I have been in a kitchen since I was able to sit in a high chair at my grandmother’s counter. From those first cookies baked in her kitchen to menu planning and meal preparation for my family now, all things food and cooking have been my hobbies for most of my life. Food is how I express myself - creativity and gratitude, sadness and love, and most especially, joy - just like my middle name. In recent years, my philosophy has expanded to include food as medicine.
The Joyful Plateful was born from my lifelong love of cooking and a transformative experience using food as medicine. After a cancer diagnosis in my family, I was inspired to examine the many ways that how and what we eat impacts our health and well-being. Food has long been a source of comfort in my family, and I wanted it to remain a source of pleasure. But equally important, I wanted meals to be physically nourishing. I embraced the food as medicine philosophy, and began to see how my passion for food has been building toward this realization for years.
Cooking with whole foods, using seasonal, local ingredients, and preserving foods at their peak are family values I learned very young, but have taken years for me to fully appreciate. Now they are intentional habits that are foundational to my philosophy of nutrition and my practice in the kitchen.
I recently graduated from National University of Natural Medicine with a master’s degree in nutrition. Through my educational experience, I have learned new skills to transform my personal passion into a professional mission: to inspire people through creative cooking to use food as medicine to achieve personal health and wellness, because I believe food should taste good, feel good, and do good.
Thanks for visiting The Joyful Plateful! Come back often to see new recipes and ideas, and share in my joy for food!
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