About Me

Hey there! My name is Julie and I’ll be your chef for the week. I love my job and I love taking care of your clients as they embark on a self growth journey. I strive to use local, organic ingredients that are in season, combined with fun ethnic flavours. My food usually ends up being naturally gluten free since I don’t like to use processed ingredients. Mindfully preparing a menu and sourcing ingredients for your group is of upmost importance to me. I’ve done several yoga retreats/trainings myself and understand that nourishment and digestion plays an huge role in the overall experience. Although my specialty is vegetarian, I enjoy fishing and preparing seafood and local, ethically sourced meat as well. I grew up on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. I have always been interested and passionate about cooking. I knew I wanted to be a chef since I was 15 years old. It wasn’t an easy road…becoming a chef, but here I am; finally finding peace in cooking healthy food for small groups. After spending over 10 years working in restaurants and completing culinary school, I searched healthier environments to work in. My first “lodge job” was in the great bear rainforest in BC, Canada. This is where I learned that being a chef doesn’t mean I have to toughen up or change my personality to be respected. There was mindful communication and smart interesting people to work with and cook for. I still use some of the skills I learned there today. After experiencing this type of work, I never went back to the fast paced hierarchical kitchen environment that I had been trained in. On my path, I started my own Mexican food truck, I sold empanadas on the beach in Mexico, cooked for guests on an open fire in Patagonia, Chile and in Desolation Sound, I started a swimsuit company in Bali, ran the kitchen at a Heli-skiing lodge and even ran my business from the kitchen of a brewery in my hometown. I believe learning, growing and travelling is a lifelong process.

I have always been interested in vegetarian food and nutrition. I took a plant based nutrition course in 2020 and started cooking mainly in health retreats in 2021~which took me down to Costa Rica, the paradise of yoga retreats. I now own my own business and live there full time. I feel blessed to live and work in a country with fresh organic produce all year and a climate that flourishes and grows right before our eyes. The menu is always evolving, as are the diets and people joining the retreats. The all-inclusive drinks vacation is a thing of the past which suits me just fine! As more and more conscious people sign up to better themselves for the sake of their loved ones and the planet, our business here grows and the world becomes a better place. My goal is to nourish people on their personal growth journey and to teach this type of cooking to other professional and home cooks that want to incorporate more whole foods into their menu.

I hope you can eat and learn with me one day!

Namaste

Julie