Hello and welcome!
I'm Camila Sevalho - the person behind Foodies in Progress. I'm a qualified chef with a Masters in Food Studies by the University of Toulouse in France (where I first learned about sensory food education and completely fell in love with it) and I've got over 10 years international experience in various sectors within the food industry - always working very closely with product creation and development.
In the last 7 years I worked with many of the big brands understanding what would make people love what they eat, from both a conceptual and a sensory experience level, as well as people's eating behaviour so that the products developed would meet their needs and habits.
Food and eating habits have always been two of my biggest passions. When I became a mum, I started studying and specialising in how eating habits start and how I could not only pass on my passion for good food to my son, but also how I could support him in developing a good relationship with food and grow into a mindful eater.
Soon, I started getting enquiries from friends, relatives and friends of friends who also wanted to “raise foodies” - they wanted the peace of mind their children would enjoy eating a wide variety of foods. That's when I discovered a new passion: supporting families on this journey in the hope to spread the word of mindful eating for little ones so that this new generation could have a much better relationship with food than ours from a health, enjoyment and environmental perspective.
Foodies in Progress is the result of my personal and professional journey, it combines all of my backgrounds in food studies, culinary arts, motherhood and sensory & behavioural research so I can provide support through tools that are fun, informative and easy to apply in daily life.
I hope you enjoy the content in our blog section and that it helps you to find ways to make your family meals less stressful and more of a bonding time with your children!
why should we raise foodies?
A foodie is someone who not only loves good food, but also someone who has a great relationship with it. It's a person who therefore will eat a big variety of foods, from their healthy greens to their occasional treats with no guilt. They make the most of their eating experience, both from the food and the environment perspective. They also feel responsible for where the food is sourced and what the rubbish produced end up in. They have a deep connection with what they eat and their environment.
With that in mind, I believe food is so much more than fuel and nutrition. It's enjoyment, it's social, it's memory and heritage, it's part of our identity. As parents, we believe feeding our children should not be another parenting task or another box to tick in our very busy parenting schedule.
Feeding children has had a very functional approach in the past and as a consequence, we live in a society that has a very problematic relationship with food: diet culture, demonising certain foods, obesity rates, a food chain that is detrimental to our planet.
And this is why I believe we should all raise foodies. It's one of the greatest gifts we could pass onto our children and a big favour we do to our planet. It might sound like quite a hard job, but raising a foodie is possible when we consider our family meals holistically and my aim with Foodies in progress is to support parents in this journey