Lansing’s first family of food

James and Erin Brains foster a massive force for social goodness

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To put the Lansing Foodies group and its jaw-dropping 75,600-person Facebook membership in some perspective, consider that a Google search of similar foodie groups in Grand Rapids and Detroit, other major Michigan cities, as well as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles reveals that L.A. has the next-largest membership of the batch — at “just” 41,000.

The population of the Lansing-East Lansing Metropolitan Statistical Area was just over 540,000 when last recorded in 2023, so could it be said that nearly one person in seven is a Lansing Foodie? A portion of the membership is likely from outside the area, so that probably isn’t quite the case. But any social media group of more than 75,000 members in a medium-sized city is simply extraordinary.

James Brains, founder of the Lansing Foodies group.
James Brains, founder of the Lansing Foodies group.

What James and Erin Brains have done since they came to Lansing in 2018 is indeed extraordinary — in that and so many other ways.

Ryan Wert, former president and executive director of the REO Town Commercial Association, is one who can remember the Foodies’ first couple of years, a simple, fun Facebook group of about 100 members.

“Then James told me he was going to spend some money on Facebook ads to attract new members and get the ball rolling, which seemed silly for what at the time felt like a little social group to talk about food,” Wert recalled. “From there, the rest is history. They hit 1,000 members, then 5,000 members, and on and on, with every big increment feeling pretty surreal. I guess from this point, the next big milestone is surpassing the population of Lansing. They’re well on their way!”

Of course, the sheer size of Lansing Foodies is only part of the story. Moreover, the numbers do not begin to describe how the group began or the eclectic set of circumstances that brought its founders together.

If you really want to know the origin of Lansing Foodies — and the Brains behind it (pun intended) — you have to go back to before the Facebook mega group launched in 2017. Back to when an adventurous young couple moved east. Back to Eugene, Oregon, and before that, Grand Rapids. Back to when Erin Tiel met James Warmels on Craigslist and a fortuitous connection was forged.

Courtesy Ryan Wert
Ryan Wert (left) and James Brains.
Courtesy Ryan Wert Ryan Wert (left) and James Brains.

You have to go back to … roller derby. Bullet Brains and Master Brains.

When Erin placed a Craigslist dating ad in 2008, she did so for shits and giggles, but also because she was a somewhat lonely single mom who also happened to have discovered and embraced the wild sport of roller derby.

“I found James’ profile, and it was refreshing and fun!” she said. “He had a photo wearing a Marilyn Monroe dress and a blonde wig, so I sent a picture of me as a zombie eating brains. Then we both lied and said those were the only pictures we had of ourselves on the internet. We hit it off from there.”

They started talking on the phone, then met in person a month or so later. Erin’s sport of choice became much more than a weekend hobby.

“I got him involved in roller derby, and that was a huge part of our lives for many years,” she said.

James proposes to Erin at a 2011 roller derby match in Eugene, Oregon.
James proposes to Erin at a 2011 roller derby match in Eugene, Oregon.

As a young writer and natural PR man, James thought he could help promote Erin’s team and the league.

“He could barely skate at first,” she said. “But within a month, he was playing.”

James grinned. “There aren’t a lot of adult sports where you get to hit people,” he said.

So, what does roller derby have to do with Lansing Foodies?

You have to go back to James’ upbringing in a family with Jewish, Polish, German and Austrian ancestry.

“I ate a lot from a young age,” he said. “Any time we celebrated something, we did it by eating — lots of different foods. Some of my favorites were chicken paprikash and kluski, which we just call cabbage noodles. That recipe was passed down from my Austrian great-grandparents.”

James still has a clipping from a 1978 issue of the Grand Rapids Press, featuring his mom, Cathy Winnick, and her recipe for the cabbage-and-egg-noodle dish with chopped bacon and caraway seeds.

James went on to major in psychology at Michigan State University.

Courtesy photo
When Erin and James married on Leap Day 2012, they chose the last name Brains based on their roller derby names, Bullet Brains and Master Brains.
Courtesy photo When Erin and James married on Leap Day 2012, they chose the last name Brains based on their roller derby names, Bullet Brains and …

“But I had no idea what I wanted to do after I got my degree,” he said. “So, I thought I would keep doing school. The University of Oregon accepted me into their psychology grad program.”

That eventually led to Craigslist and the roller derby romance. James proposed to Erin in the middle of a roller derby match, and that led to a choice that would ensure they’d never forget their roots as a couple.

