Colleen’s passion for cooking began while living in Rome, Italy during her senior year of college. She lived in an apartment above a piazza called Campo de’ Fiori and every morning an outdoor market full of fruit, vegetables, fish, cheese and flowers would sing to her eyes and taste buds. After returning home and graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Washington, Colleen was determined to pursue a career in food. She attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and received an Associate Degree in Culinary Arts. She spent a few years working in east coast food scene, including a growing season on a biodynamic farm in upstate New York, called Hawthorne Valley. Through understanding how a vegetable begins as a seed and grows to a food that can be eaten, Colleen wants to teach others where their food comes from and how to gain the most nutrition from cooking.