The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans call on health care professionals, educators, community leaders, and industry to join the effort to put real food back at the center of American health. The American Kitchen Project is an answer to that call. If you serve American families, a clinic, a school, an employer, a food bank, a co-op, a faith community, a public health office, we will put real-food kitchen tools in their hands: the Pantry Diagnostic, the Shopping Guide, the 7-Day Starter. Free for the people you serve, in plain language, anchored to the federal guidance.
We work alongside organizations that share one belief, that the kitchen is where health begins. Health systems and clinics, schools and universities, employers, food banks, certifiers, community and faith organizations, public health offices, and media. Partnership takes one of three shapes, and most begin with the first.
Count. Put the kitchens of the people you serve on the count. One link, thirty seconds per household, and every family receives our three free kitchen tools: the Pantry Diagnostic, the 30-Minute Shopping Guide, and the 7-Day Starter.
Deliver. Bring the free tools to your community through your own channels, exam rooms, classrooms, congregations, workplaces, and food bank lines, co-branded where it helps the families you reach.
Build. Co-create programming for a patient population, a workforce, a school, or a membership, taught in plain language, anchored to the real-food plate of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines.
The work is led by Helene Leeds, MS, a culinary medicine practitioner of thirty years.
The American Kitchen Project is an independent civic project, not affiliated with, funded by, or endorsed by HHS, USDA, or realfood.gov. We accept no industry funding. We do not seek and will not claim federal endorsement. Organizations pursuing formal collaboration with the federal Dietary Guidelines effort can reach the agencies directly at DietaryGuidelines@usda.gov.
Book a thirty-minute conversation about who you serve, straight onto Helene's calendar. Or write to us below, or reach Helene directly at hello@heleneleeds.com or 310-774-1442; we reply within one business day. Most partners have the free tools in their community's hands within two weeks of that first call.
A kitchen is counted when a household joins and receives the three kitchen tools. Counted is the beginning of the work, and we say so plainly. As the count grows, we will publish more than the headline number: how many kitchens joined, and how many are cooking.
A public denominator is rare in this field. We intend to keep one.
We read every message and reply within a few business days.
Prefer email? Write to hello@heleneleeds.com.