Food Literacy Programs For Libraries

Modern Hungers Series with June Jo Lee
in partnership with Readers To Eaters

“What’s good-to-eat reveals our Modern Hungers – our deepest needs for self-improvement, our desperate desires for connecting deeper, and our dreams of the future." - June Jo Lee, Food Ethnographer  

Why Food Literacy? Why Libraries?

Food literacy goes beyond knowing what’s healthy. It’s knowing where food comes from, who grows it, and what stories it carries. It helps us nourish not just our bodies, but our sense of self, our families, and our communities.

Libraries have long been champions of lifelong learning. As trusted public spaces dedicated to learning, equity, and imagination, they’re the perfect places to explore food as culture, care, and change. Our workshops turn your library into a flavor lab, a storytelling circle, and a sensory classroom – where readers become eaters, and eaters become storytellers.

Our Menu: Modern Hungers Series

All sessions are 60 minutes. Ideal for grades K–12 and adults. Led by June Jo Lee, acclaimed food ethnographer, TED speaker, and picture book author.

01 Kraut-chi & Storytime 

Audience. Grades K-5

 Did you know sauerkraut is German for kimchi? In this delightfully fizzy session, kids learn about the microbes that make food funky and fun. We’ll read Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild, then make our own kraut-chi to take home! Keep on fermenting and sharing your dazzle with the world.

02 Flavor Remix: Chocolate, Kimchi & Awesome Sauce

Audience. Grades 3-12

Chocolate and kimchi in the same room? Yes, please. This hands-on tasting workshop explores flavor, memory, and culture through the lens of Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix. Participants remix their own Awesome Sauce while mapping feelings, building vocabulary beyond yum or yuck, and reflecting on what’s good-to-eat for themselves and their communities.

03 Modern Hungers: Hot Mess Kimchi 

Audience. Teens & Adults

A delicious dive into food, identity, and the hungers beneath our bites.  We kimchi our way through life’s messiness while reflecting on June Jo’s signature three foodlife questions:

01 What’s your flavor of home? 
02 What’s good-to-eat for you? 
03 How are you learning to care more about food in your life? 

Come for the kimchi-making. Stay for the culture-making.

Learning Objectives

  • Food Science & Fermentation

  • Sensory Education & Taste Mapping

  • Cultural Identity & Immigration

  • Health, Wellness & Food Equity

  • Nonfiction Writing & Ethnographic Reflection

  • LGBTQ+ & HIV Awareness through Food Stories

Past Library & Community Partners

  • New York Public Library, Staff Training (2025)

  • San Francisco Public Libraries, Summer Series (2024, 2025)

  • Skokie Public Library,  Kimchi Demo (2017)

  • The Dalton School, Climate Week & HeroCon (2022)

  • Ferry Building Farmers Market, Food Demo  (2022)

Recommended Book Pairings 

From our independent publishing press, Readers to Eaters

Picture biographies 

  • Chef Roy Choi and The Street Food Remix  

  • Sandor Katz and The Tiny Wild  

  • Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table

  • Farmer Eva’s Green Garden Life

  • Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious

Food Systems for Young Readers

  • Sylvia’s Spinach / Las espinacas de Sylvia

  • Zora’s Zucchini / Las calabacitas de Zora

  • The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter

  • Bread Lab

Food Poetry 

  • Our School Garden

  • A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food

Ready to Bring Modern Hungers to Your Library?

Want a live kimchi demo that sparks curiosity and connection?
Need a book club meets flavor lab for your teens
Looking to turn storytime into culture-making?

Let’s cook something up together. Email Philip@ReadersToEaters.com

Meet the Team

June Jo Lee is a food ethnographer and children’s book author who studies how we eat, cook, and crave. From Korean kimchi factories to Google canteens, her work explores how food reflects identity and culture. She is co-author of Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix and Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild. From 2014 to 2024, she served as the Resident Food Ethnographer for Google’s Global Food Program. She lives (and eats well) in San Francisco.

For a taste of her work see TED Talk and Nutrients paper; and How To Make Kimchi. She lives (and eats well) in San Francisco. 

Philip Lee  is publisher and co-founder of READERS to EATERS, which champions food literacy through books and community programming. A pioneer in multicultural publishing (co-founder of Lee & Low Books), he was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Top 25 Book Industry Changemakers. He lives in San Francisco with June Jo, his partner in storytelling and life.

Additional Ways to Celebrate Food Culture in Your Library

  • Programming & Books. Highlight your community’s culture through food and the arts

  • Invite Local Experts. Gardeners, farmers, and beekeepers share lived knowledge

  • Cultural Exchange. Celebrate food traditions and recipes 

  • Strategic Partnerships. Connect with school nurses, culinary programs, and 4-H

  • Youth Empowerment. Center youth voices in food justice and mental wellness

Community Partners

  • National Agriculture in the Classroom – Curriculum Matrix

  • Illinois Ag in the Classroom – Reading Lists

  • Growing Good Kids – Junior Master Gardener & American Horticultural Society

  • FoodCorps, SNAP-Ed, National WIC Association, Farm to School Network

  • State & Local Farmers Market Associations