2026 – Meeting Patients Where They Shop: Culinary Medicine and the Lived Food Environment

Date: Friday, December 11, 2026

Time: 11:00 am – 1:00 PM ET

Description:

Access to a grocery store shapes what ends up on a patient’s plate long before any clinical conversation happens. Food access is one of the most significant social determinants of health (SDOH) — yet for many patients, the nearest reliable source of food isn’t a supermarket, but a corner store or food pantry, and reliance on these resources continues to grow.

This roundtable brings together culinary medicine practitioners and food access leaders working across the food environment patients navigate. Together, they’ll explore what it takes to counsel and support patients facing SDOH-related food access barriers: making the most of fresh, frozen, and canned foods; understanding how food banks and pantries are evolving to meet rising need; and building the systems that connect clinical care to community food resources.

Panelists will share practical, food-first strategies clinicians can bring directly into patient counseling, regardless of what’s stocked nearby.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how grocery access, food deserts and swamps, and reliance on food pantries shape patients’ diets and health outcomes.
2. Compare fresh, frozen, and canned foods for cost, nutrition, and practicality in low-access settings.
3. Apply food-first counseling strategies using foods available at corner stores, discount grocers, and pantries.
4. Evaluate food bank models, such as mobile pantries, delivery, and clinical referral partnerships, for use in patient care.
5. Design a practice-level pathway linking food insecurity screening, community partners, and culinary medicine education.

About our Speakers

Jessica DeLuise, PA, CCMS (Moderator)

Jessica DeLuise is a Physician Assistant and Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist with more than 15 years of practice experience. She holds a Master’s degree in Health Science from Drexel University, Doctorate of Medical Science from the College of Idaho, and is a Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist. Jessica is a national media contributor and speaker, under the brand The Wellness Kitchenista. Jessica is on the advisory board, leads CME modules, and chairs two committees at the American College of Culinary Medicine.

Panelists:

Anne VanBeber, PhD, RDN, CCMS

Anne VanBeber is a longtime faculty member in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Texas Christian University and leads its culinary medicine program. In 2014, she brought the Health meets Food curriculum to Fort Worth, and she now teaches interprofessional culinary medicine courses for medical, dietetic, and undergraduate students. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, she has taught food and nutrition for more than 30 years.

Julie Butner, M.S., R.D./L.D.

Julie Butner is President and CEO of the Tarrant Area Food Bank, one of the largest hunger-relief organizations in North Texas. She leads a network of more than 500 community partners across 13 counties that distributes over one million meals each week. She guided the food bank through an 80% surge in need during COVID-19, developed major healthcare partnerships, and oversaw the opening of four new facilities. A Registered Dietitian, she serves on the Feeding America and Feeding Texas boards of directors.

Dr. Marissa Love, MD

Dr. Marissa Love is a physician and educator serving as Program Director for the Certificate of Distinction in Lifestyle Medicine for medical students and Director of Culinary Medicine Initiatives at the University of Kansas Medical Center, where her work centers on aligning learners, faculty, and campus programs around shared Food Is Medicine goals.  Her efforts emphasize service-learning–based culinary medicine and wellness programming, garden-based education, and long-term partnerships with community organizations to integrate lived experience, food access, affordability, and nutrition security into health professional training. Dr. Love also serves on the Advisory Board of the American College of Culinary Medicine.

Joint Accreditation

2.0 CE hours available for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered dietitians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals

Supporters

The ACCM is grateful for support for this Culinary Medicine Roundtable from the National Pork Board.

For more information and resources, click here.

In accordance with CE accreditation standards, all content is developed independently by qualified faculty and is free from commercial influence.