“That’s how we got our last name,” Erin said. “I was Bullet Brains, and he became Master Brains. When we decided to get married in 2012, we were like, ‘We can just pick our last name?’ He really took my last name, so we’re Brains.”

How did the Brains wind up in Michigan?

“James kept bringing me out to Michigan to visit his family during the summer, and I fell in love with it,” Erin said. “He kept saying, ‘I’m never moving back,’ but one day, we were driving back from a strawberry festival, and he said he was a little homesick. I pounced on it, and we decided to move to Michigan that day.”

Meanwhile, the couple had begun to get involved with a foodies group in Eugene, which caused James to reconnect with his love of good food and Erin to become inspired as well.

Courtesy photo
A 1978 article in the Grand Rapids Press highlights James’ mother, Cathy Winick, and her recipe for Austrian cabbage noodles.
Courtesy photo A 1978 article in the Grand Rapids Press highlights James’ mother, Cathy Winick, and her recipe for Austrian cabbage noodles.

“I grew up in poverty and was always excited whenever we got to eat at a restaurant,” Erin said. “In my teens, I attended Job Corps and was in the culinary arts program, so I got a chance to appreciate the skills that went into making good food. I also love to do my part to make a positive impact on the world, so Lansing Foodies really fulfills both of those aspects of my nature.

“As for supporting local restaurants, we know that spending money locally makes our community stronger and more resilient. It really makes a difference in our neighbors’ lives in tangible ways.”

During the yearlong process of preparing to move to Michigan, James started Lansing Foodies from afar.

“Six months before we moved, we were like, ‘Is there a foodies group?’” Erin said. “James looked and didn’t see anything. We knew there were groups around, that there was something in Grand Rapids, so James was just like, ‘I’m going to make it.’”

James added, “I wanted to know where all the good food was.”

Wert remembers when the Brains first moved to Lansing.

Courtesy Erin and James Brains
The Brains at Lansing Foodies’ 2024 Olive Burger Festival.
Courtesy Erin and James Brains The Brains at Lansing Foodies’ 2024 Olive Burger Festival.

“My first chance to meet up with James was at the Lansing Chamber of Commerce’s Grub Crawl in REO Town, which I was helping to organize,” he said. “James showed up and helped me move picnic tables and set up the bar, so it’s fair to say that he was helping to support Lansing’s food scene within hours of arriving. I remember James talking about the foodie groups they had in Eugene and how he wanted to start something like that here.

“Initially, I think the members were all friends of the Brains — a few people we went to high school or MSU with that were still in the area and a couple of neighborhood restaurant owners I sort of knew. There were maybe 20 of us, and we all knew each other. Most of us assumed that’s where it would stay, but James and Erin definitely had a bigger vision for how big and impactful the community could be.

Three major factors helped shape Lansing Foodies into what it is today. The first is that the Brains became very proactive in growing roller derby in Eugene — so much so that by 2011, they were a big part of starting the Big O Tournament, an annual event in Eugene that not only attracted teams from across the country but around the world. (The tournament was retired in 2023 in the wake of the pandemic.)

“Roller derby gave us a huge chunk of experience,” Erin said. “We were on the board of our nonprofit and learning to do a lot of marketing, organization and community activation kind of stuff.”

“I think one thing that Erin and I are really talented at is working with no budget and getting stuff done,” James added. “We never had a budget in roller derby, so I got really good at writing press releases that would get the media’s attention.”

Courtesy Erin and James Brains
Erin and James with their children, Caesar (back right) and Ivan (front right), in 2024.
Courtesy Erin and James Brains Erin and James with their children, Caesar (back right) and Ivan (front right), in 2024.

The second factor is that a couple of years into Lansing Foodies’ growth, the pandemic happened.

“We just had small events and get-togethers before that,” James said. “But the Foodies definitely took off during the pandemic.”

“We were able to be a conduit for connecting restaurants and customers in a time that was constantly changing with different lockdowns,” Erin said. “A lot of restaurants appreciated having a place to be able to communicate they had takeout available and things like that. It was all very organic. We had no ideas going into it — it was more like, ‘This is how we can help and do things.’

“We heard a lot about how we were able to save people who had no experience cooking at home. I’ve heard from more than one pregnant woman who’s said, ‘Thank God for that group because I have specific cravings and need to find out where to get things.’”

In February 2021, partly in response to the impact of the pandemic, the Brains hosted their first annual Support Month. Now, the Foodies’ 5th annual Support Month has just begun.

