Wendy graduated with the first class of the California Culinary Academy of San Francisco and has held executive chef positions at prestigious world-class resorts. She has cooked with such celebrity chefs as Julia Child, Jacque Pepin, Roy Yamaguchi, Paul Prudhomme, and Martha Stewart. She is affiliated with the Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs, Les Toques Blanches, International Food and Wine Society, the American Culinary Federation, and has been an officer and board member for several of them.

Chef Valerie fell in love with cooking as a child, when she started helping her mother in the kitchen. She earned her teaching credentials from UC Davis and received her culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. In 1980, Valerie moved to the Monterey Peninsula and taught cooking classes at The Peppercorn in Carmel, at Monterey Peninsula College, and nutrition at Hartnell College. Teaching quickly expanded to catering and offering private cooking classes. Chef Valerie's passion for both cooking and teaching will become obvious when she welcomes you into her beautiful kitchen.

Chef Ellie graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in San Francisco, California, USA, and was in the top one percent of her class. She says that she started cooking at the age of eight. Chef Ellie has a passion for cooking and it shows when she is teaching. She discovered this passion while teaching her grandchildren to cook, and now offers classes in her kitchen to children aged five and up, and adults. She also cooks for corporate events using the freshest ingredients from the coast-side area.

Chef George has always been passionate about food. He holds the very prestigious Canadian Red Seal and had the great privilege to expand his culinary education with the Canadian Federation of Chefs and Cooks with the Certified Chef de Cuisine program. Many fine Cowichan Valley restaurants in the Cowichan Valley have laid claim to Chef George Gates's talents such as Odik and the highly-acclaimed Sawmill Taphouse. He was chef de cuisine and teacher at Foxglove Inn and Cooking School, and received high praise from guests and students who traveled from around the world to attend his classes

Bob Tanem, so appropriately named “The Happy Gardener”, is an author, consultant, the founder and creator of New Beginnings Garden, and is truly an amazing man. Bob’s vast knowledge of all things in the plant world is amazing. You can tune in his radio talk show and you’ll hear this highly revered man tell his call-in guests when and how to prune a pomegranate tree or divulge his own formula for planting seed potatoes.

Alexandra is your host and guide. She is also the lead tour guide for Food and Farm Tours and a partner in this company. Alex’s great personality has enabled her to form lasting friendships with the farmers, food producers, wineries, and distilleries. Because of this friendship, guests can go “back-stage” to see the inside workings of these great industries. Alex is always excited to meet visitors from all over the world and show off her native Marin and Sonoma Counties. Cooking is another joy of Alex’s and she shares that joy with her students in her cooking classes and touring guests.

Kathleen possesses a rare talent for combining flavors and textures and she truly believes that by blending the pure essence of each ingredient, it creates that perfect taste. She is intent on preserving the true flavors of each dish. As a registered dietitian and the holder of a BS in clinical nutrition from the University of California, Davis, Kathleen knows that bright flavors combined with wholesome organic food heighten the appetite resulting in better nutrition. She has more than eight years of experience leading hands-on cooking classes and interactive demonstrations.