I’m sitting here reflecting on last night’s private dining experience.  I had the pleasure of cooking for ten adults (and three kiddos) that were celebrating a 40th birthday.  I made mushrooms stuffed with all sorts of delicious things (from organic cream cheese to local fennel sausage), two types of hummus (pumpkin miso hummus as well as guacamole hummus), a gorgeous salad (local greens, balsamic roasted beets, sage rubbed roasted carrots, freshly whipped local ricotta cheese, and more), Thai basil beef (with 6 cups of local basil…) with coconut rice (a huge hit with the kiddos), and a pear ginger berry crisp for dessert with homemade whipped cream and these date-based brownies I’m obsessed with.  The food was great (in my opinion), but what I love about last night runs much deeper than the meal itself.

As a private chef, I have the opportunity to support people in their celebrations.  I have the privilege of witnessing people come together to share in their experience.  (Food IS a place where people come together and share in an experience; something that has been long forgotten in the advent of single-serve/microwaved meals, something that has been long forgotten in the destruction of our natural food systems and hyper-individualistic ways of being.)  I get to listen to birthday toasts and wedding roasts, as well as the sweet pages of life that unfold in between the “big” moments.  I get to witness a six-month old’s first solid food being introduced (which happened to be a local carrot/butter puree that I cooked for Mom and Dad at a six-course private dining experience).  To me, being a private chef is about connection: connecting to self by way of deeply nourishing ingredients, connecting to one another by way of celebration and shared dishes, and connecting to Mother Earth by way of sourcing local foods that invite us into remembering that we are not distinct from the lands with which we live.

I didn’t know that I would grow up and become a private chef, but I’m endlessly grateful that the washing machine of life tossed me out here.  Loving food is a way of being that I am honored to share with those for whom I get to cook.