Stacy Brooks

Stacy Brooks grew up in a family of great cooks and enjoys finding new ways to mix traditional favorite flavors with healthier updated techniques. Most recently she's been excited to learn more about sustainable and locally grown foods around her home in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Rita Calvert

Rita Calvert is a chef and food educator, food stylist and writer who celebrates the bounty of locally grown. She is the co-founder of the Film, Food, Farms, Our Bay: All Local program of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), and implements the Locally Grown Lunch Campaign of the CBF and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. She also offers Chesapeake Food-Farm Tours, custom group tours of local farms and agriculture-inspired special events. www.ladycalvert.com

Patrick Evans-Hylton

Patrick Evans-Hylton is a Virginia Beach-based chef, food historian and food educator. He is food editor for Hampton Roads Magazine, author of three food history books, and has a weekly cooking show on WVEC TV-13 in Hampton Roads. Contact him at: patrick@amediaevent.com

Amy Feinstein is a local writer with over 12 years experience writing about the arts and home design. She lives in Parkton Maryland (home of some of the greatest farm markets) with her children Marshall and Honora.

Food writer, cookbook author, and restaurant critic Alexandra Greeley lives in Virginia, where she cooks, eats, dreams about, and experiments with foods from all cultures. But, in particular, as the coleader of Washington, DC's Slow Food convivium for eight years, she has worked ardently to support local, sustainable farming.

Daniel Imhoff is a the author and publisher of numerous books, including Farming with the Wild, Paper or Plastic, and Building with Vision. His most recent book, Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill was released in February 2007 by Watershed Media.

Claudia Kousoulas is a Bethesda-based freelance writer and author of Cast Iron Classics, forthcoming from Collectors Press.

Aletha Kuschan is an artist and writer whose career really took off after motherhood taught her the serious art of multi-tasking.  She studied literature at University of Maryland and has studios in Washington, DC, and Hyattsville, MD.

A native of Pennsylvania’s lush farm country, Andrew Little was dedicated to locally grown food long before he trained at the CIA and the Inn at Little Washington. At the Sheppard Mansion, his abundant kitchen garden and access to a network of nearby farmers ensure that only the freshest seasonal ingredients make it into his innovative dishes.

Freelance writer Rina Rapuano covers food and restaurants for many publications, including The Washington Post and Gourmet magazine. She was an editor for eight years—first for a business publication in Richmond, then at The Gazette in Prince George’s County—before striking out on her own to become a freelancer. She lives in Columbia Heights, D.C., with her husband, her 4-month-old baby boy and her two cats.

John Shields is the author of Chesapeake Bay Cooking and Coastal Cooking with John Shields. He also stars in the PBS cooking show "Coastal Cooking with John Shields." His website is www.johnshields.com.

Aaron Springer is a multi faceted artist. His talents include photography, painting and mixed media works. Aaron is also an arts instructor specializing in programming for children. Being a local Marylander, Aaron grew up picking, catching and eating local apples, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, corn, crabs and fish from early age. He continues this tradition with his own family.

Edible Communities co-founder Carole Topalian travels the world with a finely tuned photographer's eye. Her ability to communicate through photographs brings the Edible Communities mission to life as visual feast.

Michael Twitty is a culinary historian focusing on the foods and cooking traditions of his ancestors, especially enslaved African Americans. Through writing, teaching and cooking, he leads journeys of cultural discovery through our ancestral "foodscape." His website is www.afrofoodways.com.

Karen Mitchell Wilcher is owner of Table Matters, a food consulting firm specializing in recipe development, marketing support services and special events management. She has worked with major food corporations and written several national magazines. Wilcher resides in Maryland with her family.