Hungry Heart is a newsletter featuring personal essays and edible extras from Heather Marold Thomason. Sharing thoughts on food, sustainability, and just being here.
Welcome! I hope you’re hungry.
In many ways I’m writing this newsletter for me. But it is also for you.
How I Got Here
I was lucky to be raised in a family that taught me to believe I could achieve anything I put my mind and my heart to. And I did just that. I spent my childhood in dance studios, with a level of commitment and discipline that would take me all the way to a BFA program at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where I promptly burnt out and experienced my first identity crisis. Thankfully, I found a new focus of study in graphic design, which brought me the satisfaction of crafting beautiful solutions. I would spend the next decade of my life in Brooklyn with my husband Brad, where we cultivated our own design studio and a love of local food.
In my thirties, I finally harnessed my true identity as a “food person”, and bravely jumped off an established career cliff, hoping for a safe landing in the craft of whole animal butchery (are you laughing? I get it). I believed with all my heart that I could be a restorative link in a broken supply chain for sustainable food. This would lead me to a farm in Central Pennsylvania, a butcher shop in Berkley, California, and eventually to Philadelphia, where I would discover a rich food community and the inspiration to found a project and business that was ambitious to say the least: Primal Supply Meats.
After seven beautiful years, my business failed (by capitalist standards). I gave everything I had to prevent this for the final three years, in the face of a global pandemic, The Great Resignation, perpetual inflation, and a whole host of other societal and small business challenges that I don’t have the desire to extend this word count for. One day, I finally admitted to the world that I couldn’t do it anymore. And only then was I reminded by my community that in the pursuit of my mission to promote access and education around ethical meat and our local food economy, I was successful beyond my wildest dreams. I’m not done with that work yet.
What Now?
Wouldn’t that be nice to know. These days, more than anything, I’m trying to just be here. My experiences have left me with skills to share and stories to tell. I have big ideas, and sometimes difficult thoughts, on food and culture that I’m working through. And all of this has led me to start writing Hungry Heart. Whatever I publish here won’t necessarily be on the subject of food, but I live my life thinking about the next meal, so it’s sure to be a theme.
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All newsletters including essays, link lists, and other recommendations.
Edible extras like recipes and menus. The more of you there are, the more my additional content dreams (like podcasts and classes) can come to life.
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Thanks for reading! You made it to the bottom and I appreciate you. If you like what you found here, consider telling a friend.
