Mary’s love of cooking started at a young age; she made her first apple pie for her family with apples picked from the tree in her yard when she was nine years old. Turning raw apples into a pie was magical and the pleasure her family expressed left a lasting impression. Cooking and eating meals together was a daily event growing up. Her family grew most of their vegetables.  Their milk, eggs and bread were home delivered. Meals were often shared with friends and sometimes strangers who became friends over a meal. She's learned to cook from many people and places including Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the people from around the world she met while working and living in the middle east.

Mary's business life began as a computer scientist working on large scale applications. She's commuted for work across the country and understands how difficult it can be to cook when work, family and social demands are pressing.

Eating and drinking are essential yet far too many of us have been seduced by fast food whose taste is amped with sugar and salt - cheap ingredients keep it's financial cost low but at a high cost to our health.

Healthy Gourmet Kitchen was started when Mary couldn't find pantry staples without added sugars, preservatives, salt or other unnecessary ingredients. Mary set out to create healthy soup starters & seasoning mixes for people who are too busy to cook or maybe not yet confident in the kitchen. She drew on her memories of great meals with the guiding principle of healthy meets delicious. 

"We love hearing from our customers how their families loved what they cooked or how they made it different. People return again and again trying one variety after another. People bond over food, it's a universal language, best when shared."