Bio
Jessica Prentice is an American chef, passionate local-food advocate, and author of Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection.
In her cooking, Jessica brings together creativity and imagination with a deep respect for traditional cuisine and time-honoured culinary practices.
Through her work, she seeks to provide a model for how communities can feed themselves in a way that is satisfying and health-supportive on all levels: delicious, environmentally responsible, and grounded in the wise nourishing traditions of our forebears.
In her workshops, she seeks to both inspire people to cook, and help them develop the practical skills to feel successful in the kitchen.
Jessica worked as the Director of Education Programs at the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, where she conducted Farm Tours to some of Northern California's most ecologically oriented farms and ranches, taught live cooking demos, hosted panel discussions around issues of sustainable agriculture, and conducted regular interviews with farmers at the Saturday morning Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Jessica is the former chef of the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin County, California, where she worked from 1997 to 2000 developing a successful food program bringing together her passions for culinary traditions, ingredients that reflect the greatest ecological integrity, and the spirit of community gathered around food, cooking, and our shared humanity.
In 2001 she founded the Headlands Hearth Bakery and Cafe, a community dining hall in the Marin Headlands, featuring locally and sustainably grown foods, home cooked into delicious meals, at an affordable price.
She is a graduate of the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York, from the nation's only professional chef's training program that focuses on food and health and natural foods.