Lady Chef ONE!

Here is my friend Amanda's story!

Food! Let's start with the basics. I chose to lead a life of food. It's one of the most basic human needs. I am a chef. I decided I was crazy enough and in love with food enough, to become a chef. A pastry chef to be exact. (For those of you dieing to know: yes, I do watch Ace of Cakes. Yes, I do love it. No, I do not like Cake Boss. Oh, and those shows are nothing like a real life kitchen.) I work with food all day, everyday. I love food! Any food that is Gud Fud! Food is one thing we can do and experience every sense. It's the smell that drags us in. It's the sound of the sizzle in the pan and texture in our mouths. The sight of it before we even taste what has been placed before us.

Food has always been the center of my life. At family gatherings, my dad took pictures of the 'spread'! I started cooking with my mom when I was around six. I would stand on a kitchen chair at the stove and help mom with dinner. She always encouraged me and my crazy cooking experiments. Currently, I read about food all the time. It consumes my life. The more I learn, the more I want to know.

Food has a darker past for me as well. I come from a family of emotional eaters. Sad, eat... Happy, eat... Bored, eat... This is not a healthy way to live a life. My family is overweight, including me. I thought I was getting diabetes. I'm not, but I was diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome. Basically, my endocrine system doesn't know how to send the proper hormonal signals I need to regulate many bodily functions, insulin being one of them. This has influenced me to make changes in my food lifestyle I never thought I could make. My relationship with food is on an upward swing (for now).

Food is the one thing we all partake in. Food is Life!!! Food comes from life and helps sustain life. While working in the food industry, I've learned a lot about food. How it's made? Who makes it? What it's made of? And what makes Gud Fudz? Gud Fud is not Apple Fri Steak Bar and Grill, with their 'amazing' cookie dough salsa bread with chipotle jalapeno bbq dipping sauce! It's not out of a microwave (unless it's last night leftovers)! It's not from a multi-billion dollar food production industry that makes food for convenience! Hot Pockets? NO. It is real food. Grown by farmers and their families. It is food that is cared for by us, not left in some swamp of a feed lot so it can feed America! But tended to on grassy fields. Food is who we are. Why can't we choose our food on that concept?

Food does not need to be made just for convenient consumption...