John Currence
John is chef/owner of the City Grocery Restaurant Group. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi and does whatever his wife, Bess and daughter, Mamie tell him to do.
John T. Edge
John T Edge directs the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi. He writes about American food culture for various magazines and is the author of The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South.
Kelly English
Kelly cooks at Restaurant Iris and The Second Line in Memphis, TN and Magnolia House in Biloxi, MS. He really likes doing that and wouldn’t want to do anything else. Sometimes people say nice things about him and his food and they occasionally print it in magazines.
Eleanor Green
Eleanor M. Green is Program Director of Good Food for Oxford Schools and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Mississippi State University and a Master of Education from Delta State University. She has extensive experience working at the grassroots level with many community organizations, including farmers markets, small farmer organizations, community health organizations, and schools.
Mac Nichols
Dr Mac Nichols is an Emergency Medicine Physician at Baptist Memorial Hospital here in Oxford. Originally from Mantachie, MS; he and his wife, Joli, graduated from The University of Mississippi in 2003 and moved back to Oxford from Chicago in 2011.
Afton Thomas
Afton Thomas works for the Southern Foodways Alliance, a cultural nonprofit based on the campus of the University of Mississippi. She currently sits on the Oxford Tourism Council board and the Leadership Lafayette steering committee. Afton and her husband, JT, have called Oxford home for the past 5 1/2 years. They have two children, Olive, who is elementary school aged, and Noah, their busy toddler. Afton wholeheartedly believes that all children can be successful so long as all of their needs are met.
Janae Owens
Janae Owens is a Certified Health Education Specialist. She promotes overall health and wellness in the Lafayette-Oxford-University community and throughout the State of Mississippi. She holds a BS in Exercise Science from Mississippi State University and a MS in Health Promotion from the University of Mississippi. She’s currently an Education and Training Specialist at the Institute of Child Nutrition.
Mariana Anaya Jurss
Mariana Anaya Jurss is a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been the wellness dietitian for the University of Mississippi since 2014 where she is working to implement programs to create a healthier campus environment. Prior to this, she was a pediatric dietitian with the Oakland Children’s Hospital in California, working with the Healthy Hearts program to prevent and treat childhood obesity and related illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
Glenn Aquino
Glenn Aquino is a licensed practical nurse that works in the Oxford School District & has lived in Oxford for the past 25 years. Glenn grew up in Ruleville, MS (the Mississippi Delta) before first attending The University of Alabama then transferring to The University of Mississippi. He is the father of two Mississippi children himself: his teenage son Zaiden & his elementary school-aged daughter Siobhan.