Civil Eats

Civil Eats is an independent, nonprofit digital news and commentary site about the American food system. Founded in 2009 by Naomi Starkman and Paul Crossfield, who left the organization in 2014. As of 2024, the site’s 15th year in publication, Starkman serves as the executive director. The editorial team includes Matthew Wheeland, Margo True, Christina Cooke, Tilde Herrera, and Lisa Held. The site works with more than 150 contributors and covers the United States’ food system, including food policy, sustainable agriculture and food justice.

For its first four years, Civil Eats operated with no funding. It raised an unprecedented $100,000 via Kickstarter in 2013, was named Publication of the Year in 2014 by the James Beard Foundation, inducted into the Library of Congress in 2019, and won the IACP Digital Media Award for Best Group Food Blog in 2020. Editor-in-chief Naomi Starkman was a 2016 John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University.