Treating ‘Food as Farmacy’
Treating ‘Food as Farmacy’
Dr. Casey Carr’s journey to using food as medicine
BY SYDNEY FLUKER
Dr. Casey Carr always knew she wanted to be a doctor.
She grew up watching various family members go through cancer treatments for breast cancer, liver cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma — the list goes on. When her Aunt Jan received a diagnosis for pancreatic cancer and decided to pair traditional cancer treatment with alternative forms of care, Dr. Casey saw the effects of using “food as medicine” to help transform her aunt’s health firsthand.
Inspired by Aunt Jan’s story, Dr. Casey, as her patients call her, did all the right things to become a doctor in Western medicine. She went to Cornell University for nutritional sciences on the pre-med track, one of the best nutrition schools in the nation, and left four years later with a bachelor’s degree, jaded and disappointed.
So she took a hard pivot and flew 4,195 miles to Tuscany, Italy, to spend four months in the soil of an organic farm for an internship, learning about organic food and sustainability while doing the work herself.
“I learned more in those four months than in my four years at Cornell, because I saw where food, community, health and the intersection of it all comes together,” Dr. Casey says. “That was where I found my passion for bringing people closer to their food sources, to the land and closer to their farmers.”
Fast forward a few years and Dr. Casey now works as a naturopathic primary care physician in North Idaho, where she gets to pursue the kind of medicine she dreamed of as a young girl. She’s taking the next step in making her child-self proud with the summer event series, Food as Farmacy, which will bring community members, farmers and their land together for a night of healing and wellness through food.
“A lot of farm-to-table dinners, it’s all about the food, but where’s the farmer behind all of this?” Dr. Casey says.
Food as Farmacy aims to mend that gap.
Food as Farmacy will consist of three events, each featuring a farm-to-table community meal: goat cheese making at Quillisascut Farm in Rice, Washington, on June 1; a regenerative pasture tour at Castle Rock Ranch in Kingston, Idaho, on June 29; and salumi making and an aquaponic greenhouse tour at Genesis Mountain Farm in Sandpoint, Idaho, on July 13.
Each event is developed around highlighting the partner farm and farmers, meaning each event will have a different vibe to it. Quillisascut Farm features a smaller kitchen, which will foster a tighter-knit experience (not to mention being the only vegetarian-friendly option). Castle Rock Ranch will be more family-oriented, boasting a large, open yard with cornhole sets for playing and burgers from their pasture-raised cows. Genesis Mountain Farm offers a bit higher brow experience, complete with a chef (and friend of the farm) who specializes in butchery and artisanal salami for an incredible evening of learning and eating.
“Sitting around a dinner table with others is just a powerful experience, and it’s actually quite healing,” Dr. Casey says. “When you take the time to sit and enjoy a meal with others … the conversation that happens, the connection that happens — talk about regulating your nervous system. Being able to be empowered to learn how to cook for yourself while with others enriches everyone involved, because it's in those human connections that the magic really happens.”
In her practice, Dr. Casey works with patients almost daily on regulating the nervous system and their relationship with food — how they’re eating it, where they get it from, what they’re eating. These frequent patient interactions played a role in developing Food as Farmacy so she can help a greater group of people with what she sees as common problems.
“I’m just really looking forward to seeing the diversity of all three events and how the community enjoys it; seeing some of those memories being made and hopefully people having a-ha moments about where their food comes from,” Dr. Casey says.
Registration for the sessions are available on her website at foodaspharmacy.com or through drcaseycarr.com.