I am a self-trained chef and retired (read: recovering) caterer with 25 years experience. Considering that I spent my youth as a sulky, picky-eating waif, this turn has been a source of amazement to my family and should give comfort to parents of such children: palates can change!

For me, that change occurred while living as an exchange student in the Netherlands. Determined not to foist my narrow ways on my Dutch hosts, I tried some things and a new world opened up. The pleasures of eating soon led to the pleasures of cooking—and my first cooking job.

A passion can manifest in a mysterious, backwards sort of way.

My background is in the fine arts and I’ve always been entrepreneurial. Cooking remained a constant but secondary to (non-profitable) ventures in stained glass, painting and printmaking. Unlike these endeavors, I realized that people always want good food.

For over 16 years, I ran my own full-service catering company, A Matter of Taste, where my clients ranged from individuals to corporations, universities, non-profits, and the entertainment industry. It was a long, successful run, and I happily sold the company in 2005.

Now I’m a food educator and activist.

I continue my passion for good food by teaching healthy, affordable cooking to children and adults, and promoting fresh, seasonal foods from local farmers. I cook and teach at Second Harvest Food Bank’s Culinary Arts Center and serve on the Board of The Friends of the Nashville Farmer’s Market. I’m a member of the Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee and Slow Food Nashville.

And, a food writer:

I write articles for Relish Magazine, review restaurants in a weekly column for The Tennessean and contribute poetry and prose to Alimentum, the Literature of Food.

I have written book one of The Catering Chronicles, A Comet’s Tail of Chocolate, a part memoir, part adventure narrative following my early years in the biz when I ran a café in a funky warehouse across from Riverfront Park.

Welcome to my blog:
A place to share stories, tips, and recipes about foods that I’m cooking at the moment, or finding at a farmer’s market, a friends garden, my front yard or teaching about in a class. For all our obsession on food in our culture—the fast, the slow, the exotic, the celebrated—I find that focusing on what we can make simply, with fresh ingredients, can best nourish body and spirit.

Good Food Matters.

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“An Appetite for the Word of Food” panel presentation to the Womens National Book Association, Nashville chapter Davis-Kidd Books, Nashville Tn March 2010
“Art Feeds People” food poetry reading at The Food Show, Cumberland Gallery Nashville Tn February 2010
Southern Festival of Books 2009 panel “The Poetry of Food” food stage “Recipe Poems”
“Cooking Wild with Coach Fisher” fundraising dinner for Second Harvest Food Bank participating chef September 2009
“It’s Easy to Eat Healthy and Local” Summer Workshop Metro Action Commission July 2009
Alimentum The Literature of Food reading at Whole Foods Salud! Cooking School May 2009
Nashville Earth Day 2009 “From the Urban Garden” food talk/demonstration/tasting April 2009