The Heart of My Story

Catherine Richey: Chef, Health Coach, and Teacher

I grew up within walking distance of the Panama Canal, in the small rainforest town of Gamboa — surrounded by fresh tropical fruits and vegetables grown in the rainforest, seafood from two oceans, fresh fish from the lakes, and the kind of meals that gathered people together without any fanfare. I didn't know it then, but the table was already teaching me lessons I'd spend a lifetime understanding.

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I went on to become a first-grade teacher for Department of Defense schools in Panama and Puerto Rico, where I learned that community and consistency are the most powerful forces in a person's life, and that people learn best by doing. I'm still a teacher at heart.

 

Then I became a private chef. For fifteen years I've cooked in other people's kitchens four and five days a week, and I've learned how real families eat: the picky eaters, the hungry athletes, the parent who skips dinner to get everyone else fed, the kitchen table buried under mail and backpacks. Most of the time, the problem isn't willpower. It's the plan, the space, and the routine. That's where my component style of cooking came from: prepping simple pieces separately so everyone can build a plate that fits their tastes and needs.

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I watched my father disappear slowly into dementia—isolated, robbed of language, diminished by a healthcare system that treated his symptoms but never saw him whole. That loss changed the way I thought about health. It made me want to understand not only how we nourish our bodies, but how food, daily habits, relationships and human connection shape the way we live as we age.

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My own story hasn't always looked like this, either. The relationship, the home, the travels, the health I have today weren't always mine. There was a season when I had no real tools for managing stress, when some of the ways I was coping were doing me more harm than good, and when I didn't know how to take care of myself well. I had to learn. Slowly, imperfectly, and with a great deal of help. I know what it means to start over from the ground up.

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All of it—the teaching, the cooking, the studying, the hard seasons and the good ones—is why I do this work the way I do. I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed, and I know how much a simple meal and a real conversation can steady a hard day. I'd love to help make that easier for you.

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Today, I bring all of that experience together to help people make feeding themselves and the people they love simpler—and create more room in their lives for the connection that happens when we actually sit down together.

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