The Modern Cupboard has ingredients for every palate and diet. It includes new trends, reliable mainstays, healthier alternatives and exotic options. It covers alternative diets, vegetarian and vegan diets and indulgent treats. I emphasize the customizable in everything. Each meal should be tailored to suit the customer's enjoyment. Food should engage all the senses - and no meal should be wasted!
The Modern Cupboard is Chef Vanessa Williamson.
I grew up in Austin, TX. But I come from a strong European culinary background - a French mother and Sicilian father who both love to cook. The dinner table was our church - meals, especially to mark special occasions - were a way of appreciating each other and friends. It was a way to stay connected and in tune with each other. Meals could last hours. Many people speak of the kitchen as the gathering place in the home. Food brings people together - there is no denying it. That's what I love about it. And that's what I want to do with my services - bring people together over nourishing, fabulous meals.
After graduating from the University of Texas, I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I had a degree in English and an intense desire to move to a bigger city, specifically New York. I moved to Brooklyn in 2006 and lived in beautiful Park Slope. I decided on publishing as a career path but landed a job in a small tech start up there. Pretty quickly I realized that food wasn't just a hobby, it was an obsession and a passion. I studied culinary arts in Manhattan at the Natural Gourmet Institute, a school with a curriculum focused on cooking for health and well-being. I have worked as a chef in both New York and as a Head Chef in London restaurants, emphasizing menus that utilize local, organic and nutritional ingredients and draw from influences I've encountered in my travels and from my background.
In Austin, I love to shop locally in farmers' markets and, when I can, area farms. Austin's local food scene is bustling and fresh, organic ingredients are close at hand.