Something Is Happening: The Rise of Ancestral Eating and Real Food

A few days ago, I found myself speaking to a room filled with 1,700 people.

You could feel immediately that this wasn’t just a crowd. It was 1,700 individual journeys - people searching, experimenting, questioning, and, most importantly, finding real change in their health and their lives.

That was Meatstock.

I had the opportunity to share a talk titled “The Origin of Meat: How Tools and Animals Shaped Our Species.” It was a live, interactive journey through human evolution tracing how the earliest stone tools unlocked access to animal foods, and how that shift fundamentally changed everything. It supported the development of larger bodies, larger brains, and ultimately helped shape what it means to be human.

Bill presenting at MeatStock

But what stood out most wasn’t the talk itself.

It was what happened after.

The conversations. The questions. The openness. People weren’t just listening. They were connecting the dots trying to understand not just what to eat, but why we eat the way we do. Trying to rebuild a foundation that, for many, has been lost.

And then we came home.

Within days, we were back in a completely different setting but somehow the same conversation continued.

From Online Conversations to Real-Life Community

Dr. Ovadia and Bill at MeatStock

On Wednesday, I taught my course through University College Cork, Food Heritage in Action: Turning Tradition into Sustainable Enterprise, and this week’s guest speaker was Robert Sikes from Keto Brick. The focus of the class was Diet, Culture & Identity: Navigating the Modern Food Spectrum and Making a Business of It, and we dove deep into what we can learn from ancestral diets, the role of ketogenic approaches, and how to build something rooted in health, integrity, and community.

Later that same night, I joined Dr. Phil Ovadia for a live “Ask Me Anything” session around his new book, Stay Off My Operating Table. Hundreds of people registered, and the questions we fielded together were incredible ranging from how to properly process seeds, nuts, and legumes, to the benefits of sourdough bread compared to what most people find at the grocery store.

And then a few days later, we were back in person.

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Why People Are Traveling to Learn Sourdough

Each year, in honor of Mother’s Day, we host a two-day class: Taking Care of Your “Mother.” A bit of a play on words but also a deep dive into what it really means to start, maintain, and work with a sourdough mother and how to make sourdough bread.

We begin Friday night sharing a meal: fermented french fries, Caesar salad and wood-fired sourdough pizza. Saturday morning starts with 100% wild, long-fermented sourdough waffles that we started together the night before in class. And we close with a nourishing lunch before everyone heads home.

This year, a family flew in from Kansas City. Others drove from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. The rest came from here in Maryland.

Think about that for a second.

Take Care of My Mother Class

People traveled across multiple states, not for a performance, not for entertainment but to learn how to care of a sourdough starter. To work with fermentation. To reconnect with something as simple—and as powerful - as sourdough bread.

People are traveling across the country to learn sourdough bread, fermentation, and ancestral food practices!

And what happened in that room was incredible!

Strangers became a community. Conversations turned into shared meals. Techniques became nourishing food. And something deeper started to take hold: the realization that food is not just fuel, but connection. To each other. To place. To the past.

Just a few minutes ago, we wrapped up our live Ancestral Table class, followed by a Q&A with Christina and me. Different format, same energy. People showing up, asking questions, learning, sharing.

Bill and Christina on the May 11th Ancestral Table Q&A

This Isn’t a Trend - It’s a Shift

And when you step back and look at all of it together: the 1,700 people in Tennessee, the virtual Irish classroom, the conversations online, the group gathered around a table here in Maryland it becomes clear:

This isn’t isolated.
This isn’t a trend.

Something is happening!

People are ready.

Ready to learn.
Ready to reconnect.
Ready to take back control of their food and their health.

And what’s becoming increasingly clear to us is that what we’ve been building is growing—faster and further than we ever expected.

We’re starting to see the edges of what comes next.

We’re not quite ready to share that yet.

But we can feel it.

And more importantly we can see it in all of you.

We are so proud and honored to be a part of your journey!