A new book from Michele Payn – arriving 2027 to bring joy back to eating
Your grocery cart shouldn't be run by an algorithm, an influencer, or a 2 a.m. chatbot.
Food Thinking gives you a simple, repeatable way to question any food claim, evaluate what's actually true, and decide with confidence — aisle by aisle.
Every grocery trip comes with fresh noise: labels that promise too much, influencers with affiliate codes, and an AI chatbot answering your 11 p.m. food question with total confidence and zero credentials. No wonder you're second-guessing the way you buy food for your family.
You don't need another list of food rules. Food Thinking gives you a better way to think – and a GPS to reroute: the farmer shows you the road, science draws the map, and the system builds the guardrails. Award-winning author Michele Payn takes you aisle by aisle, outlining three simple steps to Food Thinking that work on any claim, anywhere: question, evaluate, solve and decide.
You'll meet farm families raising your food, see what the evidence actually says and find the safeguards already protecting your plate. Then take the quick tools with you – a label check for the cereal aisle, a gut check for the scary headline, and a reality check for the late night chatbot answer. Food Thinking is trusted by dietitians and teachers, yet made for every kitchen table.
Find less fear in food, greater confidence in eating, and more joy on your plate.
What you need to know about this critical thinking guide on food myths, AI misinformation, and grocery anxiety...
The first food book built for the age of AI
You can Google a food claim and get five contradictory answers in five seconds. You can ask a chatbot about seed oils, GMOs, or "clean eating" and get an answer stated with total confidence, thought it may be completely wrong. Food Thinking is the first book to tackle AI directly as a new force multiplying food misinformation and disinformation, alongside the influencers, headlines, and marketing that have been muddying the water for years.
This isn't an anti-technology book. It's a thinking book framed through great farm stories. It's a book that hands you the tools to use AI, social media, and every other source well, instead of being used by them.
Your GPS for every food decision
Every claim you hit — at the grocery store, in your feed, from a well-meaning friend can run through the same three Food Thinking steps:
- Question
- Evaluate
- Solve & Decide
It's the same framework whether you're standing in the cereal aisle, scrolling a "doctor" on TikTok, or asking an AI assistant what to feed your kids – one repeatable way to reroute around confusion and arrive at confidence.
Written for the aisle, and built for the classroom
Food Thinking is written in plain language for any reader who's tired of feeling anxious, guilty, or confused at the grocery store. And it's also inludes a toolkit built with educators in mind:
- Consumers who want to stop second-guessing every label and headline
- Agriculture educators looking for a classroom-ready resource that builds genuine food-systems literacy
- RDNs and nutrition students who need a practical framework for helping clients navigate misinformation, not just more facts to recite
- Medical students and health professionals increasingly fielding food and nutrition questions their training didn't fully prepare them for
About the author
Michele Payn – Bridging farm to food
Michele Payn is an award-winning author, speaker, and the founder of Cause Matters Corp, where she's spent 25 years connecting the people who grow food with the people who eat it. Food Thinking is her fifth book, following Food Bullying, Food Truths from Farm to Table, and No More Food Fights. She's built a career on exactly the territory this book covers: cutting through fear, noise, and misinformation to help people around the food plate think more clearly.
Want Michele to speak at your event, conference, or campus?
[Contact her to learn more about the Food Thinking program →]
Do you want to be the first to know when Food Thinking will be available?
Food Thinking releases in 2027. Join the list for cover reveals, early excerpts, pre-order alerts, and first access to speaking dates tied to the launch.
Have more questions about the new book, Food Thinking?
Is Food Thinking based on science or opinion?
It's grounded in Michele Payn's 25 years of agriculture and food communication experience, built around a practical critical thinking framework rather than promoting any single diet or ideology.
The book's core framework builds on Michele's established mantra: know the source, know the science, or know the system. One anchor is enough to make you far harder to confuse, bully, or deceive about food. Food Thinking turns that mantra into habit – applied aisle by aisle until it's instinct – so readers gain confidence and peace of mind for every eating decision.
Each anchor has its own job: the farmer provides context, science provides evidence, and the system explains the guardrails. In GPS terms, the farmer shows you the road, science draws the map, and the system builds the guardrails.
Who is Food Thinking for?
Anyone who wants to feel more confident navigating food, farming, and nutrition claims – consumers, agriculture educators, RDNs, nutrition students, and health professionals.
How is this different from Michele's earlier books?
Each of Michele's books has staked distinct ground in the farm-to-food conversation, and Food Thinking completes a progression readers can trace across the series:
- No More Food Fights! (2013) – Built the bridge. Gave farmers and consumers a shared framework for conversation across the plate.
- Food Truths from Farm to Table (2017) – Answered the questions. Provided 25 evidence-based truths organized around the grocery store, earning an IPPY Bronze in medicine, health, and nutrition.
- Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying B.S. (2019) – Named the pressure. Identified the neuromarketing tactics, Bull Speak, and social forces that profit from food confusion, earning an IPPY Gold in the same category.
- Science Story Speak (2023) – Co-authored by Michele Payn and Amy Hays, gives agricultural communicators, farmers, scientists, Extension educators, and RDNs the tools to tell the science story to skeptical audiences.
- Food Thinking (2027) – Builds the immunity. Teaches readers to evaluate any claim independently – the farmer for context, science for evidence, the system for guardrails – so that no future food panic, influencer trend, AI answer, or marketing campaign can take hold without scrutiny.
When does Food Thinking release, and how can I get updates?
The book releases in mid-2027. Join the email list above for cover reveals, excerpts, and pre-order alerts.
Can I book Michele to speak about the themes in this book?
Yes — visit her [contact page→] for availability and topics. She's writing a book, so her speaking programs will fall in place after 40,000 words are written.