If You’re Staying

If you disagree with my politics but want to stick around for the recipes and garden updates, you’re welcome here. I’m not quizzing anyone at the door. You should just know what you’re walking into and understand that I’m not going to soft-pedal my beliefs to keep you comfortable.

If you share my values, even better. Pull up a chair. There’s plenty of room.

And if this isn’t the blog for you, I understand. No hard feelings. I hope you find what you’re looking for elsewhere.

Let’s cook good food, grow vegetables, celebrate our weird pets, and try to make the world a little better in whatever ways we can.

That’s the whole project.