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Featured Chef / April 2021

Tori Sellon

Founder & Chef, Bon Vivant Cooking School & Wine Education
San Diego, California

Tori Sellon is the founder and chef for Bon Vivant Online Cooking School and Wine Education. She is a professional recipe developer and lover of international cooking.

IN THE KITCHEN WITH TORI SELLON

Tell us about yourself:

Hello, I’m chef Tori, the founder of Bon Vivant Online Cooking School and Wine Education. In addition to professionally developing recipes, I go live from my kitchen twice a week and cook along with people all over the country interested in learning techniques for making fast real food meals. I love international cooking and we travel the world in our kitchens. However I also believe the food should be accessible and not overly complex. I try to mainly use easy to find ingredients that are just prepared in a new and fresh way.

How did you get involved in cooking?

I’ve been cooking as long as I can remember. By the age of 8, I was standing on a stool to reach the back burner and making roulade from the big Better Crocker Cookbook my mother received as a wedding gift. I just love food! It nourishes us physically and binds us socially.

Describe your cooking style:

My cooking style is greatly influenced by my healthy philosophy which is all about ancestral eating. I believe we should be eating in season and making everything from scratch. I’m also influenced by my love of travel and cultures. In most places in the world food tells a story of family celebrations, homey dishes of comfort, and warm memories of these traditions being passed down to each generation. I’m privileged to have been invited into family kitchens around the world as real people shared their food stories with me.

How did you learn about grass-fed meats?

For a long time I put off watching the Food Inc. documentary. I was afraid it would just depress me and leave me feeling like I was doing all I could without options to improve. To the contrary my husband and I were on google sourcing our first whole grass-fed cow before the credits rolled. It’s actually a funny story because we had no idea what we were doing at this point. We bought a live cow from a man in Temecula (an hour outside our San Diego residence) and returned a few days later to load an entire cow into our pick up truck. The cow had been quartered but not broken down in any other way. We received looks of horror as we drove down the freeway on our way to a butcher as stiff legs extended about the pick-up bed. Eventually though, we found amazing resources like US Wellness Meats to source clean ingredients without having to buy an entire cow ourselves.

What is your favorite recipe featuring grass-fed meat?

I love French food and my favorite grass fed meat recipe is sweet breads. They are Divine!

You’re stranded on a desert island; luckily, you’re stranded with your top 5 ingredients and one must-have kitchen tool:

A sharp knife is my tool of choice.

Ingredients would be: tallow, dried tomatoes, onions, shawarma seasoning, and wine. I might even cook with some of it.

Best cooking secret/tip/piece of advice you’ve learned:

Never close your mind. Be adventurous mot only in the foods you try but in the ways different people approach preparing them. Don’t stop learning about food.

What’s your favorite quote/song for culinary inspiration (if any)?

There is nothing better than for than for a man to to eat and drink and find enjoyment from his hard work…this is from the hand of God. Ecclesiastes 2:24

Enter To Win!

Enter to win our April 2021 Delicious Food Contest for a chance to win $150 bundle of farm fresh food.
Contest runs from April 1 –  14, 2021

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TORI SELLON'S U.S. WELLNESS MEATS FAVORITES