NH Eats moderator Michaela Herrholz on community, food insecurity, and the volunteer work most people never see.

I have been in the restaurant business for 39 years. I know a thing or two about showing up every single day for people who count on you -- sometimes without a lot of thanks and sometimes without a lot of sleep. So when I sat down with Michaela Herrholz over lunch at 90 Low in Concord and she confirmed -- totally unprompted -- that she and every other NH Eats moderator do what they do completely for free, I just looked at her and said, how?

This conversation is one of those ones I am still thinking about days later. Not because it was heavy -- honestly, it was one of the most fun lunches I've had in a long time -- but because Michaela is one of those people who makes you realize how much good is happening in this state that you never even see.

“Some people think we're paid and we're not. No one's paying us to do any of these food reviews. We pay for all of our own meals and just go enjoy good food.”

The Woman Behind the Group

Michaela Herrholz is not who you'd expect. She's an Assurance Principal at Wolf & Company, a CPA firm in Boston -- and before you picture a spreadsheet person who eats at their desk, let me stop you right there. This is a woman who ran a cottage bakery out of her apartment in London after college. Who got a smoker and started doing smoked turkey because a barbecue vendor at Taste of New Hampshire changed her life. Who does recipe development with national food brands in her free time and bakes her kids custom birthday cakes -- Taylor Swift-themed, monster truck-themed, whatever they want.

Food is not just her hobby. It is genuinely how she moves through the world.

She joined New Hampshire Eats the way most of us do -- she just kept seeing it in her Facebook feed and thought, okay, food, this is my thing. She started posting her home cooking on Mondays. Then Phil, the group's founder, reached out and asked if she'd want to join the team. That was November 2023.

“I was honored -- like wow, okay, my food got your attention. That's cool. Because I have such a passion and love for cooking that it felt good to have people notice that.”

She said yes. And she's been doing it ever since.

What Moderating 188,000 People Actually Looks Like

When Michaela joined the NH Eats mod team, the group had somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 members. It now has 188,000. That is not a typo. And there are about 10 people keeping it running -- all volunteer, all doing it because they care.

I think a lot of people see a Facebook group and assume it just runs itself. It does not. There are keyword alerts that flag potentially negative content. There are participation requests to approve every time a new member wants to post for the first time. There are restaurant accounts that get limited to posting once a week so the feed doesn't get overrun by the same places. There are comment threads to monitor, decisions to make as a team, and sometimes -- the hardest part -- people who need to be removed.

“Making sure there's respect happening in that online community for the members, the restaurants -- the big thing for me that I'm passionate about is the bullying. I want to make it a safe place for everyone to share their passion for food.”

She talked about “dog piling” -- when one negative post brings a pile of negative comments and the whole thread just spirals. The team made a decision to get serious about it. It became less about how many chances someone got and more about the direction they wanted the group to go.

“It was becoming more drama than the original intent.”

They put their foot down. And the group is better for it.

NH Eats Is Changing How People Find Food in New Hampshire

Here is the moment from this episode that I cannot stop thinking about.

Michaela mentioned a restaurant on Page Street in Manchester -- East Side Grill. She had discovered it through NH Eats and said the poutine was incredible, the owner came out to the table and asked her how she wanted her cheese curds cooked -- squeaky or melty -- which she said was the first time any restaurant had ever asked her that.

I have lived in Manchester my entire life. I had never heard of this place.

That is NH Eats working exactly as it's supposed to. A real person, eating real food, posting a real recommendation -- and suddenly 188,000 people know about a restaurant that might otherwise stay hidden.

Nourish New England and What Food Insecurity Really Looks Like

Beyond the moderating work, Michaela is also the volunteer CFO and COO of Nourish New England -- a nonprofit she helped build from the ground up in early 2025. Their mission is fighting food insecurity in New Hampshire through food culture, community events, and fundraising.

When she described what food insecurity actually looks like -- a family that needs a little help getting through a hard stretch, smaller nonprofits that don't have the network to access funding, kids in New Hampshire who leave school on a Friday and may not eat again until they go back Monday morning -- I felt it. Because I have seen it.

I shared something at this lunch that I have not talked about on this show before. About 18 to 20 years ago, through Red Arrow, I got the chance to tour the New Hampshire Food Bank. I was embarrassed because I honestly did not really know it existed. The director at the time, Mel Goslin, took our team through. And when she talked about how many kids leave school on a Friday with no guarantee of a meal until Monday -- I was blown away. That statistic has stayed with me for almost two decades.

Food insecurity is not somewhere else. It is right here. And people like Michaela and the Nourish New England team are doing something about it.

If you want to learn more or reach out to see how they can help a family in need, the website is nourishnewengland.com.

The Lunch, the Food, and 90 Low

We recorded this one over an actual lunch at 90 Low in Concord -- and I have to say, I understand why Michaela picked this place. The blackberry mule mocktail alone is worth the trip. The steak and cheese I ordered is probably one of the best I have ever had. The fries are the hand-cut, fair-style kind that remind you of being a kid. And Ashley, our server, was incredibly kind and welcoming from the moment we walked in.

If you have not been, add it to your list. 90low.com, 90 Low Ave, Concord, NH.

Before You Go

Go find New Hampshire Eats on Facebook -- just search "New Hampshire Eats." Join it, post your food, support the group, and maybe you will discover a restaurant you never knew existed right in your own backyard.

And if you want to support what Nourish New England is building, head to nourishnewengland.com. These are your neighbors doing real work.

New episodes of Beyond the Plate with Carol drop every Tuesday on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Find us everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

See you Tuesday. -- Carol

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ABOUT CAROL ERICKSON

Carol Erickson has owned Red Arrow Diner since 1987 -- four locations across New Hampshire, open 24/7. She started Beyond the Plate to tell the real stories behind the people who make New England's food and hospitality scene what it is. Not just what's on the menu. What's behind it.

Red Arrow Diner: redarrowdiner.com  | @redarrow24diner