Today I felt it was fitting to share an article from several years back about Patricia Bragg, who recently passed away in Goleta at the age of 94.
A Farmers Market Tour with Patricia Bragg
by Kathleen Anderson Ross
Photography by Erin Feinblatt
Each farmers market has its own personality. And at a recent Sunday farmers market in Goleta, I had the pleasure of a tour with one of Santa Barbara County’s local personalities—Patricia Bragg. Anyone who has shopped in a health food store, natural foods store or even a mainstream grocery store has probably heard of the Bragg products. Patricia Bragg, ND, PhD., of Bragg Live Food Products, is a well-known popular figure—and a faithful visitor to our farmers markets.
“You are what you eat, drink, breathe, think, say and do!” says Patricia, who travels most of each year, circling the globe 30 times so far, teaching this message. The company celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2012 and the Bragg message is just as relevant as ever.
The Bragg Story
Patricia’s father, Paul C. Bragg, ND, PhD, pioneered the natural health movement when he opened the first U.S. health food store in 1912, starting a movement and a company that today includes 17 health products and 10 books translated into many languages and sold in countries worldwide.
As such an early pioneer, it’s hard to separate the man from the myth. But as the story goes, his commitment started very young. According to Paul, in order to heal himself from tuberculosis, he traveled to Switzerland as a teenager and developed a combination of diet and exercise while praying to God, promising that he would dedicate his life to helping others achieve better health if he survived. Paul regained his health, and he went on to tirelessly promote all things health-related for the rest of his long life. He had a radio show and a television show called “Health and Happiness.” He began to offer and promote organic products. He introduced pineapple and tomato juice, and he introduced fresh juicing by importing hand juicers from Europe. He carried the kind of fevered confidence that comes from walking the talk, and the spark of his message influenced Olympic athletes, film stars and business leaders.
Beginning in the 1920s, he toured the United States giving free lectures, called Bragg Health Crusades. While on the road, he gave advice and inspiration to people who would go on to further grow the natural health movement—founders of what would become GNC, Herbalife, Rodale—who were all personally touched by Paul Bragg and his enthusiastic message. Exercise guru Jack LaLanne had been a sickly teenager when he attended a Paul Bragg lecture. It changed his life, and he went on to change the lives of many others.
The Bragg Message
Patricia, a petite and vibrant octogenarian, says that Paul used to tell people, “The more time you spend with Patricia, the taller she gets.” If you have ever met her, chances are good that you remember learning something about health from her, and the encounter may even have changed your life. Perhaps you shop at the farmers markets more often, eat more vegetables, drink organic raw apple cider vinegar regularly, have slimmed down a bit, or try not to cross your legs. She is not shy about telling you whatever part of her vital message she feels is most important for you to hear. Kindly, but emphatically, she will advise you to lose weight, not to overeat, to stand up straight.
Patricia Bragg has always loved gardening. On her 120-acre farm in Goleta she has an organic vegetable garden, rose garden and a variety of more than 300 fruit trees. Some of the apples produced on her farm are used to make Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. Some are donated to Santa Barbara and Goleta school districts for healthy lunches and to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. She also has chickens and compost bins to feed and keep the soil healthy. And she is actively involved in what has become a multimillion-dollar Santa Barbara company. “My life is always very busy from 5am until I put my head on the pillow. I love life, and I feel like 18,” she says.
At the Farmers Market
Patricia is passionate about supporting our local organic farmers. “Don’t panic. Go organic!” she says to me as we walk down the aisles. Paul taught her how to garden and to enjoy the feeling of her feet in fresh earth, and he taught her an appreciation for farmers. In the early days of traveling with him on lecture tours, local farmers would bring baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables to share with them. Wherever they were, Paul and Patricia got a sense of the area through the people and the food they grew. To this day, Patricia travels with a small suitcase which she calls her “portable kitchen,” equipped with garlic press, hand citrus juicer, knife, two each salad bowls, forks, plates, glasses—everything she needs to prepare a healthy meal anywhere.
She says there are around 7,200 farmers markets in the United States. She has made friends all over the world, and she sees many of them at the farmers markets. At home in Santa Barbara, she loves frequenting our local markets. “I’m a citizen of the world. We’re all brothers and sisters.”
Patricia is an organized shopper, bringing her own reusable tote bags. She advises bringing a list to the farmers market. Even though she grows much of her own food, she says, “You can never grow all of the food you need, so you will always need farmers markets. We must support our wonderful organic farmers who do so much for us.”
First on Patricia’s list: Valencia oranges. “I squeeze the juice myself and drink it right after squeezing. Even in a hotel, I’ll ask them to bring the oranges, and I juice them myself.” She says that she drinks orange juice about three or four times a week.
As she greets and chats with friends—shoppers, farmers, the market manager—she shops efficiently and is equally interested in the farmers’ produce and their well-being.
She delights in the spectacular quality of produce at the market. “An onion a day keeps the doctor away,” she tells me. So I ask her what her favorite vegetables are and she begins, “Beets, onions, lettuces, celery, turnips. I love turnips. Snap peas. They are so delicious raw in a salad. String beans—so good raw. Radishes. I love radishes.” She also loves flowers, and she likes to buy plants at the market to plant in her garden.
During this centennial year, continuing Paul Bragg’s visionary health legacy, she has established the Bragg Health Institute “to spread health worldwide and inspire youth and people of all ages to achieve optimal health, physically, mentally and spiritually and live productive, caring, happy, fulfilled lives,” she explains. They award scholarships to students pursuing health degrees and for health research.
During a recent television taping with a group of local children, Patricia advised the kids, “What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow!”
I couldn’t agree more and immensely enjoyed our walk and our talk at the Sunday Goleta Farmers Market.
Kathleen Anderson Ross writes about sustainability, well-being and inspired living. You can find more of her writing at KathleenAndersonRoss.com.
Tonight I’ll raise a glass of apple cider vinegar drink and remember the times I would see her at Earth Day or at one of our events—always wearing a colorful hat and always smiling.
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