WHAT HAPPENS IN THE PRIVACY OF YOUR KITCHEN?
Do your daily cooking habits align with how you want to feel, live and take care of yourself? One of the most foundational habits for health and vitality is how we eat. Healthier cooking means healthier eating means healthier being.
Yet, many of us do not have the basic skills to prepare regular nutritious and delicious meals that support our health and satisfy our senses. Or what has worked for us in the past no longer does.
I founded Vita Cooking School to share my love of cooking and beautiful nourishing food with clients who are looking to shift their cooking habits in support of self-care and greater vitality.
I work with clients to improve their kitchen habits – shopping, cooking and organization – by focusing on learning new practical skills and through shifting the mindsets that drive habit and behavioral changes.
Are you changing how you eat because of health concerns or challenges? Are you embracing home cooking to have more control of the foods and ingredients nourishing you and your loved ones? Are you looking to develop a more spontaneous or intuitive approach to cooking? Do you see recipes that whet your appetite but are unsure how to execute them? Do you find grocery shopping daunting? Is your kitchen under- or over-stocked with kitchen supplies and ingredients?
I meet you where you are. Lessons take place in your home kitchen and start at your current skill level - from very beginner to more advanced home cooks.
Book a complementary consultation to discuss working together.
About sara
a return to the kitchen AND TO ME
In 1995, I fell into my first professional kitchen job. I had just dropped out of college – burnt out - and was in my first week as a server at CAV Restaurant in Providence, RI (rest in peace, Sylvia Moubayed). The day cook hadn’t shown up, and the manager pulled me in to help her in the kitchen. I had a knack for it, and when the lunch cook quit later that week, I was given his job. Cooking saved me, really. My mind, spirit and body were tired and disjointed. I started to find my groove working in the kitchen creating CAV’s eclectic and delicious menu. Cooking was the catalyst in integrating my body, spirit and mind.
That experience kicked off 5 years of professional cooking that took me from Providence to a very short stint in Boston, and then to San Francisco. After a few years in San Francisco, I hung up my apron to return to college (earning a degree in Architecture), and then attending law school for my JD.
Fast forward to 2020. I was in my mid-forties, divorced, practicing law and sitting at a desk for hours on end, co-parenting two boys, and just not feeling like myself. I was out of shape, and, honestly, was eating and imbibing to cope with life instead of to nourish my body and spirit. Then COVID hit – forcing us all in our homes and our home kitchens. The ironic part of this incredibly difficult time with all of the pain and uncertainty is that it allowed me some space to start considering a different way of living. There was no more commuting to an office job, so I had the time to spend more time in my home kitchen and out in nature.
One of my intentions for the New Year in 2022 was “embodiment;” I wanted to feel better from the inside out and I knew that my trajectory wasn’t sustainable for continued health and a life well-lived. And I also knew that I had been suffering and struggling, and that food had been a solace, a refuge, but that my habits had become maladaptive – they were working against me.
I also knew that I needed more pleasure – not less. And as I started to explore that – hiking, sunshine, rest, dancing, and seeing live music. I also shifted how I was cooking for and feeding myself, using my cooking skills to develop a style that worked for me.
And, so, for a second time, cooking saved me. I shifted my cooking habits to create satisfying meals that were nutritious and allowed me to be in a calorie deficit for a time to lose weight. Yet, I was clear that I needed to be satisfied – not deprived – by my meals. I had the foundation of my professional cooking experience but needed to shift my idea of what an everyday meal looked and tasted like – and it certainly wasn’t a restaurant meal of oversized proportion with high fat, salt and calories. I prioritized nutritionally dense vegetables – learning how to prepare them to suit my palate – along with lean proteins (I am omnivore), adapting meals for my kids if needed (truth be told – they are very open eaters, but there are some things I do adjust for them). I also started to cook in bulk to streamline kitchen time - bulk cooking some ingredients to last a few meals and with different variations.
As part of this shift, and after years of resisting paying attention to calories (fear of succumbing to diet culture, self-hating, restriction), I embraced calorie tracking as a data tool – I needed to learn how to feed myself in a way that was aligned with how I wanted to feel and that included embracing knowledge around calories and nutrition and portions.
Within a year, I had lost 80 pounds (and have now maintained since 2023). I attribute this to mindset shifts that supported me changing day-to-day habits, including how I was cooking.
This time has also re-ignited my zest for cooking. I am in creative alignment when my apron is on, my fresh ingredients are before me on my counter and I’m creating meals.
And this is how I am coming to you now.
This is my offering to you: to share my love and knowledge of cooking, to guide and cook alongside you as you develop cooking habits to support your own beautiful life, and to support you as you shift your mindset of what’s possible in your kitchen and beyond.
LET’S COOK AND CREATE TOGETHER.
With love,
Sara