I am Jenny, the chef, momma and writer behind Finding Tasty. I’ve been writing about food, and developing recipes for newspapers and magazine since graduating culinary school nearly 20 years ago.
Like so many people, food and cooking are what I think about from the time one of my 6 year old twins slaps a pudgy hand on my face in the morning, until I fall into bed at night. It’s what drives me, what I get to spend most of the day doing. It is what I love.
The apple does not fall from the tree. When my parents turned 50, they both took the summer off from their jobs, rented an apartment in Paris and dove headlong into cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu. They ate in fabulous restaurants (both famous and obscure), and satiated a part of themselves that had not been indulged before. Nearly thirty years later, they are still teaching cooking classes in their hometown. My father’s mother, Martha, was also a huge inspiration to me. She cooked from scratch for hours everyday, in her modest, midwest kitchen. Simple foods, but the tastiest foods I’d ever eat. Dishes I still think of today, nearly twenty years since she passed. Sometimes, in some way, I feel Martha with me when I am cooking.
In 2003, my husband and I picked up stakes and moved our family to Switzerland. We weren’t really that adventurous or brave, we moved for my husband’s job. What we expected to be a two year expat gig, grew into seven years of travel, cooking and eating– meeting people from all over the world and learning so much from them. Those years were the best education our family ever had.
I discovered something about myself during all the moves our family has made (9 in 17 years): I decipher my surroundings by the foods I find there. What foods are favored by the locals? What do they make for a celebration? What is their favorite family recipe? There is so much to learn about one’s culture through food.
Now, back in the States for less than a year, we are settled in the Carolinas. Not being a southerner, I am again learning about ‘foreign’ places, people and foods. We live in a small college town and love it. Love the slow pace, the friendly people and the unbelievable abundance of fabulous, local produce.
So, thank you for reading Finding Tasty. I hope you glean something from it– a recipe or story. Maybe a chuckle. My wish is that in some way, Finding Tasty inspires you to cook.
Please comment, let me know what you love to cook, what you dream about eating– which foods feed your soul.