Featured Artist: Emily Wittenhagen
Emily Wittenhagen (she/her) is a chef and nutritionist informed by a master’s in nutrition, a background in agriculture and plant medicine, and a passion for using food as medicine principles to provide nourishment when it’s needed most. She embraces herself as queer and lives with her sweetheart and children in Falmouth.
“I had this Emma Watson quote as my wallpaper for a while that ended with, “if not me, who? If not now, when?” I think about that a lot. I keep trying to tell myself to think big and take risks.”
Emily Wittenhagen’s Breezy Kitchen + Supper Club is a personal chef service supporting people through challenging moments, including pregnancy loss, postpartum, overwhelm, recovery, and grief. Flavorful, nutrient-dense meals and snacks are tailored to each household to offer a short-term buffer in hard times while also promoting healing and recovery. The supper clubs will be intimate dinners held at a secret creekside dining room, to bring together community and raise both awareness and funds for the chef service to support the mission of keeping it financially accessible to all.
𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏
Tell us the basics: your favorite music, film, artist, and foods!
Music: For background music I’m usually gravitating to French “ye-ye” like François Hardy — I find it less distracting to have my non-primary language as the lyrics I think? Portuguese is also nice, like Seu Jorge’s album of all David Bowie covers. Either that or some Dolly Parton (may she rest in peace) and other more traditional folksy country. For the laughs, I will add that my husband and I recently discovered “dungeon wave” and are obsessed.
Film: I’m a sucker for rom-coms and my favorite is Il Postino — the main character is so earnest and funny, and I love that it features Pablo Neruda and some of his poems. Love a poetry specific movie, so rare! An honorable mention would be Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson and Tupac.
Artist: Philip Guston!
Foods: Hear me out…pocket-based foods. Dumplings, pierogies, empanadas, ravioli. Love a good pocket.
𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏
What do you do for community, work, and pleasure?
Pleasure: I’m an unreliable member of three book clubs. I like secretly going the long way when driving my kids around so I can listen to my audiobooks. And I really like watering the garden while drinking a cocktail.
Work/Pleasure: I got my undergraduate in creative writing, and my graduate in nutrition and herbalism. So for work, I spent 10ish years working with words, and the next 10ish working with plants and food as medicine, adding hypnotherapy to work with clients mainly on their relationship to food and their bodies. Cooking for people, I’ve come to realize, and helping them have a truly positive experience with food, gives me a lot of pleasure. Breezy Kitchen is about combining these into a cooking service meant to help people rest and heal.
Community: Food access and food justice are causes I gravitate to, which is why I loved discovering Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, a wonderful organization dedicated to both these causes, where they have a full commercial kitchen I’m able to use. My last job was as the Director of Community + Inclusion for a wellness collective. I’ve always enjoyed community building, which is why I’m so looking forward to kicking off the Breezy Kitchen Supper Club later this fall — these will be intimate dinners held at a secret creekside dining room, to bring together community and raise awareness and funds for the cooking service to help keep it financially accessible to all. I’m SO excited for this! If people want to get notified about it, they can put their info here :)
What drew you to cooking and when?
Going back to farm work kicked things off, so it kind of started literally by growing food back in 2013. Following that I studied plant medicine and then pursued the master’s in nutrition. I’ve always loved learning about the constituents and nutrients in plants and food and how they can benefit a person not only physically, but also emotionally. Cooking and creating botanical medicines, which I did for a long time, are both forms of alchemy and I love the magic in that.
𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏
What has the path to holistic remedies and/or being a personal chef been like since you first conceptualized Breezy Kitchen?
I started by making herbal medicines like tinctures and teas and selling them to clients and at markets, and I’m not opposed to doing this again. Being a personal chef is a path I started conceptualizing about a year ago, after my second child was born. A number of people commented that I seemed to like cooking for others and it got me thinking. At that point, I’d experienced two postpartums and three pregnancy losses, and I felt (as I still do) extremely called to support those experiences along with other periods when people need extra support and nourishment. I started pursuing a miscarriage and bereavement doula course, which I’m still taking. I just feel very strongly that there’s a gap in care when it comes to going through pregnancy loss specifically and am very dedicated to helping fill that gap. In the future when I have more time I’d like to add the hypnotherapy piece to it as well.
What has been great about the community (in holistic health or otherwise) in Maine compared to other places? Or perhaps more difficult?
Maine is extremely interconnected. I always say it’s like a small town. It feels like there’s a lot of cross-pollination between organizations and people involved in similar work and interests. I do think the general smallness of the population helps. I came from Seattle almost six years ago, where there are certainly supportive connections, but because it’s quite a bit bigger it doesn’t feel quite as intimate as it does here.
What are some other small businesses/artists/hikes/places in Maine you want to shout out?
Small businesses/organizations: Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, Food for All Services, Growing to Give, Center for Grieving Children, Community Doula Birth Program, WIC, Birth Roots, 317 Maine, LoveLab Studio, Growing Littles, Baby Booty, Roots Up (this is my childhood best friend and she is unbelievable), Homegrown Herbs + Tea, No Name Farmstead, Botanically Curious, and just all the wonderful farms and food that make this state so delicious. My favorite restaurants are Wander and Old Smith Farm because good food and being able to frolick around in nature is the best combination, especially with kids.
Artists: Wellll there’s this gal Coco McCracken… 😉There are so many great artists here — a fav I discovered recently at a Coveside Market was Long Game Studio.
Hikes: The best hike I’ve been on recently was Thorne Head Preserve in Bath.
𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏
If you could design your perfect weekend in Maine what would it be?
Wake up at one of those classic old Maine houses with wood paneling, a sweet charming history, a treehouse, and a lake that doesn’t allow motorboats. Nail the daily Wordle. Have friends staying in a neighboring rental. Walk in our pajamas to some nearby bakery corner store with unbelievable coffee and pastries. Read a local paper. Canoe lazily around the lake while the morning fog burns off. Find some unexpected places like an old schoolhouse turned into a bookstore where local weirdos hang out, hear their stories and sing a few songs together for the heck of it. Keep finding unexpected magic like the oldest weeping willow tree in the county, lie under it, find a yard sale with great tchotchkes, bike over to the beach and get engrossed in a book while the kids play without getting hurt or on each other’s nerves, go over to the Carriage House for dinner, eat great food, hear nice music, talk to fun people and dance while the sun sets, then watch an incredible thunderstorm from the lake house. The next day, it’s foggy and mystical and we stumble upon a local mystery and spend the day going down rabbit holes to solve it. Is that so much to ask?!
Where can you get the best meal in Maine?
The Carriage House in Thomaston. Go when they have outdoor music. Such a fun and delicious spot.
What advice were you given (or support) that changed things for you as a creative entrepreneur?
I had this Emma Watson quote as my wallpaper for a while that ended with, “if not me, who? If not now, when?” I think about that a lot. I keep trying to tell myself to think big and take risks. And I know I want to talk to lots and lots of people who have done similar to what I’m doing, and get all the advice I can.
If a young person, fresh out of high school or college asked you where they should start if they want to be a personal chef, what would you tell them?
Maybe to go to culinary school and study nutrition right out of the gate — take the straight path?! But, I don’t regret my path. I couldn’t have known back then where I’d end up. I don’t have anything too wise or new to say aside from follow your passions and trust your gut — but try to narrow in on one main thing early on if you can.
𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏𓏏
Thank you, Emily!
