About The Healing Table

Hello! Welcome to The Healing Table. We are a website, a learning center, and a community devoted to the practice of preparing real, traditional food — simply and with great love. Here, you'll find free traditional food classes, wonderful real food recipes, and an inspiring community. The Healing Table is run by Laurie Smith—a seasoned teacher of traditional foods—and by her daughter, Claire (that's me!).

(Scroll down to learn more about Laurie and Claire!)

How Foodwifery became The Healing Table

The Healing Table was born from the Foodwifery Project — a comprehensive traditional foods course which was created and produced online in 2014. (Tap the video below to learn more about Foodwifery.)

Foodwifery classes featured Laurie and Jamie — both veterans of the traditional food world — and were extremely popular and well received. However, when co-founder Jamie moved away, Foodwifery went on indefinite sabbatical.

Still, the Foodwifery community continued to thrive. And now, due to popular demand, the Foodwifery classes are back online as The Healing Table — and the community is better than ever.

If you want to prepare traditional, real foods simply and easily, you're in the right place. We've got the instruction, the inspiration, and the community you need to support you in your journey. And we'd love to have you with us.

Join us as we nurture the art of a healing table.

Love,

Laurie and Claire

Meet Us

Laurie Smith

I'm the mom.

Claire Striff

I'm the kid. (And also a mom.)

Hi, I'm Laurie Smith.

Thirty years ago, I independently set off on a journey: I wanted to keep my kids healthy.

Meanwhile, in a neighboring county there was another woman, Jamie, who had set out on the same mission.

In our own worlds, we thought the answer was "health food," so we fed our families all the fat-free, whole wheat, "heart-healthy" food that they could stand.

But it didn't work. We battled headaches, recurring sickness, digestive ailments, learning disorders, fluctuating weight, and hormonal problems.

It didn’t seem right. It couldn’t be right. It wasn’t right.

After reading hundreds of nutrition and diet books, hitting dead end after dead end, we found the answer to improving our family’s health: preparing and eating traditional, nutrient-dense foods. Real food.

Although the answer was simple, the implementation was not. Information and real food recipes were scarce at that time.

It didn't matter. There was only one thing to do. We stepped out and began the difficult, slow work of discovering the traditional food processes on our own.

After much time and travail, we succeeded in our own worlds.

Then we met each other.

And over the past twenty years, we've led a movement in our communities: a movement back to the table, back to health, back to simplicity, back to real food.

As chapter leaders for The Weston A. Price Foundation we’ve taught countless nutrition and diet classes and workshops, created and organized real food producers, and given keynote addresses.

And now we’re here to come alongside you, offering nutritional guidance and support every step of the way.

We’ve dubbed this movement — this art of nurturing a healing table — FOODWIFERY.

The word roots itself in "midwifery," an ancient sisterhood devoted to bringing new life into the world. Why? It’s simple, really.

The life of your family is in the food you feed your family.

It’s old wisdom, sure. But it’s also a new vision. A desperately needed new vision for today’s culture, in which convenience, chemicals, and profit margins rule.

More than just “a way to cook,” Foodwifery is a culture, a community, a way to live. It’s a high art and a humble joy.

Our Table Transformation Course encourages you to take it one step at a time. With Claire and I, and the Members Community alongside to be with you, help you, laugh with you.

Nurture the art of a healing table with us. You are very welcome here.

Hi, I'm Claire Striff.

I've known Laurie all of my life. She's my Mom and I'm one of the reasons she embarked on the “real foods” journey.

Mom wanted to make sure the bodies of her children were fed the best they could be so they'd be strong and ready to take on life and whatever the future would hold.

My three siblings and I remember all the different "kicks" mom tried as people and books told her of "the best diet". Our kitchen was always busy with a new way of cooking or food group to try. To this day, my siblings and I will do a double take on anything removed from the refrigerator to make sure it is something, uh, still edible and fit for human consumption. (We love you Mom!)

One day, a very good friend and local small business owner was talking with Mom and handed her the Nourishing Traditions book by Sally Fallon from the Weston A. Price Foundation. We were all so skeptical of yet another book changing the way we ate. That was, until Mom started making such tasty foods. Foods like bacon, eggs and toast with REAL butter for breakfast, yogurt and fruits with granola for lunch, and delicious pot roast and vegetables with sourdough bread topped with, yet again, real butter for dinner.

Add to that the enjoyment of drinking raw milk, and we were all SOLD on this new way of eating. Mom eliminated anything processed, or in a box with ingredients we couldn't pronounce. She learned about and practiced using only real ingredients to make our meals. I know it wasn't easy, but even on a strict budget, Mom found that this was a more-than-doable way of eating and nourishing her family.

As the years passed, I grew up, got busy, and didn't eat correctly (and I knew it). I became a Firefighter/Paramedic who worked a full-time night shift job and constantly had a pager on to volunteer for EMS/Fire runs during the day while I was supposed to be sleeping. I got married to Jordan who also worked swing-shift and volunteered during his sleeping hours. Often, we had weeks without any days off and days without more than a nap or two to keep us going. Needless to say, the human body isn't made to thrive off of no sleep, stress, and no REAL nourishment (unless we ate at Laurie's!)

I soon hit a physical low by crashing my adrenal glands causing every body system to show signs of failure, and a short time later--just after our son was born--Jordan's body seemed to crash, as well. We needed help, especially to ensure the health of our little man.

In came Laurie.

Waltzing in with her relaxed manor and step-by-step instructions. And she literally came alongside me to help us get on track with real food. As a result, Jordan and I have regained our health and vitality, and my son is a poster boy for a traditional foods diet!

The above story is why, when the Foodwifery team asked me to assist with the Support and Website, we were all for it!

I am still a wife, mother, & paramedic. But now I am a real food wife and love helping my Mom teach and come alongside people just like you who embark upon their own Healing Table journey.