I have always loved food…maybe a little too much. My earliest fondest memories are in the kitchen with my family. Every meal was a chance to learn something new from my parents, who I personally believe know how to cook just about everything (thats what happens with 20+ years in the industry). In my earlyyears my favorite activity was baking (mostly because I wasn't allowed to use the stovetop) and would bake all sorts of goodies, even on hot summer days when my father would hate me for turning on the oven. In the grocery store my mom would take me aisle to aisle telling my about every ingredient she picked up and what she was going to do with it. When I left home at the ripe age of 17 for college, I didn't particularly think of myself as a foodie, let alone a chef. When I moved into my dorm which had nothing but a fridge and a hot plate I quickly realized that mac and cheese wasn't going to cut it, I had to get creative. In that year, with just a hot plate, I learned how to improvise and feel out my instincts when it came to cooking.

Shortly after leaving the prison-like dorms of Temple University for an apartment of my own, I realized that most of my friends were clueless about nutrition let alone cooking. I realized that most kids my age didn't have parents that cooked or taught them how. Roughly, this is when the Eclectik Domestic was born. I needed to let people know that cooking isn't tedious or impossible. Cooking is about sharing scrumptious morsels with friends and family. Spending time together, teaching each other and caring. So much of what I know I learned first hand from my parents and I want to share with you what they taught me. I want everyone to know that healthy food is tasty food, it is easy, fun and a lifeskill many Americans left in the past. But I am here to say that there is hope. Many are now rejecting the fast food nation we have found ourselves in and are turning to our past. Going back to the time when we once knew where our food came from, who grew it and who brought it to the market.

Food is an huge part of our life, and in our globalized world there is more then ever. Though we find ourself in a very alarming time where Nowadays food is loaded with suspicious ingredients that are far away from anything we'd consider to be edible. Filled with words we can't pronounce, companies have figured out how to put corn, a dirt cheap national subsidy into everything. It has come to the point where national corporations have made billions on selling corn based fatty and addictive snacks with new additive ingredients for next to nothing, and look at us. We're fat, sick and sad. We are at the cross roads where companies have spent millions to produce the cheapest lowest quality of food and tricking consumers into thinking they're eating healthy. Now there is what a hero of mine Alice Waters calls a "delicious revolution". People are literally sick of unhealthy, innutritious processed foods and are now getting back to preparing their own meals and taking back control of what they're eating. Shopping at farmers markets and growing their own food. This is what the Eclectik Domestic is all about. Local, seasonal and healthy nutriments.

Many people have forgotten just how important and amazing cooking is. Don't forget we are what we eat so why would you want to be processed food? Why not make sure that you are consuming the best, local and most delicious food. Its in your hand and I am here to be your guide. I want to let you into my kitchen, into my home and into my head. I want to share my thought, ideas and let Philadelphia know that anyone can cook. I'd like to note that my style of cooking isn't about deprivation, counting calories or elimination anything. My style is eclectic(get it!?), evolving and spontaneous. Cooking for me is about learning, knowing how flavors work together and we all have to start somewhere. With just a few easy to follow guidelines and always incorporating the occasion decadence, you too will find that healthy eating isn't expensive, isn't about dieting, its about a lifestyle change. Being and feeling the best possible you is attainable through your diet.

With all that said…I'd like to let you all know up front, this blog isn't just about cooking. Its about whatever shenanigans I get into. I live in a sort of collective in South Philadelphia, in a more or less mansion…with 9 other people. As you can imagine there are a lot of ideas flying around and I'd like to pin them down here and let you all in on the madness. The crafts that happen here and our embrace of slow foods and doing it yourself. I look forward to sharing with you.

Love Always,

Katie Briggs, The Eclectik Domestic