Dear SPH community,

Happy New Year! As we welcome 2025, I encourage all of us to reflect on the importance of supporting one another, prioritizing our well-being, and finding new ways to advance health and address food insecurity in our communities. Whether it’s through spending time with loved ones, cooking your favorite recipe, creating a new routine, or volunteering at a local non-profit, let’s embrace practices that sustain and strengthen us.

Research suggests that cooking whole foods can lead to better mental and physical health. I turn to cooking to celebrate and as a way to get through stressful periods in my life. I would like to share a recipe for the new year, Crushed Lentils with Tahini and Cumin, a filling and easy-to-make vegetarian dish adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook, “Plenty More.” My son is a picky eater, and it’s one of his favorite dishes; he lived on this during graduate school! You can download the recipe or pick up a printed version in the dean’s office throughout the month of January. 

I’m incredibly proud and grateful to be working alongside each of you, and I look forward to the progress we’ll make together in shaping a healthier future during the next year.

With gratitude,

Melinda Pettigrew
Dean and Mayo Chair, UMN School of Public Health

P.S. I would also like to extend a special thanks to the UMN Nutrition Coordinating Center for providing nutrition information and to Magdalena Mora, a member of our communications team, for the beautiful illustrations that she made to go along with the recipe.