Andrew Sterman
Returning Traditional Dietary Medicine to the Home.
Husband. Father. Teacher. Home Cook.
Author of the Welcoming Food book series
The author-farmer Wendell Berry said it best:
“We have a health industry that doesn’t care about food and a food industry that doesn’t care about health.”
The truth of this is stunning, it’s a mess we’ve gotten into that nobody either likes or denies. We fix this at home, at least at first. We can take responsibility for much more of our health than it seems. And we need to—we can’t just take pills for everything that could well be improved by eating more wisely.
I love food, I love cooking, and by the way, it’s possible to cook real meals very quickly, and cheaply. I see so many problems all around us that have at least one anchor in unfortunate diet. It’s heartbreaking, and the solution is possible, and delicious. Taking care of our food and our family’s nourishment is absolutely one of the strongest things we can do. It’s like giving our kids an endowment of health, calm, and capacity for self-care.
After three decades of careful study of dietary therapy, herbal medicine, and medical qigong in the Classical Chinese medicine tradition, I have taught cooking for health in classes and private sessions internationally, introducing classical food energetics to a widening circle of health professionals and food lovers. I hope that you walk away from these teachings inspired to cook, and to cook for wellness. I hope you learn for yourself ways to adjust diet for your individual benefit, and that you can absolutely love the foods that are good for you. Deprivation isn’t necessary! And, it is individual, there is no best diet for everyone, not even within one family. I hope you wake up to this, and see that we can do this, it’s not hard or expensive.
Welcoming Food
Andrew Sterman is the author of Welcoming Food, Diet as Medicine for the Home Cook and Other Healers. ​
The two volumes of Welcoming Food offer a unique entry into understanding the energetics of food, explain how foods work in common sense language, and provide easy-to-follow recipes for everyday eating. The two books offer a step-by-step tour of digestion and the way to use foods to maintain or return to optimal health.
This book is unique, in the way that it's both simple and well digested.
Easy to understand yet deep and covering large content… Often, Chinese dietetics books are hard to understand, and the recipes are difficult to make or ingredients hard to find. This book is just perfect, because it brings deeper understanding of all aspects of the matter, guiding beautifully towards a different relationship with food and health made simple.
Lydie Vachon
ABOUT
Andrew Sterman’s dietary work integrates Chinese medicine with modern cooking. He first encountered Chinese medicine through qigong and taiji in 1988 and began exploring the healing potential of food by enrolling at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School. His studies there, guided by the influential Annemarie Colbin, who was known for her foundational work in whole food cooking, deeply inspired him. Andrew’s growing practice in the Chinese medicine healing arts led him to formal study with Master Jeffrey Yuen beginning in 2001. Andrew’s career as a professional musician has allowed him to travel widely, learning from chefs of diverse cultures and finding unique ways to blend food and healing into daily routines. At home, he cooks for his wife, author and acupuncturist Ann Cecil-Sterman, and their two children.
Andrew gained a comprehensive understanding of dietary therapy through his extensive studies with Jeffrey Yuen, a scholar-practitioner of the highest order. Andrew’s mission is that this theoretical depth becomes accessible to everyone in the home kitchen. His lifelong meditation practice, particularly with Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, underpins his commitment to integrating special knowledge into everyday life. He believes that embracing food is akin to embracing life, acknowledging that well-being is crucial for happiness and that improvements can be made without conflict. Grateful to his teachers and their faith in him, Andrew remains dedicated to learning, cooking, and eating.
