Dame Martha Marino
Profile by Karen Binder
Dame Martha Marino grew up working on her family’s avocado, lemon, and orange orchard in Southern California, inspiring her love of food and agriculture to become the great influencer on her life and career. Along with her two younger brothers, she planted, pruned, drove a tractor, did pest management, and hastily set smudge pots knowing their whole crop could freeze if the pots were set out too late. These chores, along with her appreciation of the weather risks in agriculture, instilled in her a deep and lifelong respect for the hands making the food we eat.
Martha started planning to enter the Peace Corps by attending Oregon State University, where she majored in food and nutrition with minors in cultural anthropology and journalism, hoping to help people in other parts of the world. This was during the Vietnam War and she dropped out after two years, moving to San Francisco to become a peace activist. To her parents’ relief, she returned to college, finished her degree, and graduated with honors.
In her early 20s, Dame Martha worked in Chicago with the National Dairy Council where she developed an elementary school curriculum focused on healthy eating, which became the most widely used nutrition education program used by teachers in the U.S. Realizing she missed the Pacific Northwest and public health, she moved back to the Northwest for a job with the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Nutrition Program in Bellingham. In this position, she also worked with members of the Lummi Nation, interactions she enjoyed and valued. Adding to her community role, she began mentoring nutrition students at Western Washington University, an activity she has maintained throughout her career.
As a next step, Martha enrolled in graduate school at the University of Washington, where she researched children’s food choices, taught multiple courses on nutrition, and continued guiding students. Her byline for herself and her mentees is “Do the Things You Are,” a concept she has honed throughout her career pursuing her three main life loves: journalism, cultural anthropology, and food and nutrition.
Recognizing nutritional issues with the American diet, Martha decided to work from inside a food industry to create change. She pitched a job to the Beef Commission, which until then had never had a dietitian on its staff. Back in the agricultural arena, she happily stayed for seven years promoting what reasonable amount of beef could be incorporated into healthful diets.
While working at the Beef Commission, Martha also was Program Manager for the “5-A-Day Program,” which promoted eating fruits and vegetables through the Commission’s health department. Following this, Martha was contracted by Washington State University to promote family meals to food stamp families. She initiated the “Eat Together, Eat Better,” a newsletter distributed to Washington State families with children aged seven- to 12-years-old helping resolve food security issues and suggesting menu ideas for low-income families.
Next, the Dairy Farmers of Washington hired Martha as its Director of Nutrition Affairs where for 19 years, she was responsible for nutrition education programs reaching children, doctors, dietitians, and nurses. She also initiated promoting Washington State cheese as its own brand, an effort she loved for providing the opportunity to work with the state’s cheesemakers.
Considering all the opportunities in her successful career, Martha says her final official job was her favorite: working at Carnation Farms in Carnation, Washington. In this position, she organized a summer program to introduce and excite young people about farming. Aptly named “Rooted,” she conducted classes on cooking, food systems, and farming, all with hopes of inspiring and training a new generation of farmers. This role enabled Martha to again touch more lives by teaching how to eat healthfully while enjoying food and its preparation.
In all her positions, it’s evident Martha has followed her own mantra by bringing her love for journalism, cultural anthropology, food and nutrition to every phase of her career. What’s next? She aims to share her vast knowledge in printed form and is currently writing a chapter for a book titled Cultural Food Practices, scheduled for publication in 2022.
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