Oh, Hey You!
You look downright radiant today. Since I can’t pop through the screen to say it in person, consider this your cue to go give yourself a compliment in the mirror, from me.
I’m honestly so thrilled (and a little misty-eyed) that you’re here. I don’t think it’s an accident you found your way to my little corner of the internet. Whether you’ve been riding the plant based wave for years or are just dipping your toes into eating more plant forward for the weekend, I first need to say that you belong here. Everyone is on their own journey in this life, and that is what makes us truly unique and awesome individuals. You bring with you a whole host of remarkable stories whether you believe it or not to the Herby table, and you are always invited to dine with me and tell me all of them. I’m all ears!
And since I’m asking you to tell me your story, it’s only fair that I first share my own. Let’s go all the way back to when I was 19, as a semi picky eater college freshman with a deeply un-glamorous gut situation (if you know, I’m so sorry you know). I was staring down the prospect of lifelong medications after a handful of test results and doctor visits when, for the first time in my 19 years of life, I asked myself:
What do I want my health — my whole life actually — to feel like?
A dramatic but very sobering question for a newbie adult, I know. Especially when most of my friends were busy deciding which necklace worked best with their little black dress for that date with the cute guy from class (this was the heyday of big chunky necklaces of the early 2010s after all).
But that one question reoriented everything.
Instead of resigning myself to prescriptions + side effects, I got curious. I started learning how to truly nourish myself with vibrant and real food. Many foods I had long thought I hated (looking at you brussel sprouts). This was during the times of Facebook Groups and Google’s takeover, and I was realizing I had an arsenal of intelligent savvy humans to lean on for answers. Slowly, everything shifted. My health, my energy, my mindset.
That beautiful question changed me.
And while my days for the next decade of my life were spent graduating college and building a career in the music industry (supporting artists, building strategies, helping grow a start-up that almost took the very best parts of my soul with it) my nights were spent falling in love with plant forward cooking. Trying and perfecting recipes. Playing creatively. Feeding people. And eventually fully writing and inventing my own.
In 2021, that quiet passion turned into something bigger when I booked my first cooking gig as private chef for an author’s retreat in Scotland. (Yes, it was just as magical as it sounds…cue me snapping photos of Stirling Castle out Wallace Tower!) All while still trying to live up to an expectation and continuing a career in music on the business side.
By 2024, this once vegetarian side obsession had bloomed into an undeniable calling. When I saw my life in the next 5, 10, 20 plus years, it wasn’t working with artists or exhaustedly chasing after every next hit around the corner. My life, my legacy was knowing that I helped people make better food choices for themselves, made people feel better just by eating better, and that they really really loved the meal at the same time.
And that’s how The Herby Eater — or simply, Herby — was born.
Herby is here to say that good food and good flavor isn’t just for special occasions… its for EVERY DAY. That Healthy Eating works best when it fits into real life. That everyday meals can and should taste incredible and make you feel incredible. And that you, every single day that you exist on planet earth, have a right to claim space (literally and figuratively) for the fullest, most vibrant version of yourself. This isn’t about shortcuts, it’s about staples. And I’m so excited to dine with you!
Want to ask me or tell me something specific? Feel free to follow and reach out to me anywhere on socials, all tagged at the bottom of this page (handle is @herbyeater)!