Door-to-door Gourmet
Meal home delivery services from personal chefs
by Jennifer May

People prepare dinner in all sorts of ways. Some marinate choice cuts of beef for days. Others cook same-old, same-old pasta dishes in rotation throughout the week. Some tear the box off a frozen potpie, pop it in the microwave, and eat it right out of the paper dish. Others frequent restaurants. But there is another option, abundant with variety, health benefits, and convenience, and tailored to every taste.

Personal-chef businesses are patterned after the house-cleaning industry, which began to flourish in the 1970s, says John Moore, executive director of the United States Personal Chef Association. He explains that most personal chefs assist busy families and people with dietary requirements to eat the healthy and delicious food they might otherwise not have time to cook for themselves. Unlike a private chef, who works exclusively for one client or family, a personal chef cooks for many. Some cook in the client's own kitchen, while others cook off-site and deliver a week's worth of packaged meals to the client's door.

Nutrition counselor Holly Shelowitz's services as a personal chef evolved through her practice, Nourishing Wisdom. While teaching classes on how to cook delicious, healthful foods, she often heard clients moan a similar refrain: I know I should, but I just can't seem to make the time to shop, prepare, cook, and clean up. Shelowitz sent an e-mail to all the people she knew, offering her service as a personal chef, and the response was tremendous.

In a large rented commercial kitchen in Kingston, Shelowitz cooks a full range of foods, from meats to vegetarian and vegan fare. All of the produce is organic and, when possible, from local sources. Meats and poultry are all grass-fed and pastured, and of the highest quality.  Shelowitz also provides clients with nutrition information so people learn about food in the process.

Shelowitz has compiled inspirational lists of foods she loves to prepare—soups, grains, meats, and vegetables. Each week she consults with individual clients to create the menu. "They become part of the creative process—that's part of my service," said Shelowitz.

On a Friday morning in spring, onions and herbs simmered in olive oil in an oversized pan as part of a bean and cheese enchilada filling. A seafood gumbo bubbled in a huge cauldron. One of Shelowitz's specialties is women's nutrition and she says the stock, prepared from fish bones and herbs, is full of high mineral concentrates that will encourage strong bone tissue and help prevent osteoporosis.

These dishes were being prepared for Gail Bradney and her family in Bearsville. Both Bradney and her husband work full-time, and on weekends their home is overrun with hungry packs of teenage boys. In a moment of exasperation, when Bradney realized she was topping a full day of work with two to four hours of household chores, Bradney's husband mentioned he had seen an advertisement for Shelowitz's personal chef services. They decided to give it a try.

For the Bradneys, Shelowitz prepares "kid food" such as giant pans of stuffed shells, enchiladas, and lasagna. When the boys clamor for a feeding, the pans are pulled from the freezer, and Bradney is secure in the knowledge that they are well nourished. For the adults, entrees such as salmon puttanesca, curried coconut chicken, and hearty soups await. As their relationship has developed, meals have evolved to please the Bradneys' palate. "I'm a boring cook," said Bradney, "I cook steamed vegetables, salad, and a piece of fish. Holly uses spices and makes food exciting."

Some personal chefs come to the profession after a career change. Jonathan Taube, previously a passionate amateur in the kitchen, began cooking professionally after he finished with a career in international shipping. He used to organize large shipments of grain to ports in Latin America; he now cooks weekly batches of epicurean delights for clients throughout Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties.

His clients are for the most part career-minded couples who have the goal of eating more vegetables, less fat, and less salt. Each week Taube and his clients create a new menu for the week, after which he shops for fresh ingredients that he cooks in the clients' kitchens. Taube describes his favorite style of cooking as "fusion contemporary" and loves introducing clients to the flavors of India, Asia, and the Southwest.

One client is a single father with two teenage boys. The relationship began with the boys insisting, "We don't like anything." "Appealing to teenagers has a lot to do with wording," says Taube. For teenagers who abhor the idea of a sauce, "Szechwan shrimp in a spicy sauce of soy, ginger, and garlic" is renamed simply "Chinese shrimp." And while Taube encourages his clients to take advantage of the opportunity to acquaint themselves with new cuisines, he is also happy to prepare simple and hearty favorites, often requested by the less adventurous boys, such as roast turkey with gravy and potatoes.

