Ever since working at a CSA farm in Maryland one summer in high school I have found myself drawn people who have built a life around food. So much so that I studied food and agriculture for my undergraduate and graduate degrees at Stanford University and for my thesis I interviewed urban farmers in the Bay Area in New York. I then went on to work in sales for a farm software company where I got to speak with farmers every day, learn about their operations, and listen to their stories. Today as an independent content creator, I am lucky to produce podcasts and write articles for a number of companies about food and agriculture topics. But I found myself wanting to go deeper in showcasing the stories of people who work in these industries not because they expect any financial windfall, but because they can’t imagine doing anything else.

I started the Marionberry Review to celebrate people that don’t just eat but live and breathe food, and to simply rejoice in the lush, wild, briney, traditionally-steeped-yet-upstart food culture in the Pacific Northwest. My most formative and treasured experiences have always centered around food and I hope this magazine tickles those sensibilities, nourishing familiar food connections and maybe inspiring some new ones.