When life feels hard, stepping into your kitchen and cooking a meal for yourself — or the people you love — can make you feel grounded, proud, and accomplished. Planning a meal, cooking it, and placing it on the table for people you love is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

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My journey into food began more than 20 years ago when I launched ANNA Magazine from my home kitchen — growing it into a recognizable media brand that married storytelling and recipes with beautiful food photography and design.

I’m Mari Loewen. It’s true, after a major life change, I quit my corporate job and started a food magazine, named after my mother, and built around one simple idea: Inspiring readers to Make Everyday Special regardless of circumstance.

Every issue has a name rather than a date, and holds 30 tried-and-true recipes we tested in my own kitchen. Some of our most loved stories came from a section called What I Have Learned. It featured people who had endured heartbreak, loss, reinvention, uncertainty, and change — and shared what life taught them along the way.

Because food was never just about food.

It was about gathering, healing, resilience, beauty, comfort, and beginning again.

Today, my Substack For The Love of Food with Mari Loewen is a place for all of it: delicious, easy-to-make best recipes, thoughtful stories, reflections on life, conversations with inspiring people, and a reminder to make everyday special.

Come for the recipes. Stay for the stories and the women around the table. 🤍

xo Mari