About The Chef

Chef Carole’s first career was in Army medicine. During her 25-year military career, she became a board-certified general surgeon, Chief, Department of Surgery at two Army medical facilities, and ultimately medical director at her last duty station. As such, she was responsible for all personnel who provided any type of health care at that facility.

During the years in which she operated, and especially during her years as a medical administrator, Carole developed a profound appreciation for the role of prevention in health care. As a senior surgeon, she knew that many of the surgeries she performed could have been avoided if people had taken proper care of their health. As an administrator, she saw how much more effective and less expensive the healthcare system was when successful, preventive medicine measures were put into place.

As her military career drew to a close, Carole decided to shift gears from operating on people after they had developed a surgical condition to helping people not become ill in the first place. Because diet plays such a crucial role in overall health, and because Carole had had an interest in cooking since childhood, she decided to become formally trained as a chef who can prepare healthy meals and also teach people how to prepare such meals for themselves, if they so desire.

To that end, in October 2003, she completed the rigorous chefs’ training program offered at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts (formerly the Natural Gourmet Cookery School), in Manhattan. This school specializes in health-supportive cooking, which is based on preparing balanced meals using high-quality ingredients that are whole, natural (as opposed to man-made), unprocessed or minimally processed, fresh, in-season, and organic whenever possible.

In January 2004, Carole traveled to Bulgaria to assist one of her cooking school instructors in opening the first health-food (and non-smoking) restaurant in that area of the world. Upon her return, she did a series of demonstrations on health-supportive cooking at the April 2004 SciTech Festival at the Carnegie Science Center, in Pittsburgh. A Pittsburgh native, Carole then moved back to the area where, for two years, she took classes from various local chefs, prepared numerous, everything-from-scratch dinners for family and friends, and did extensive recipe testing in order to hone her skills.

After graduating from the Culinary Business Academy in Rio Rancho, New Mexico , in May 2006, Carole decided to start a personal chef business in Pittsburgh . The primary mission of this business is to prepare delicious, healthy meals that are customized to the clients’ tastes and dietary needs, nutritionally-balanced, affordable, and made with the freshest, organic ingredients. A secondary mission is to teach classes to audiences of all ages on health-supportive cooking, including discussions on the benefits of organic farming and preserving the environment. A portion of the proceeds from this business are donated to organizations that promote safer, more nutritious foods and honest food labeling in the United States, environmental and animal-rights groups, and local Pittsburgh charities.

Training & Qualifications

Chef Carole graduated from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts (formerly the Natural Gourmet Cookery School) in Manhattan, in 2003. This school specializes in health-supportive cooking, which is based on preparing balanced meals using high-quality ingredients that are whole, natural (as opposed to man-made), unprocessed or minimally processed, fresh, in-season, and organic whenever possible.

This training includes:

• The use and preparation of whole grains, beans, vegetables, sea vegetables, soy-based foods, seitan (wheat protein), pasta, fruits, nuts, eggs, poultry, and seafood.
  • In addition to vegetarian, vegan, fish, and poultry dishes, Chef Carole also offers meat options in order to accommodate a wider variety of culinary preferences and special dietary needs (see Services/Sample Menu page). She received training on preparing beef and pork dishes while attending the Culinary Business Academy (see below).
• Preparing appetizers, soups and stews, salads, entrees, desserts, breads, and breakfast items
• Baking and dessert techniques that emphasize the use of whole-grain flours and natural sweeteners, such as 100% pure maple syrup, brown rice syrup, unrefined sugar, and honey; includes wheat-free baking
  • Chef Carole also uses agave nectar, which is a natural sweetener that is extracted from the agave, a cactus-like plant that is native to Mexico. Because agave nectar is slowly absorbed into the blood stream and does not significantly raise blood sugar levels, it is considered suitable for diabetics. (Diabetics who are not already using agave nectar should ask their dietician or physician if it’s appropriate for their use.)
• Making dressings, sauces, spice mixtures, rubs, marinades, and condiments (to include egg-free mayonnaise) from scratch
• Preparing foods from a variety of ethnic cuisines, including Asian, Indian, Italian, Mexican, and more
• Healthy fats and carbohydrates
• Cooking techniques that preserve the nutritional value of the food
• Principles of nutrition, medicinal cooking, cleansing and detoxification, and whole-food dynamics
• Preparing whole-foods meals that facilitate digestion, strengthen the immune system, and prevent a variety of illnesses
• Converting recipes with traditional ingredients to ones using natural, more health-supportive ingredients
• How to teach a cooking class

See www.naturalgourmetschool.com for more information on The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts.

ServSafe certified since 2003. ServSafe is the culinary industry standard for food safety and sanitation training.

Graduated from the Culinary Business Academy, in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, in May 2006. This is a prerequisite to obtaining personal chef insurance through the United States Personal Chef Association (see below) and to becoming a certified personal chef. See www.culinarybusiness.com for more information.

Member of, and insured through, the United States Personal Chef Association (USPCA) since May 2006. Established in 1991, the USPCA is the world’s first and the largest organization dedicated exclusively to personal cheffing. Among its many accomplishments, the USPCA was contracted from 1998 to 2002 to teach U.S. Diplomatic Air Fleet flight attendant crews how to be in-flight personal chefs. The U.S. Diplomatic Air Fleet, which transports the highest-ranking U.S. officials, then developed its own training program based on that of the USPCA. See www.uspca.com for more information.

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