Food is my medicine. Cooking is my art.
ABOUT CHEF BRIANA RYAN
While cooking was always a passion of mine, it usually came in the form of carb and dairy heavy Italian food (I grew up in Jersey, after all!). It wasn’t until 2001 when a friend’s cancer had relapsed that I came to understand and appreciate the power of food as medicine.
In an effort to assist in my friend’s healing, I began studying healthier ways of eating and living and wound up completely transforming my own life along the way. I began eating a mostly whole-foods, plant-based diet, cut out all refined sugar, began practicing Kundalini yoga, and all of a sudden I was the healthiest I had been in my whole life. And as a happy by-product, I also wound up transforming many of the lives around me. Holistic nutrition became a huge passion of mine from that point on.
By 2012, after working in film & TV production for 18 years, I finally decided to change careers and pursue my passions in the world of food and wellness.
I quit my job, took my life savings and moved to Austin, TX to attend The Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts. There, I was trained in plant-based, health-supportive cooking with a focus on Ayurvedic, Macrobiotic and Raw Food cuisines. It was one of the most amazing and beautiful experiences of my life!
When I returned to Los Angeles, I decided to further my education and enrolled in The Institute of Integrative Nutrition to become a certified holistic health coach. With this additional training, I felt I could help positively transform people’s lives on a deeper level.
I take a mind-body-spirit approach to healing and love working with clients to help them create more time and space for people, places and things that nourish them. I believe that self-care (in its many forms), connecting with family & friends and building community are just as important to our health and wellbeing as the food we choose to put in our bodies.
Currently, I work one-on-one as a health coach, teach private & group cooking classes, host wellness workshops & cooking demos, and offer nutritional consultations.
I feel so blessed and grateful to be able to do this work for a living and thank my family and friends for all their continued love and support that have helped to make my dreams a reality!
When not working, I can usually be found cooking for family & friends, hiking in Elysian Park with my pup, Daisy, practicing Kundalini and Bikram yoga, or spending time shopping the bounty of organic, local, seasonal produce at Farmer’s Markets around LA.