MEET OUR CHEFS
MEET OUR CHEFS
MARYJO EVENSON
Maryjo is a local food and mommy blogger with a wealth of food knowledge and experiences. She spent many years consulting with a multitude of Chefs, introducing them to up-and-coming food products and current culinary trends. She has also done a fair amount of international travel, taking the opportunity to learn traditional recipes hands-on in the kitchens of friends and family. In her spare time she enjoys paddle boarding, kayaking and hiking. Visit Maryjo's blog at www.justanothermomhq.com.
CHEF HANNAH HUNT
Hailing from Northern New Hampshire, Chef Hannah Hunt first became interested in cooking and baking by assisting her Nana in the kitchen as a child. Cooking was a way for Hannah to still feel connected with her grandmother after she passed, and the path was forged toward culinary school and a career in food. Hannah apprenticed at a four-star resort for 3 years while in culinary school. This intensive training paid off when she was offered an internship at The American Club in Kohler. Impressing them, she was offered a full-time position baking bread. After graduating, Hannah moved to Wisconsin to begin her professional career at The American Club. Since then, Chef Hannah has worked all over Sheboygan County in restaurants and cafes. She is currently the assistant chef at the CAFÉ inside the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Part of Hannah’s job is to create eclectic and delicious menu items for both the restaurant and Art Car food truck. She finds inspiration from different world cultures and from all the places she has worked in her career and looks forward to sharing her knowledge and techniques with Relish class attendees.
ELAINE JUMES
Concerned with the alarming rise in diet-related health issues in Sheboygan County, Elaine Jumes promotes healthy eating by offering nutrition education and cooking demonstrations to her community. Her classes are based on the latest evidence-based scientific research. Per Sheboygan County’s 2020 Community Health Survey, nearly 75% of adults are overweight or obese, and diagnosed diabetes has increased from 5% to 14% in less than 2 decades. It doesn’t have to be this way. Most of these chronic diseases are preventable and, in some cases, reversible through diet and lifestyle. As a licensed Food for Life Instructor from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), she is constantly rewarded by her clients’ results, seeing first-hand how they reduce their diet-related chronic diseases through diet and lifestyle changes.
The originator of KINDCooking, her cooking classes exude the meaning behind KIND, making cooking Kind-hearted, Inviting, Nutritious, and Doable! Ms. Jumes brings her plant-based prowess to Sheboygan County’s community as the owner and creator of Farsighted Foodie LLC. Elaine has been plant-based for over 20 years and knows, first-hand, how the food we eat today will affect our physical, mental, and emotional future. Elaine is a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach with a Plant-Based Nutrition Certification from the Center for Nutrition Studies (CNS) at eCornell. She also holds eCornell certifications in Wellness Counseling and Food & Sustainability.
Just as passionate about life as she is about her food, when she's not hiking the Wisconsin farmland with Greta Garbo, her dog, she enjoys yoga, cooking (of course), and reading John Sanford and Lee Child novels.
SUSAN PACK
In her 30-year career at at the Milwaukee Public Library, Susan cultivated her teaching and instructional skills. Combining her skills with her love for Indian cuisine, Susan put her passion into practice and became an expert on the ins and outs of vegetarian Indian cooking. Also a Certified Ayurveda Practitioner (CAP), Susan's unique skill set allows her to honor food as the most important source of medicine and good health. She recently collaborated on an Indian cookbook and will soon be teaching Indian cuisine at UW-Milwaukee. Let Susan take you on the cooking pilgrimage of a lifetime!
CHEF SHELLY PLATTEN
Chef Shelly Platten is an award-winning cook who has been involved in the food industry for over twenty years. She has been teaching classes and giving chef demos throughout central Wisconsin in venues ranging from adult continuing education courses and middle school summer camps to farmers markets and women’s wellness days. In 2016 she graduated with high honors from FVTC with an Associates Degree in Culinary Arts and is a certified ACF culinarian. Over the years she’s entered recipe and cooking contests as a hobby and has won over 80 national and state prizes. Her winning recipes have been featured on Good Morning America, local TV morning shows, and in Better Homes and Gardens, Cooking Light, Taste of Home and Vegetarian Times magazines. Industry experience includes being a head chef and baker, restaurant manager, and recipe developer for several cafes and grocery stores. Her passion for healthy cooking will continue on in her career direction of working with corporate wellness programs and personal chef events to harness the power of good eating. She’s excited to be part of the Relish instructor team and loves the fun interaction and shared passion for food these classes provide.
AMANDA STROJINC
Amanda Strojink was born and raised in Sheboygan and currently lives in Black River. She is a registered nurse by trade, but has a passion for canning and home food preservation. She is a proud educator, teaching food preservation skills such as canning, dehydrating, and curing. You can find Amanda teaching at Relish, of course, but also at the Mead Public Library and Lakeshore Technical College. Amanda enjoys beekeeping, raising chickens, cooking, and tinkering!