Meeting Your Dinner, by Maryn McKenna

Does encountering an animal eye to eye make you feel worse about turning it into meat?

Journalist Maryn McKenna specializes in public health, global health, and food policy. She is a contributing writer at Wired, a blogger for National Geographic's The Plate, and a columnist and contributing editor at Scientific American. Her 2013 piece for FERN, "Imagining the Post-Antibiotic Future," was a finalist for a James Beard award.

Fern Talks & Eats is a party, a performance, and a moveable feast. The centerpiece of the evening is a series of stories told by FERN writers. Like a progressive meal, each story unfolds from a different stage, paired with a thematically related dish specially prepared by an area chef. The dish with McKenna's talk was coq au vin with celery root puree and braised greens, by Chef Jason Weiner of Almond.