Azalea Henderson
Founder / Chef / Wellness Coordinator
Vancouver, BC
www.noticeappreciate.com
instagram @noticeappreciate @earthy_plate
pinterest
Q What do you do?
“I’m a culinary creative! Right now most of my time and energy goes to Earthy Plate, my individualized meal delivery business based in Vancouver, Canada. All of the meals are ready-to-eat and free of gluten, dairy, seed oils, sugar, and single use plastic.”
We integrate health and wellness research to provide bioavailable, nourishing, and flavor forward meals to our clients.
I've worked as a personal chef for years in Tulum and in Vancouver and saw a more efficient way to serve more people at once, but I celebrate all parts of my slashies!
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
In 2020, I moved to Tulum, Mexico. Not knowing of it at the time, I was seeking a truer lifestyle after living some long years in Chicago where I moved to go to art school. I worked at a local health food store in Tulum for a few months where I realized I needed to tend to my body. Years of heavy drinking and take-out ramen took a toll on my body but mostly my mind. I was coming down from an anxiety ridden era.
I started focusing on consumption all while expanding my palate through local ingredients and regional dishes. Mexican cuisine uses a lot of ingredients for their properties, like melons and cucumbers as hydrators and chiles and herbs as activators.
I learned Spanish, started working as a personal chef and eventually also took charge of the non-alcoholic beverage bar at a local restaurant.
Tulum was pretty tough economically, so when my partner was offered a job in Vancouver, we made the choice to move after spending three vibrant years in the tropics. It’s been an adjustment for us; he’s Spanish speaking and I didn’t know anyone here, but I think we’re finding our crowd.
I’m loving walking to the Saturday morning farmers market and gathering interesting heirloom ingredients for the busy weeks of cooking.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
Most meal services on the market are lacking in gusto and personality . I don't want to have a mundane and commercially people pleasing business. I like having a business that embodies a complex identity.
I will forever be a student of food and bodily functions, but I’ve really come to understand the long term effects of inflammatory ingredients. I’ve spent a large part of my life not feeling good. My body is pretty sensitive and reactive, but now I know what I needed to cut out and amp up in order to get back into a feeling good state. I don’t see too many other personal chefs or meal delivery services that are vocal about auto-immunity and inflammatory ingredients.
I really think that what we put into our bodies will directly affect our quality of life at some point in time. It’s punk rock to be autonomous, educated, and inspired about food.
Q What are you working on right now?
I’m working on green shake recipes, and still deciding between a regularly programmed newsletter or a booklet as a final product. I’m always experimenting with low glycemic sweet treat recipes. Most notably, I'm building a live course that covers the ins and outs of personal cheffing and running a meal prep business through a creative and honest lens.
Q What’s your style?
Some bits that represent my taste are Chicago house music, specialty coffee packaging, red Italian gardener clogs, Italo & 80’s disco, Sohla El-Waylly’s very educational cookbook, an occasional celebrated natural wine, Moon Juice’s expert series podcast, and blue note jazz classics.
I’m interested in health and wellness but I’m not interested in white-washed and culture-stripped spaces. I’m into complexity and multitudes. One interest doesn’t have to overpower another.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I would love to mentor people who are interested in starting their own personal chef business. I really understand the market and feel like I have so much knowledge that I want to empower others with.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
My weeks are so busy with cooking logistics that I don’t have time to do creative things like work on packaging design and graphics.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
The Socials. Sure, I need other personal chefs to take some cooking roles, but I would LOVE to have someone else giving me some creative direction, taking control of posting on social media and creating videos.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I would have told past me to start recording my finances. There is no shame in how much money you spend, or how little money you’re making, but understand the numbers! It’s less anxiety inducing than I thought, plus it offers some peace to know what my costs are.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I want to talk to some other entrepreneurs about growth. I want to get to a place where I can travel and take some time away without totally stopping income. Eventually it’d be cool to share the brand with other personal chefs internationally and set them up with a starter pack, but there is so much backend development that needs to happen. I would love some nitty gritty expert advice about what steps I need to take in order to reach that goal.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I’m always open to both freelance and contracted recipe development and menu consulting work. These days I’m specifically calling in caterings big and small, and any work that requires short term travel!
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
I totally thrived catering for retreats of 15+ guests in Tulum. I love the rush of dreaming up a menu, sourcing the ingredients, and getting to work in the kitchen for a crowd.
If I were to receive an email tonight with a proposal, I would want it to be from a creative who's hosting a retreat/vacation looking for a cook to prepare unexpected, colorful, and nourishing food for their guests in a warm and sunny destination.
The other email I’d love to get is from a hotel or retreat space in need of a wellness coordinator!
Q What is your rate?
I’m prioritizing cooking gigs starting at $2500 and up, but it really depends on location, how many guests, and how elaborate the menu is.
Consulting work has budgets all over the place, but I’m super open to working with folks in whatever way I can!
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
I’m open and approachable. Send me an email or a direct message on Instagram and give me the deets, we’ll work something out if it resonates.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
I’m amazed and proud of what Hannah Kleeberg @herrlich.dining is doing. I don’t personally know her, but I aim to be able to share my true essence through the internet in the way that she does. Her business is taking off and I love seeing a successful femme in their power!
Another one of my favorites is Vilda Gonzalez @vildasaskiagonzalez. Her recipes are so simple, beautiful, and deeply nourishing. She uses common foods like cream, porridge, and tinned fish, and does so in such an elegant way. Her recipes are like poetry.
Zarah Khan @chefzarahkhan is a brilliant chef that's so considerate of ingredient sourcing, impact, and health. I have like 15 of her posts saved as inspiration, she's a genius for sure.
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
A huge collection of cookbooks with pretty pictures
This member profile was originally published in April 2024