My Story
I’ve been eating organic and clean my entire life. I was born in Berkeley, California in the 70’s. My mother was way before her time, when eating healthy wasn’t the “new trend”. What everyone considers their current healthy lifestyle was my reality since birth. However, clean eating in the 70’s was not what is now. Can you imagine whole wheat flour pie crust? It's not the same, trust me!
I was the kid at school with the weird lunch. Our kitchen was stocked with whole grain breads, Ak Mak crackers, nutritional yeast, tamari, homemade yogurt, tofu, tempe, granola, nuts, fresh organic fruits and vegetables. My mother would prepare meatless spaghetti, broccoli lasagna and countless bean and cheese quesadillas. There was always roasted vegetables and a pot of cooked brown rice with lentils. And we were vegetarians -- no meat, fish or chicken.
However, my father wasn’t a vegetarian. He would sit me on a stool in the middle of his kitchen to watch and learn how to cook traditional African American cuisine including fried chicken, BBQ neck bones, collard greens, candied yams, gumbo, jambalaya and many more mouth-watering dishes that his family has prepared for generations.
I was a food enthusiast at young age and my parents supported my desire to learn more.
Passionate about great food and sharing similar values, I began a career with Whole Foods Market in Berkeley. I took on the Catering Director position and ran several Prepared Food Deli Departments in the Northern California region for over 15 years.
After that, I worked at a number of catering companies. Experienced with the fast-paced, ever-changing environment of food preparation, I was able to foster a timely and well-organized atmosphere that accommodated our clients' needs while meeting the challenges of cooking in unfamiliar territory. I brought to the table a high degree of culinary expertise and knowledge and food safety as well as a tolerance for working long hours. I have experience catering special events and offering a wide range of menu options, including brunch, hors d'oeuvres, cocktail receptions, multiple course meals and dessert. In catering, accommodating clients' needs and whims, while still ensuring that what they ask is doable, takes a special skill and tolerance
However, I felt like I had another calling. I wanted to get back to my roots of healthy, flavorful, satisfying, guilt-free food. And I found that others were searching for such a service as well! I launched this business by preparing meals for friends and without any marketing except word-of-mouth social media. I'm honored to say that I've gained a large and faithful following.
The Clean Meals
The Food Game provides healthy, delicious meals for the busy, on the-go-person who doesn't have time to cook for themselves.
We know that standard "meal prep" can be bland: boiled chicken, brown rice and steamed broccoli. Instead, we provide a large variety of health conscious meals that also taste great! Crab and shrimp cakes, zucchini pasta lasagna, Jambalaya and Miso glazed salmon to mention a few.
The Food Game provides delicious meals utilizing familiar and well-loved recipes. We take those traditional recipes and make them healthy -- removing ingredients that contain additives such as hydrogenated fats, artificial colors and flavors, preservatives and artificial sweeteners and using fresh, natural and unprocessed foods. We flavor our food with fresh herbs and seasonings and minimize the use of salt.
All of our food is made mostly from scratch with love at The Kitchener in Oakland, a local commercial kitchen. Our meals are of the highest quality and value, using local and organic sourced ingredients.
With over a decade of experience in catering and meal preparation and a liftime experience of healthy, delicious food, we provide outstanding, reliable personal service.