Civil Eats
U.S. left-leaning, food-justice nonprofit
Background
Civil Eats was launched in 2009 by journalists Naomi Starkman and Paula Crossfield as a volunteer-run, unfunded platform for food-system news and analysis. It operated without revenue for its first four years before raising $100,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in 2013, marking one of the first major crowdfunding successes in food journalism. The James Beard Foundation named it Publication of the Year in 2014, raising its national profile. Paula Crossfield departed in 2014; Starkman has continued leading the outlet. Civil Eats was fiscally sponsored for several years before incorporating as its own 501(c)(3) public charity in 2020, and its editorial staff formally became employees in 2021. In 2022, it launched a dedicated investigations desk focused on corporate power in the food system. The outlet dropped its subscription paywall in 2024 and moved to an entirely donation- and grant-supported model. Media analysts, including Media Bias/Fact Check, rate it as left-leaning; its coverage consistently emphasizes food equity, environmental sustainability, and scrutiny of agribusiness. Since January 2025, its reporting on the Trump administration has focused heavily on USDA funding cuts, rollbacks of farm-to-school and local-food programs, proposed WIC reductions, and the effects of tariffs on food prices.
Sources
- About Civil Eats
- Who We Are | Civil Eats
- Civil Eats – Wikipedia
- Civil Eats – Influence Watch
- Civil Eats – Media Bias/Fact Check
- Trump Budget Request Cuts Nearly $5 Billion From USDA | Civil Eats
- Under Trump, Local Food and Small Farms Are Facing Setbacks | Civil Eats
- WIC Cuts Proposed as USDA Makes Changes to Food Aid Office | Civil Eats
- Civil Eats – Nonprofit Explorer (ProPublica)
Profile compiled 2026-08-02; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.