While all personal chefs share a love of cooking and find reward in pleasing their clients, others also have ulterior motives. Lagusta Pauline Yearwood is passionate about vegetarian food, even though only about 40 percent of her clients are vegetarians. She calls her food "secretly vegan," as she seduces customers through their taste buds. A typical week's delivery might include wild-rice crepes with oyster mushrooms and miso-mushroom gravy, a tarragon-leek soup, and strawberry shortcake. It might also include artisanal calzones with flaky crust, sun-dried tomato pesto, artichoke hearts, and roasted fennel; cactus gumbo soup; and ginger crinkle cookies.

At Lagusta's Luscious home meal delivery service, meals are cooked off-site in a rented restaurant kitchen. Lagusta and an assistant prepare large batches of food and divide them into recyclable containers, which are delivered throughout the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and New York City. Menus are posted online so clients can preview the food they will be eating weeks in advance. Meals are purchased in weekly plans and are somewhat customizable. Deliveries are made to the clients' doors, with serving suggestions and instructions for reheating. The next week, the containers are picked up, sterilized, and reused.

People become Lagusta's clients for a variety of reasons. Some have signed on for months while their kitchens were being remodeled, others are working professionals. A core group has come to depend on the weekly deliveries. The food is organic when possible and grown locally in season.

Like Lagusta, Roni Shapiro of Healthy Gourmet to Go (HGTG) cooks off-site and delivers ready-to-eat packages to her clients' homes. Shapiro became a personal chef through her love of the vegan diet and began cooking with a goal of creating heart-healthy food. One of her clients, 85-year-old Harriet Blau of Manhattan, has been an HGTG regular for 10 years. Blau says, "The food is imaginative and delicious and it gives me energy. Nobody believes how old I am—when I tell the doctors, they laugh."

Shapiro's clients range from families to singles to new parents. Shapiro says the new moms especially love the service. Food such as curried tofu "egg salad" and shepherd's pie filled with peas, mushrooms, beans, and rosemary-garlic smashed potatoes are all easy to reheat in a stove or microwave and reduce the stress of those first weeks of parenthood. Along with helping people to eat better, Shapiro's aim is to make vegan food more delicious and convenient, and to save animals in the process. Each week Shapiro e-mails a list to her clients highlighting the upcoming menu so they know what to expect and can alert her to special requests.

The cost of a personal chef varies. Some charge by the hour plus groceries, while others offer packages. Jonathan Taube compares the price of a personal chef to that of eating at a good restaurant—but one in which each meal is tailored to the diner's tastes. Holly Shelowitz says her prices range from about $12 to $20 per meal, including cooking time, nutritional information, and ingredients. Lagusta's Luscious basic weekly plan includes six to ten meals (depending on portion size) of three entrees and three sides for $125, including labor, food, and local delivery—about $15 per meal. Healthy Gourmet to Go's Bag of Specials is $93.50 and serves approximately 10 portions of entrees, sides, soups, and dessert.

In a dizzying whirlwind of information, the words "What's for dinner?" can be regarded as a battle cry. Along with careers, child-rearing, exercise, and finding time for fun, healthful eating has become one more challenge. How refreshing to hear the words of personal chef Alexis Jette: "When a client asks me what I can make, I can honestly say, 'Whatever you want to eat.'" Jette is a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, where she was immersed in world cuisines. She shops, cooks, labels, and packages meals for families and prides herself on leaving their kitchens spotless.

Having just cleaned my own kitchen of last night's dishes, the idea of another dinner looms ominously near. Then I remember that today is different: Tonight's dinner will be selected from Healthy Gourmet-to-Go's Bag of Specials. As arrival time draws near, I lick my lips in anticipation of the promised delicacies, including mushroom-barley soup and Japanese brown-rice sushi rolls with avocado and tamari dipping sauce. For the next few days my kitchen stays clean. This is a luxury to which I could easily adapt.

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