You might be wondering why I’m posting something called “On Self-Love” on my private cheffing website. It’s a good question. It seems like a blog post more relevant to my latest offering (www.earthfeltbeings.com – yes, I started a second business!).

But… I chose for it to be here for a reason. I’ve been a private chef for almost two years now (!!!). My business has transitioned from my initial vision many times over. About a month ago, I gave a chef’s kiss to my weekly meal prep clients and bid them farewell as I embarked on a new chapter of Adventure through Food. Adventure through Food is now focused on retreats and private dining experiences.

That being said, I’m noticing that I’m starting to find clients (for retreats and dinners) that are more and more aligned. I recently received an email for a Mother’s Day Brunch and in the email, they requested “everything organic, gluten-free, and dairy-free.” My response was, “I would love to do that… it’s how I eat myself.”

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Cooking for others is a love language of mine. The first year-plus I was cheffing, I was so busy cooking for others that how I cooked for myself wasn’t a priority. Recently, that’s shifted as I’m working to embody my values from the inside out. How I cook for myself is as important as how I cook for others and I’ve finally created a schedule that allows for that. (That means thirty minutes making my chocolate-berry-matcha latte in the morning. It means taking a whole morning to roast a chicken, break down the carcass, make broth, etc. It means sitting down with my food and breathing as I eat as a way to honor the animal, the soil, the farmers and ranchers that make regenerative foods possible.)

Before I learned how to cook for others, I knew how to cook for myself. I knew how to love myself through sourcing high-quality local foods that connect me to the lands with which I live. I knew that Teflon is a shit way to cook anything and that unbleached parchment paper is 100 times better than aluminum foil. The ways I’ve loved and love myself through the choices I make in the kitchen are the foundation to Adventure through Food. So what does self love have to do with me being a private chef? Everything. 

As a private chef, I cook for my clients with the same intention and attention as I bring to my kitchen. I carry heavy ass Dutch ovens to retreats because I refuse to cook with Teflon. I spend the extra money to the meat that is grass-fed and pasture raised because I love animals and am only interested in creating a business that embodies my values.

For a solid year-plus, I cooked for others with this attention and intention but forgot to slow down for long enough to offer myself the same. To this private chef, cooking is ceremony, ritual, and a way of being. It’s part of how I move through the world; it’s part of how I love myself and the world around us. Knowing how to love myself (in and out of the kitchen) makes my business what it is.