Lulu Cohen-Farnell

Lulu Cohen-Farnell
Panelist, Food For Change

Lulu is an intuitive cook, a social entrepreneur and a public speaker. She is the Founder & Chief Food Innovation Officer (CFIO) of Real Food for Real Kids (RFRK) and the disruptive creative force at the heart of RFRK. Her defiant answer to industrial food now nourishes over 15,000 kids (and growing!) in childcare centres, elementary schools and camps daily. Born and raised in Paris, a lifelong passion for real food, health and authentic cuisine, made Lulu the ideal mom to start a good food fight. With the blessing of visionary YMCA Director back in 2004, she cooked her son Max and his childcare buddies a delicious, colourful alternative to the factory-farmed, additive-filled, highly processed fare that dominated children’s catering. Where cement cracks, flowers can grow. It wasn’t long before Lulu joined forces with her husband David to create a socially responsible food enterprise that inspires health and supports sustainable farming. Lulu is constantly interacting with food; she loves to share stories on how interrelated food is to nature, culture, health, art, mental and physical health and our connection to others. She nurtures a playful and imaginative relationship to food, and loves to experiment with different textures and flavours. Her cooking is as colourful as her paintings. She transforms and combines ingredients and concocts beautiful, delicious and unique creations. Lulu advocates for national mandatory food literacy and nutrition education to be taught in childcare centres, elementary schools and universities, as well as the implementation of a National Food Policy focused on health and wellbeing — not industry bottom line. She has aligned forces with national and provincial organizations like the GreenBelt Foundation, Canada Food Secure, Organic Council of Ontario, Canadian Organic Growers, Sustain Ontario, Farm to School, etc. to advance dialogue and cooperation for policies and programs that improve food security in Canada and globally. Lulu believes that cooking real food is one of life’s essential life skills and ultimate pleasures. She has recently been awarded the W100 Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs (2016) as well as Canada’s Top 100 Health Influencers Awards (2017).

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