Chef Rebecca Nedrow of Friend that Cooks was at the demo table at the Wichita Farmer’s Market today. This ISN’T one of the recipes she made, but she promised to post it for you!

Chef Rebecca Nedrow of Friend that Cooks was at the demo table at the Wichita Farmer’s Market today. The link is one of the recipes she made!

Chef Rebecca Nedrow of Friend that Cooks was at the demo table at the Wichita Farmer’s Market today. The link is one of the recipes she made!

Here’s some background on Rebecca. We know she’ll make a great Friend that Cooks!

Most little girls say they want to be a ballerina when they grow up. But when Rebecca Nedrow was asked that very question as a young girl she responded with, “ I want to bake cookies.” Every Saturday morning, Rebecca and her younger brother would wake up early to watch cartoons, and make personalized menus for their parents to have breakfast in bed. While the eggs rarely turned out, the chocolate chip cookies were always a big hit. Thus the culinary adventure began.

Food was always part of the plan for Rebecca. Early in high school, she decided that nutrition was the way to go. So her senior year when she was deciding where to go to college, Kansas State University was the only logical choice. In 2005, she graduated with her bachelor’s of Science in Dietetics. But instead of taking an internship to sit for the RD exam, she decided that it was time to finish her dream. So she started the apprenticeship program at Johnson County Community College. While taking all of her classes at the college, she also worked full time at the famous Overland Park restaurant 40 Sardines. She started working with James Beard Award winning Chefs Debbie Gold and Michael Smith on pastries and desserts and then moved to the line where she worked each station. Toward the end of her time there, she was in charge of all the private dining events and helped Chef Gold with demonstrations and cooking classes.

 

When she graduated from culinary school with an Associate of Applied Science as a Certified Culinarian, Rebecca decided that it was time to experience what other regions had to offer. James Beard Award winning Chef Mike Lata at FIG restaurant in Charleston, SC responded immediately to her resume. For a year she learned all about Southern cuisine and the true meaning of Farm-to-Table cooking. She was able to work with the freshest seasonal produce and seafood caught that very morning from the local farmers and purveyors of Charleston. She brought back with her also a wealth of knowledge about sustainable seafood when she returned to Kansas in early 2009.

 

 

 

 

After taking a short break from cooking to get settled in Wichita, Rebecca is back and excited to share her passion and love for local fresh seasonal food with you. “I am excited to continue learning with all of the great local products here in my home state. And I look forward to working so closely with all of the great families and friends here in Wichita”.