About

Our mission is to humanize the food movement and inspire cultural and social change for a connected, healthy and just food system.

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What We Do

Real Food Real Stories facilitates intimate gatherings between inspiring change makers in the food industry and curious eaters. Through live story-telling sessions, Real Food Real Stories helps to foster a deeper connection between eaters and those who have committed their lives to stewarding a just food system.

Our Gatherings

  • RFRS x Airbnb feature live storytelling from some of the best Bay Area food makers and farmers. Plus, you'll always find ingredients from the story in the shared meal.

  • RFRS Picnics are casual yet intimate traveling food experiences that takes place in unique food spaces. As always, the gathering will center around honest and authentic live storytelling fro changemakers in food.

  • RFRS Supperclubs are intimate and immersive community gatherings set in home environments over shared meals and around honest and authentic storytelling from changemakers in food. 

  • RFRS Digestifs are follow-up gatherings with RFRS storytellers, offering opportunities to deepen relationships, further discussions and get hands-on.

  • Chef's Tables are curated, private experiences of powerful live-storytelling and paired meals that are faciliated for companies, conferences and communities. For more information, please contact info@realfoodrealstories.org. 

Our Inspiration

When founder Pei-Ru Ko embarked on her journey to heal her disabling auto-immmune condition through food, she befriended many Bay Area food producers who are truly in the business to feed people and heal our planet. While Pei-Ru was recovering through each nourishing soups and stews, she started to ask herself, "How can I give back to the budding food movement that helped me heal?"

This is how Real Food Real Stories launched. In 2014, Pei-Ru and a group of friends hosted the first Real Food Real Stories gathering in a San Francisco home. The 40+ people who gathered demonstrated the power of pairing authentic storytelling with an inspired, shared meal, to help build local food communities where eaters are invited to deeply connect with those actively stewarding our land, sea and overall food system. 

The power of authentic connections to activate the sustainable food movement made it clear that we must share the experience with others. Since then, Real Food Real Stories has partnered with local food producers, food and agriculture advocacy groups, food businesses and eaters. In October 2015, the organization became a non-profit (501c3) project of the Earth Island Institute. 

For more information on why we believe in gathering as a form of activism, please read this article by Pei-Ru published in the Earth Island Journal.