As a child growing up, I developed an early appreciation of knowing where the food that my family ate came from. My grandparents were farmers in a small rural town raising chickens, pigs, cattle, tobacco and a garden always flourishing with fresh vegetables. I can still remember helping my grandfather gather eggs for our Sunday morning breakfast and it wasn’t until my early teenage years that I realized that I had never eaten meat purchased from a supermarket! Our freezer had always been full of fresh from the farm packages wrapped in brown butcher’s paper. I have memories of myself as a young girl helping my mother and great-grandmother break beans that were just picked from the garden and I can still remember the deep maroon colored stains on my clothes and hands the day I helped can beets. Sometimes I think back on those days and realize how fortunate I am to have those memories and the knowledge of how food came to be on my dinner table. It seems that most people today know that vegetables come from a can on the grocery store shelf but they don’t know the pride that went into growing and harvesting that can. My love of cooking grew out of the values and appreciation instilled in me and I became very active in my local 4-H club during my grade school years. I participated in all of the activities offered, but I seemed to excel in the cooking and food-related contests. I looked forward to the county fair each summer so I could showcase my vegetable growing talents and bread baking skills. Each year I organized my blue ribbons in a scrapbook already overflowing with rewards from previous years.

As an adult, I worked full-time while pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. There were many evenings that I dashed through a fast food drive-thru on my way to class or grabbed dinner from the school vending machines. I can’t begin to count the number of bowls of cereal that I have consumed while hunched over a text book studying for final exams. After graduation, my hectic schedule continued and I soon realized that I longed for those days when we gathered as a family around the dinner table and ate delicious meals lovingly prepared by my mother, grandmothers and great-grandmothers.

My entrepreneurial spirit finally led me down the path to become a proud member of the American Personal Chef Association and my business, Wish Upon A Chef Personal Chef Service was born. I am continuously striving to increase my knowledge and fuel my desire to prepare delicious, custom created meals. I am currently serving as President of the Garland County Extension Homemakers “Cooks ‘R Us” cooking club and I also film a weekly cooking segment for the local Hot Springs TV Channel.

It is my goal as a personal chef to simplify the hectic lives of my clients and allow them to spend their free time as a family gathered around the dinner table creating memories and instilling family values that will last a lifetime.

Contact Chef Alison at 501-525-8111 or email chefalison@personalchef.com