At age 14, Taipei native Pei-Ru Ko ( 柯沛如 ) moved to the east coast of the United States alone in order to get a well-rounded education. Following several of the twists and turns that life threw her way, she settled in the San Francisco Bay area where she founded Real Food Real Stories , a community initiative of authentic storytelling by different agents contributing to a better and healthier food system. What is the meeting point between storytelling and food? After graduation in the United States, my original plan was to return to Taipei and use storytelling as a form of oral history. Those plans were interrupted when I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease. After making little to no progress over the course of numerous visits to doctors, a special meal after yoga class led me to a realization: the right food could ease my condition considerably. I finally realized the connection between the food we eat and our health. In addition to taking up cooking my own meals for ...