Instructors’ Bios
Dr. Anthony Baratta
Dr. Baratta has been serving the Sacramento community for 13 years and is committed to providing quality and ethical care. After treating thousands of patients, he has come to the conclusion that most people are deficient when it comes to their diet. His belief is that after years of toxic buildup from a poor diet and lifestyle, that it can easily set the stage for many common ailments and chronic disease. In his lectures, you will learn the essentials of a proper diet, common misconceptions about the foods we eat, the importance of hydration and of course,the importance of spinal care.
Please visit his website, www.barattawellness.com.
Marga Brunner
Marga den Hoed was born in the Netherlands, where she and her five siblings were raised according to their parent’s “Macrobiotic” principles. Macrobiotics could be described as alternative in the modern world, yet its practice emphasizes a traditional dietary path, primarily consisting of; whole grains, beans, fresh vegetables and fruits, sea vegetables, and naturally fermented products. In other words, Marga and her siblings grew up to be strong and healthy people without the “necessities” of meat, dairy, cheese, and sugar. The den Hoed family became heavily involved in natural foods, giving cooking classes, large event cooking, and eventually operating a company providing high quality “Macrobiotic” food at farmer’s markets across the Netherlands. Marga was involved for most of her life in various aspects of the company including; cooking classes, vegan and sugar-free baking, sushi preparation, market management, etc.
For the last year and a half, Marga has been giving cooking classes out of her home and Arden Hills Country Club with her husband Matt Brunner. Marga and Matt were married in the Netherlands and are parents of three young children. Matt was traveling in Europe, where he read an advertisement to work at a natural foods company in the Netherlands, which led him right into Marga’s home. Together, Marga and Matt studied at the Kushi Institute of Europe in Amsterdam, and worked for her parent’s business before moving to Matt’s hometown of Sacramento in March of 2009. After living down the street from Whole Foods in Sacramento for a year with Matt’s parents, Marga and Matt settled in Orangevale, where they are developing a small farm.
The Culinary Dude
The Culinary Dude, Scott Davis, has degrees in both Education and the Culinary Arts as a graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu Program at California Culinary Academy. He teaches both kid and adult cooking classes, running food related programs and services all over California including at Whole Foods Market & Draeger’s as well as cooking schools from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Culinary Dude’s mission is to teach anyone he can get his hands on to cook, focusing on the process rather than the product. “My goal is to inspire all participants’ imaginations in the kitchen as they cook and to encourage their creativity while they are learning a variety of cooking styles, techniques and enjoying themselves”. The Culinary Dude has been self employed in all aspects of the food world including; Personal & Private Chef, Catering, Parent Friendly Food Services, basically anything food he can do it!
Valerie Fong and Lee Ann Duclo
Valerie Fong has been a State Fair competitor for 34 years with 8 “Best of Show” ribbons and hundreds of other ribbons. Lee Ann Duclo has been a State Fair competitor for 8 years with “Best of Division”, “Best of Class” and several blue ribbons and “Best of Show” at the Sacramento County Fair for the previous two years.
Ms.Butterbeans aka Rebecca Kraft
Rebecca has been interested in food since she was a child growing up on Grenola way in Citrus Heights, California. She was raised surrounded by gardens, orchards, farms and good cooks. She has cooked as a hobby and educated herself on cooking, food nutrition and wine since she was 16. She moved to San Francisco in the late 80s and has continued to acquire skills and experience through the exciting, experimental and rich food culture within The City.
She has a culinary certificate and Serv Safe certification. She has taken numerous private cooking classes, nutrition courses and wine classes over the years.
A forager from childhood on Rebecca has collected fennel, mushrooms, miner’s lettuce, herbs, edible flowers, wild eggs, crabs, clams, mussels, urchin, abalone, fresh and ocean fish, fowl, rabbit and deer. She is currently a guest teaching chef for Whole Foods Market Culinary Centers in Sacramento and Napa. She specializes in teaching children how to cook. She also has twelve years experience as a business administrator with a focus on marketing, sales and event planning.
Rebecca gains pleasure in teaching others to cook and takes special care in preparing seasonal and locally sourced meals focused on balanced nutrition and the use of Super Foods. She is in the process of opening a cooking school for children.
Pamela Spencer
Pamela takes a holistic approach to healing and the factors influencing health and disease. Through education about the relationship between food and the well-being of the body, she strives to find the cause of imbalance or disease of body, mind, and/or spirit. A wide variety of diagnostic testing and therapies are available for conditions, such as detoxification, CFS, fibromyalgia, weight loss, depression, and bio-individual nutrition programs. .She has been in private practice for 10 years and she specializes in IBS, digestive disorders, mood and immunity disorders. See her website for summary of services offered. 3829 Watt Avenue Sacramento•916.996.6098 • pamela at sacnutritionist.com • www.sacnutritionist.com
Mayumi Tavalero
Mayumi has worked in the restaurant industry for over 17 years and for the last 7 years was the director of Shallots Cooking School (inside Nugget Market) in Vacaville. Over the years she has had the wonderful opportunity to learn from some of the best chefs in the region.
Mayumi is a full time mother of two young boys she was looking for a career that would afford her a flexible schedule along with the joy of working with food and people, as she had done before. Well, she didn’t find that “perfect” job, so decided to take a leap of faith and venture out on her own. And that is how Fork&Knife Creations was born!
She is passionate about food in every way and truly enjoys working with people to help them cultivate their “inner chef”. One of Mayumi’s greatest joys is passing on her knowledge of food to others and helping students feel confident in the kitchen. If we stop for a moment and reflect on some of our happiest memories, most involve food! So learning to cook and sharing it with others can bring a great sense of pleasure and fulfillment to our everyday lives.
Emily Webber
Emily Webber is a Nutrition & Cooking Instructor for the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and the Cancer Project. Emily also teaches her own vegan cooking classes and hosts a blog called Skinny Mom Healthy Child: Achieve Your Optimal Weight, Promote Wellness and Teach Your Kids to Love Healthy Foods. Prior to joining PCRM, Emily ran the culinary school at Whole Foods Market Sacramento. Emily holds a B.A. in Religion and a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University and lives in Sacramento, CA with her husband and their 4-year old son.
In 2002, Emily discovered a whole foods, plant-based diet and lost over 40 pounds in one year. That transformation changed her life – giving her a new outlook on life and eventually a new career. Learn more about Emily at www.emilywebber.com and www.skinnymomheathychild.com.
“We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.” - Adelle Davis
