My first encounter in the food industry started over 20 years as a cook in a premier steak house in Ohio. Later, I took a position as a supervisor, which eventually led me to Dallas Texas. I worked for the next 5 years in a luxury hotel and a fine dining seafood restaurant.
A company transfer brought me to CA 20 years ago. That began my long exposure to the then burgeoning California/Mediterranean cuisine. The dozens of fine dining restaurants that I worked for, gave me a deep background in shaping how I saw and taste food. The varied cultural approaches and taste of the Mediterranean with California’s organic, boutique style, locally-grown ingredients provides a sophisticated taste that still pervades what I do in the kitchen today.

My culinary experiences envelop quite a variety of all things food:

• Cooking a fundraiser for Slow Food creator Carlo Petrini, and Actor Peter Coyote
• Entertaining with Hors d’oeurves for Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey
• Foraging for Mushrooms at Tomales Bay and Marin County
• Eating on the trail, through the dessert, of a 100 mile horse drive
• Outdoor dinner for Elder and esteemed basket-maker Julia Parker

In the  last 5 years I have quit working in restaurants and have developed my passion for Native American cuisine and our native ingredients. I studied natural history, ethno botany, native archeology, and anthropology, before concentrating on food and native cookbooks. As we get to know our food sources, we learn about the historical significance in its application and recipes. It is my goal as a food professional, to expose my audience to the ancient and native flavors and for you to rediscover what has been a part of our history. My approach has developed a cuisine that combines the historical natives with the contemporary, thus bringing recognition to these mostly overlooked, traditionally healthy foods.

In order to develop a market and teach their history, I am growing traditional native Aztec corn, 1000 year old Anasazi beans, Lakota squash, elderberry, yerba buena, nettles, amaranthus, and sunchokes at a Sonoma winery. With the California Native Garden Foundation (www.CNGF.org), I create recipes, and help promote CA natives as the real ” eat local” movement. I am a member of Slow Food USA, Chef’s Collaborative, a board member of The Marin Museum of the American Indian.

Presently, besides freelancing,. I work for some of Napa and Sonoma counties elite catering companies..

My Life’s Passions and Mission

To Help Children get Educated and Go Without Hunger

To Bring to Light Native American Ingredients and Agriculture as a Viable and Sustainable Future

I would like to use the medium of a television show to  present Native American history, culture, ceremony and survival of its foodways, ingredients, and methods of preparation; also giving exposure to Native and contemporary chefs in preparing traditional foods. I would use a portion of the money to start a foundation that will promote traditional methods of agriculture and a more traditional diet for our natives. These methods are just now being proven to be more natural, and beneficial than a monocultural agribusiness on diet, ecology, health, and general wellness.

WHAT’S MORE LOCAL THAN NATIVE?