Instructor, blogger Deb Shapiro spreads the word about local foods

A regular at farmers markets and connoisseur of in-season fruits and vegetables, University of Wisconsin–Madison Library and Information Studies instructor Debra Shapiro has been eating fresh and local produce for her entire life.

With enthusiasm for well-prepared and home-cooked food, Shapiro started a food blog, Deb’s Lunch, in 2006. “After reading and liking several other food blogs, she felt inspired to write about her cooking style.

“Nigel Slater was a big inspiration for [Deb’s Lunch],” says Shapiro. “He always seems lucky enough to cook just the right food for the right season and have hungry eaters on hand to eat it.”

Deb’s Lunch compiles Shapiro’s cooking projects multiple times a week, accompanied by pictures and descriptions of what she made. Shapiro frequently blogs about mealtimes, leftovers, travel and seasonal treats. 

Since she was young, Shapiro has been exposed to farmers markets and farm stands as the best source of fresh produce. Her mother never served her an overcooked vegetable, she says, and taught her to buy seasonally, as in-season produce tastes the best.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, Shapiro went to a year-round indoor market in there, with her mother, every weekend. Even when her daughter was a college student, Shapiro’s mother brought a dozen eggs every Saturday to her apartment.

“My roommates started calling my mom the egg lady,” says Shapiro.

The lessons she was taught as an adolescent certainly resonated with Shapiro, as she sees cooking and blogging as complements to her career at UW–Madison.

“I’m an instructor in SLIS, and researching recipes, photographing the food and writing about it employ the same research and communication skills I teach my students,” she says.

Simply put, Shapiro serves at the pleasure of others and gets nothing but pure joy when she cooks for a group. Cooking is a true art form, she says.

“The trend of ‘cook your way through a cookbook and write about it’ certainly inspired me to share my interest and talent,” she says. “Though I studied art history in college, cooking is nothing but a pure art form in and of itself.”