Kitchens I love | The Rambling Epicure

JONELL GALLOWAY Freelance food writer and translator, cooking instructor, recipe developer and tester

I ramble around the world, mainly in Switzerland and Europe, looking for good food and restaurants. Until recently, I shared my discoveries with my friends on my blog, The Rambling Epicure, on genevalunch.com, where my posts are still available for viewing. I develop recipes using local ingredients, write about restaurants and local products and just about anything that is food-related.

But I wear a coat of many colors, so I am available for food writing of all types, including writing of restaurant guides; private cooking classes using my Spontaneous Cuisine method; organization of wine and food tastings, cooking demonstrations, and all food-related events; recipe development using your products; translation (French-English-Spanish) of food- and wine-related materials; design and conception of restaurant menus.

I studied cooking at the Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris, and wine tasting here, there and everywhere in France and at CAVE S.A. in Geneva and Gland. In France, I worked for some years as a contributing editor for the English edition of the GaultMillau guide and as a food translator, while I ran a small cooking school in a château near Paris. I now live in Geneva, where I have been discovering the Swiss approach to gastronomy and oenology. One of my many interests is promoting Les Artisanes de la Vigne et du Vin as an ambassadress for this Swiss women wine producers association.

My cooking method is "spontaneous cuisine." Lessons consist of writing out a tentative menu based on seasonal, local products; going shopping for the products, and adapting the menu according to what is available and fresh; going to the wine seller to select a wine to go with the menu, then going home and cooking all afternoon with my students. The day ends with a candlelight dinner at the château (in the past), and now, at my chapel converted into a house in Chartres or in your home.

I have recently started giving Mindful Eating seminars and therapy for those who have problem relationships with food and eating in general, helping them reconstruct their lifestyle and relationship to food and eating.