“We know that this is the hardest time of year for restaurants in general, so each year, we take nominations from group members and pick at least 28 restaurants to highlight throughout the month,” Erin said. “Each week, we’ll spotlight seven different restaurants and encourage members to post about them in the group using the hashtag #LFSM25. At the end of the month, we put all the people who posted with the tag into a drawing and do a giveaway of prizes that include kitchen appliances, gift cards and more.”

Photo by Raymond Holt
The Brains glance at their entrees in eager anticipation while dining at a Lansing Foodies favorite, the People’s Kitchen.
Photo by Raymond Holt The Brains glance at their entrees in eager anticipation while dining at a Lansing Foodies favorite, the People’s …

The third factor is that in 2022, Facebook reached invited Erin and James into its 16-week Community Accelerator Program, teaching them how to use the website’s tools and how to write a business plan and a grant application.

“Having the opportunity to really dive into all the tools we could use in the group and being able to have conversations with other group administrators helped widen our perspective of what we could do with the group,” Erin said. “We got a grant for $40,000 from their partner GlobalGiving, which we were able to use to really pump up that year’s Support Month and throw the first Olive Burger Festival.”

Lansing Foodies is a family affair for the Brains and their two children. Caesar, 22, created the group’s logo when they were 16.

“They’re a very artistic and compassionate person,” Erin said. “As a vegan, they give us a great perspective for that dietary lifestyle. They’re also a huge fan of how Lansing Foodies has grown and what we’re able to do, and they love to help out with events.”

Then there is 11-year-old Ivan, who “is excited that his principal and vice principal at school are members of Lansing Foodies. He loves to wear shirts and hats with Lansing Foodies or Olive Burger Festival logos on them,” Erin said.

Erin and James are also quick to credit the community that makes it all possible.

Photo by Raymond Holt
To the apparent dismay of his wife, James can’t resist going all in on his burger.
Photo by Raymond Holt To the apparent dismay of his wife, James can’t resist going all in on his burger.

“We get a lot of help from people,” James said. “We have an awesome moderating crew that does it all, comes to us with questions, lets us know what is going on and much more.

Rachel Kay joined the Foodies in 2018 and responded to an application to join the group’s first batch of moderators a few years later, when it had grown to nearly 2,000 members.

“From the beginning of reading the attention to detail in the moderator application, I knew this group was going to be something special,” Kay said. “I met James and Erin at Soup Spoon for the first time; I was so impressed with how genuine, easygoing and dedicated they were to this project. Erin had made a literal training packet for a tiny Facebook group.

“What made Lansing Foodies work and made me want to continue to work with them was how they so earnestly want to see small, new or overlooked restaurants succeed and the professionalism and generosity they both bring as leaders in our own admin team and in the group. Erin and James both work countless hours behind the scenes with grace and a true love for our love for our community. I’m truly lucky to call them friends and colleagues.”

Erin said she does a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, while James is in charge of the front of the scenes, where he’s able to create catchy posts that get a lot of engagement online.

“In person, well, I’ve just got a bigger extrovert streak to me than he does. We complement each other very well, though, with the skills that we’ve accumulated and picked up in different facets of life,” Erin said.

Photo by Raymond Holt
Erin wipes the remnants of the hefty burger off James’ chin, a picture-perfect moment for a foodie couple.
Photo by Raymond Holt Erin wipes the remnants of the hefty burger off James’ chin, a picture-perfect moment for a foodie couple.

“I’ve come to understand relationships are the most important part of whatever you do; things, money, that doesn’t matter,” James said. “It’s the relationships you have that are going to bring the most meaning.”

A big part of what the Brains have been up to this winter has been creating the Foodies’ first zine. When they met, James was producing a zine called “Urinal Gum” that was hilarious, Erin said. “As a punk teen, I had always dreamed of putting together a zine.”

She thought creating a new zine would bring them joy as well as help the Foodies potentially reach a broader audience.

“Zines are a great way to do grassroots information spreading, and we had a lot of fun putting the first issue together,” she said. “We have some in-depth reviews, a great interview and lots of ‘best of’ lists, as well as information about food security and farmers markets in the area. 

“The best part is there’s no comment section. We are planning to put ‘What’s for Dinner?’ out quarterly, and future issues will have some more contributors to look forward to.”

Wert said that even with the Brains’ passion for food, it’s really their dedication to community growth and empowerment that has made Lansing Foodies so successful.

“They could just as easily have started a group about gardening or home improvement and found the same level of success because they’re so deeply committed to fostering an environment that builds things up,” he said.

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