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Interview Questions

Kami McBride is the author of The Herbal Kitchen and 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation. Kami has inspired thousands of people to use herbs in their daily lives for health and wellness. She teaches experiential herbal programs in reviving the art of home use of herbal medicine. Her work is centered in sustainable wellness practices, creating self reliance and revitalizing our relationship with the plant world.

Suggested Interview Questions and Topics for The Herbal Kitchen

  1. Tell us more about The Herbal Kitchen.
    Did you know that stuffing your turkey with sage helps to keep away the colds that begin circulating around Thanksgiving? The Herbal Kitchen discusses many herbs and spices that you already have in your kitchen. I hope that this book encourages people to think of their spice rack as more than a source of flavor. It is also a medicine chest, full of healing remedies that can help you to keep your family well.

  2. People may not realize that many culinary herbs are medicinal. What herbs do you work with that people are already familiar with?
    The Herbal Kitchen helps people become more intimate with their spice cabinet. Using medicinal herbs doesn’t have to be foreign and difficult or take a year of college to understand. We can begin with what we have on hand and already have a relationship with. Most of the herbs in The Herbal Kitchen are common household items; you don’t even have to buy anything. Let’s take cinnamon for example; most everyone has cinnamon and has used it to liven up their oatmeal or pumpkin pie mix. Cinnamon is a highly medicinal herb with hundreds of health and kitchen medicine applications. It is a first-rate cold and flu prevention agent and remedy. Cinnamon offers relief from menstrual cramps, allergy symptoms, coughs, and much more. The same thing holds true for all the common spices: oregano, garlic, sage, cloves, and pepper all contain healing attributes that inspire good food and good health.

  3. How can people use herbs in their food to help prevent seasonal illness? What are some of the physical ailments that you address with herbs prepared into foods?
    In the Herbal Kitchen there are more than 200 recipes for how to use herbs in your food more effectively. Consciously knowing that Fennel helps you to digest fat and having the awareness that oregano fights colds and flu is the first step to knowing when to use them in your food. Herbal cooking can be very therapeutic. The wise spice-wielding cook can ward off colds and flu, stomach aches, headaches and allergies. Turmeric helps with arthritis, cumin helps with indigestion and sage helps with coughs. If you have that basic knowledge, then your cooking just naturally becomes a medicinal endeavor.

  4. You write about medicinal foods being an important part of our ability to heal the environment and connect with the natural world. How can using herbs in our food impact healing and the environment?
    One of the best things about using herbs is that they help to reduce our reliance on over the counter medications. Many medications are not being effectively removed from our water supply and end up in the environment. Also, growing your own herbs can provide beneficial habitat for butterflies, bees and other pollinators.

  5. It all seems so simple, why isn’t this knowledge just part of what we grow up with?
    We are dealing with several generations throwing out their grandmothers herbal remedies and falling in love with pharmaceutical solutions to common ailments. The drug companies have very powerful advertising campaigns that people fall for. I am not saying that we should never take over the counter drugs, but for many things there are natural solutions and I suggest trying those first. I teach courses that train people how to use herbs in the home. For those families, herbs are becoming again just part of what we grow up with !

  6. Will kids eat any of the foods or drinks in your book? In your experience, what recipes do kids like the most?
    My son loves herbs. He is six years old and drinks my teas, sprinkles herbs on his food at meal times and picks his own herbs for teas. So the answer is yes, your kids will use herbs, you have to provide the foundation for having lots of herbs as part of your kitchen culture. Kids especially love to have herbal sprinkle combinations at the table to choose from for putting on their food.

Suggested Interview Questions and Topics for 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation

  1. How did you get interested in this topic?

  2. What inspired you to write 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation?

  3. Celebrate, respect and reverence are concepts that are not usually associated with menstruation, yet in your book, 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation, you use these words freely. How do women go from calling menstruation the curse to feeling a sense of reverence for it?

  4. What are the broader social implications of American women hating their menstrual cycle and using drugs to alter it?

  5. How does your work help women with PMS?

  6. What can a mother do to help her daughter foster a healthy relationship to her body and her menstrual cycle?

  7. Women are often told that they are too sensitive during menstruation. In your book you talk about sensitivity as a gift, how can women embrace their sensitivity?

  8. You talk about menstruation as an altered state of consciousness and its inherent healing qualities; can you talk more about that?

  9. What do you know about menstruation as it relates to a women’s overall health?

  10. What are some herbs that can help with PMS?

  11. In your work with women, have you come to any conclusions as to why women have such a negative relationship with menstruation?


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