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Woman's life transformed when she rejected fast food and vowed to eat what she grows

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Bardolf, D. (2026, October 24). Woman's life transformed when she rejected fast food and vowed to eat what she grows. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/womans-life-transformed-when-she-rejected-fast-food-vowed-eat-what-she-grows

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Fox News · collected 2026-10-24 · by Deirdre Bardolf

Quick Summary

Carmen Perr, a Los Angeles-based gardening creator known as Carmen in the Garden, transformed her diet from fast food to fresh produce after starting a garden over ten years ago to manage stress and anxiety at work. Now, she is preparing to release a cookbook titled "Cook What Grows," featuring about 100 recipes that emphasize seasonal ingredients. Perr advocates for eating seasonally as an affordable option and encourages home cooks to experiment with different forms of herbs to enhance flavors in dishes.
Written by AI on 2026-10-24, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Carmen Perr, a Los Angeles-based creator known as Carmen in the Garden, transformed her life by rejecting fast food and committing to eating what she grows. Born into a busy household of six children where meals often came from fast food, Perr began gardening while working in real estate acquisitions as a stress-relief tactic over a decade ago. Starting with just potted herbs, her garden eventually expanded to include fruits and vegetables. This shift led to the creation of her upcoming cookbook, "Cook What Grows: Seasonal Recipes & Gardening Wisdom for Everyday Eating," which features roughly 100 recipes designed to highlight fresh produce in flavorful yet simple ways. Perr emphasizes that eating seasonally does not have to be expensive and aims to make it accessible to everyone.

Written for “Vowing To Eat Homegrown Produce” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Vowing To Eat Homegrown Produce
Health · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
69/100
Fox News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Health
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

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Publisher

Fox News · 6337 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Deirdre Bardolf
39 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 Sage's drying quality works well to balance rich, fatty dishes, and it was even traditionally rubbed between the hands as a home remedy for clamminess, Perr said. For dried herbs, Perr also recommends crushing them in your hand before adding them to a dish to help release their oils. "Crushing it before you add it to something will explode the flavor," she said.
Also by Deirdre Bardolf
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
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Topics

Fox News Digital Los Angeles

Subjects

Perr PERSON · 8× Carmen PERSON · 1× Carmen Perr PERSON · 1× Fox News Digital ORG · 1× Los Angeles GPE · 1×

Narrative

Sage's drying quality works well to balance rich, fatty dishes, and it was even traditionally rubbed between the hands as a home remedy for clamminess, Perr said. For dried herbs, Perr also recommends crushing them in your hand before adding them to a dish to help release their oils. "Crushing it before you add it to something will explode the flavor," she said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24
🔮 Sage's drying quality works well to balance rich, fatty dishes, and it was even traditionally rubbed between the hands as a home remedy for clamminess, Perr said. For dried herbs, Perr also recommends crushing them in your hand before adding them to a dish to help release their oils. "Crushing it before you add it to something will explode the flavor," she said.

Claims (18 extracted, 0 hedged)

Before Carmen Perr was sharing garden-to-table recipes with millions of people, she grew up in a busy household with lots of mouths to feed. asserted
she → share → mouths
"I grew up eating fast food," Perr, the youngest of six children, told Fox News Digital. asserted
Perr → grow → Digital
Now a Los Angeles-based creator known as Carmen in the Garden, Perr began honing her green thumb more than a decade ago while working in real estate acquisitions. asserted
Perr → base → acquisitions
"I started gardening in my first corporate job as a way to cope with stress and anxiety, and I started with just a few potted herbs," she said. asserted
she → start → herbs
"I didn't know what I was doing, but then it slowly grew over time. asserted
it → know → time
Eventually, as she gained more space, her garden expanded to include fruits and vegetables, prompting her to learn how to cook with ingredients she had never used before. asserted
she → gain → ingredients
"I had never cooked an artichoke until I grew one," she said. asserted
she → cook → one
Those lessons paved the way for her forthcoming debut cookbook, "Cook What Grows: Seasonal Recipes & Gardening Wisdom for Everyday Eating." asserted
What → pave → Eating
Perr said the book's roughly 100 recipes aim to "spotlight fresh produce in super flavorful but attainable ways." asserted
recipes → say → ways
"I think that there's a big misconception that eating seasonally has to be expensive," Perr said. asserted
Perr → think → ?
"But when you go to a farmers market or your local grocery store, typically what's in season is the more inexpensive option." asserted
's → go → season
She recommends using your senses to guide your produce picks: Look for vibrant colors, feel whether an item is firm or soft and check that herbs smell fragrant. "When you pick up a bunch of cilantro, you should immediately be able to smell it," Perr said. asserted
Perr → recommend → it
The cooking process starts as soon as you're picking out ingredients, she said, so she encourages shoppers to slow down and take in the experience. Herbs can do much more than finish a dish, she added. Fresh, dried and even seeded forms of the same herb can taste totally different, so Perr encourages home cooks to experiment rather than follow strict rules. asserted
Perr → start → rules
She uses fresh oregano steeped in hot oil with feta and makes dill-marinated chicken wings finished with dill salt and a dill dipping sauce. asserted
She → use → salt
"You are getting a full dill immersion in a chicken wing format," she said. asserted
she → get → format
Sage's drying quality works well to balance rich, fatty dishes, and it was even traditionally rubbed between the hands as a home remedy for clamminess, Perr said. For dried herbs, Perr also recommends crushing them in your hand before adding them to a dish to help release their oils. "Crushing it before you add it to something will explode the flavor," she said. asserted
she → dry → flavor
Her overarching goal is to help people feel more connected to the food they cook. asserted
they → help → food
"I'm hoping to inspire people to cook what grows, but in turn, grow what they cook," she said. asserted
she → hop → what
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