I am very excited to have my first book signing today at The Big Carrot in Toronto. I really want this book be an inspiration to all those who seek a path to healing using food as their medicine. The Big Carrot has been my nutritional home for over 18 years, and I have grown in so many ways because of their support. It warms my heart that so many people at the Carrot have participated in the creation of Meals That Heal Inflammation.

I have a long list of dedications at the back of the book but I wanted to acknowledge the people connected to The Big Carrot here today!

Did you know that I met my husband, Alan Smith, through a Big Carrot special event. I was flipping hemp pancakes and he was serving organic coffee at the Planet in Focus film festival. Over the 7 year journey to create Meals That Heal Inflammation, he has run countless shopping trips to The Big Carrot to pick up special ingredients for my latest culinary creation. He was by my side throughout the entire process and sacrificed innumerable hours printing the earlier version of the book that we self-published.

As I mention in the acknowledgements in the book, this project was really supported by an incredible community of like-minded, passionate, and extraordinary people. The Carrot’s book manager Aldi Llogori helped write the bean cooking chart; Evis Lasku helped to crunch the numbers on several recipes; Megan MacMillan, Dr. Suzanna Ivanovics,and Kate Kent assisted with research; and my friends Cathy Hayashi and Jake Rubin contributed recipes.

Daiva, the pioneer who started The Big Carrot, has been a huge cheerleader in my efforts to bring this book to market. I am so grateful to my friends Heather Barclay, Carol Roche, James Munro, Sarah Dobec, Lynne Garrett, Francis Ashwagandha, Jane Humphries, Mary Catharine Pittas, Maureen Fitzpatrick, Patrick Conner, Loralyn Sardella, Asa Copithorne, Kassa Da Breo, Charles Thompson, Mari Rossi, Paula Gougeon, Jani Fankhauser, Morgan Yew, Anthony Addario, and John Robertson who have supported and inspired me in so many ways over the years, including testing and tasting recipes. The multi-talented, ultra cool DJ and singing sensation Darren Dumas made time in his insane schedule to flex his graphic design skills and create an illustration for MTHI.

My editor and researcher Daniela Rambaldini took the book to a whole new level. I remember when I had self published my first edition 3 and half years ago. Daniela worked in the health and beauty department at the time. I had no idea I was working along side a genius until she said, “I have my masters in biology and I would love to help ground truth your book. Have you considered creating a reference for every food fact in your book? I think it would set it apart from so many healing cookbooks!” She has been on board ever since and has become one of dearest friends in the world.

Elena Radic became the copy editor shortly after. She also worked in the beauty department and was just graduating from the University of Toronto and was hungry to get some experience copyediting. She has such a wonderful way of making each sentence elegant and we miss her very much. She is now working for Oxford Press!

To my sister Lynn Daniluk, who has helped out at many Big Carrot Trade shows over the years and who has contributed hundreds of hours to this book. She was the very first person to attempt editing the chicken scratch from my recipe note pad in my kitchen. I remember she gave me a little blue floral-print book about 15 years ago and said, “Here are some of my favourite recipes. I left lots of room for you to create your own!” How could she know that it would inspire me to start writing down my creations. I owe her so much!

My brother Shambutata (Steven), is a very talented yoga instructor who tasted every recipe along the journey when we lived together. He would teach me a yoga class and then I would cook him breakfast. I know this loving nourishment has enabled me to juggle writing the book and working at the Carrot for all those years!

I will never forget my dear friend Martin Robertson coming to meet me at The Big Carrot Juice Bar each week. We would go over concepts and debate recipes. He was the source of my will to carry on during the challenging times. I wonder if I ever would have pursued getting it published if he had not been there to give me a gentle, yet firm, push!

To my parents, who deeply influenced the life path I chose. Without my mother and grandmother’s pioneering efforts in the realm of nutrition and healing with whole foods, I may have stuck with my original life plan and continued with my studies in theatre to become an actor. Instead, I was blessed with a profound appreciation and understanding of how vital it is for growing children to be fed whole, nutritious foods and to be protected from the inflammatory damage caused by food allergies. This is the path that eventually led me to The Big Carrot in the first place. Thank you mom, dad, and grandma!