Chris has always been passionate about every aspect of food and has pursued the topic academically his whole adult life. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Illinois in Nutrition Sciences. He 

went on to complete a PhD at Arizona State University, after which he took a postdoctoral research position at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. His focus there was food policy, food environment, and obesity prevention.

Chris came back to ASU in 2007 as a professor in Nutrition in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion. At ASU, he broadened his research and teaching to include focuses on local food systems and sustainability. After working hard to improve food access through local foods programs like farmers’ markets, Chris realized how important the broader local food system could be in improving health, community, and the environment. It was about this time that Chris met Derek, and the idea of Chow Locally was born. Chris is excited about Chow Locally because it offers a solution to so many concerns people have about food these days. It gives people the chance to buy food that is local, fresh, healthy, ethical, and sustainable. You can’t eat better food than that.