We caught up with Amy for a brief chat, to whet your appetite for the creations she will be sharing with you all.
Welcome to the team, Amy! To start, could you share where your vegan and plant-based journey began?
When I was 25 years old I studied nutrition at The Institute of Integrative Nutrition. We learned about every ‘diet’ under the sun, and the one that struck me the most was raw and plant based. I began integrating this into my own life and really enjoyed the process of trying new foods, like spirulina, raw cacao and salads that were far more creative than the ‘salad bar’ items I grew up on. It soon became all I wanted to focus on in my work and it all kicked off from there.
You are well known for being able to teach the art of chocolate making to beginners and seasoned pros alike. That being said, many new cooks find chocolate making to be a daunting task! What advice would you give to people wanting to give it a try?
There’s no doubt that chocolate making is an art and a science. I think that might be one reason it’s off putting to people. It does have certain requirements that need to be met, otherwise it simply will not work.
So, I’d say start at the shallow end of the pool and work your way to the deep end. Whatever that looks like for you. Maybe that means buying some premade chocolate, melting it down and tempering it. See how that goes first and then see where your natural curiosity takes you.
Chocolate is an expansive area with plenty of entry points for meeting people exactly where they are, and allowing them to expand endlessly. Patience and being open to learning are all that’s required to work with chocolate.