Chef Val's Bio

1985 – Manager at O'Conner's Deli in Brighton

1990 – Assistant manager at Vie de France in Novi

1994 - Apprentice at macrobiotic cooking school, Lenore's Natural Cuisine in Farmington Hills.

1996 - Starts offering personal chef services, specializing in vegan, macrobiotic dishes.

1997 – Starts teaching vegan, macrobiotic cooking classes and starts her business, Macro Val

2001 – Writes and self publishes her first cookbook, Perceptions in Healthy Cooking and begins offering Personal One on One Lifestyle counseling sessions

2012 – Hosts her own internet radio show, Healthy Cooking with Macro Val and is a regular writer for local Michigan magazines, also creates her You Tube Channel featuring instructional videos about healthy cooking

2014 – Becomes licensed by the State of Michigan to package and sell her vegan food in local stores, and is ServeSafe Certified

2015 – Writes and self publishes her second cookbook, Healthy and Delicious Cooking - Spring Season

2016 – Changes format of her internet radio show to become, REAL FOOD with Chef Val

2017 – Celebrates her 20th anniversary in business by releasing a new version of her first cookbook, Perceptions in Healthy Cooking, Revised Edition

2018 – Creates, Macro Val LLC, and is currently teaching cooking classes, offering counseling in person or over the phone, cooks her Food To Go out of a commercial kitchen and sells to stores, and hosts her bi-monthly internet radio show, REAL FOOD with Chef Val

 

A note from Val,

I have always enjoyed cooking since I can remember. I believe it all started in the kitchen with my Mom when I was young. Mom showed me all the basics of how to prepare food, from baking to boiling to steaming. I caught on fast, and was good at ad-libbing or substituting ingredients. It was also my job to clean up the kitchen after dinner, which I did not enjoy.

It was no surprise that my first job was at a deli that made pizza, subs and salads. Through the five years I worked and managed the deli, I was everything from cashier to sub maker to pizza chef. I can honestly say I loved my job at the deli, but it was at this time that I started to have some health problems such as allergies and my prolonged battle with eczema. From the deli I went on to be an assistant manager of a restaurant and from there, I had a couple of house cleaning businesses.

Then, in 1993, I read a book that changed my life. It was Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy by Dirk Benedict. This down-to-earth book tells the journey Mr. Benedict took to heal his body of prostate cancer through changing his diet. This book introduced me to macrobiotics and the principles of energy. I highly recommend this book, it is not only about food but also about spirituality and letting go.

I then went to work at a macrobiotic cooking school, learning more about food and how to prepare it properly. I rediscovered my passion for food as I experimented with the all the new ingredients I was learning about. I started teaching my own cooking classes in 1997. I had heard from many people that healthy food does not taste good, so I set out to create dishes that were tasty as well as good for you. My students can confirm that I succeeded, and I also made the recipes easy to prepare so you don't have to be concerned about prep time.

In 1994, I began eating whole grain foods and I am happy to report I have never felt better. My allergies are gone along with my eczema, and my energy is calmer. Remember, food is one of the most important parts of our existence. It makes up the blood that flows through every organ in our bodies. You have a choice which foods you put in your mouth. So please, make educated, smart decisions when it comes to food.

God Bless,

Val