The Amazing Stories of 3 Ketogenic Chefs

  • There is a growing effort to make the ketogenic diet more palatable for children and adults.
  • Meet three chefs who are creating delicious ketogenic diet food.

Epilepsy News From: Tuesday, September 19, 2017

The emergence of ketogenic diet baking mixes has led several of the ketogenic diet formula companies and parent support groups to design recipes to make the diet more palatable for children and adults.

Who better to create recipes than chefs?!?

Over the past 10 years, I’ve had the pleasure to meet several chefs, but three of them come immediately to mind for their interesting stories and delicious recipes. For this month’s Keto News, I asked each of these three chefs to share their journeys, reasons for being ketogenic diet chefs, and favorite recipes! Meet Chef Neil Bosomworth from Vitaflo, Chef Patrick Wiese from Matthew’s Friends Canada, and Chef Rachel Finn from Nutricia.

Bon Appetit!

A Message from Chef Neil Bosomworth (Vitaflo)

Chef Neil Bosomworth
Chef Neil Bosomworth of Vitaflo

My Introduction to the ketogenic diet was when I met Emma Williams from Matthew’s friends 10 years ago. She told me the story about her son Matthew and how it had changed Mathew’s life. I was so inspired by her that I started to work on ketogenic recipes.

At the time most people thought the ketogenic diet was just about drinking a lot of oil and cream and was very unpalatable. Working with Mathew’s Friends, we started to change the way people thought about the diet, and the first foods I made were keto pizza, wraps, and pastries.

I present lots of workshops for families who are just starting on the diet. It’s great to see the change in families. They are often nervous and worried about how they are going to cope with this diet, but by the end their confidence has grown and their worries gone. The best part of my job is seeing the families find out how easy it to make great keto food that looks and taste really good.

My favourite recipes are Carbzero chicken curry with cauliflower rice, tiramisu, keto ice cream, and Mo’s Matthews Friends Sausage rolls. You can find lots of great recipes at www.myketogenicdiet.co.uk and www.matthewsfriends.org/keto-kitchen.

tiramisu
Keto Tiramisu

Meet Chef Patrick Wiese (Matthew’s Friends Canada)

Chef Patrick Wiese
Chef Patrick Wiese of Matthews Friends Canada
  • Previous competitor on Top Chef Canada season 1
  • Chef to many high profile clients and celebrities in and around the world
  • Once personal Chef to Oprah Winfrey

His long span of 20 years as a chef now takes him into yet another exciting chapter in the culinary world.

Chef Wiese’s background in specific dietary and medical based eating lifestyle menus brings him to the ketogenic world with Matthew’s Friends Canada. Using his well-educated culinary techniques in taking what we all know and love and giving them just the right balance of fun and frivolous flair to create approachable but enticing menu items for the keto world.


“I love being able to heal and nourish people through food,” says Wises. He adds it is the greatest reward for any chef. Ketogenic world to me means that as a chef, I can design recipes and menus that bring families together. Get them all involved in the kitchen because bringing back family time is essential. It is my honour to be able to be Chef Patron for Matthew’s Friends Canada and together we will make an impact. Favorite recipe – Keto Pizza!

Chef Patrick Wiese

keto pizza
Keto Pizza

Introducing Chef Rachel Finn (Nutricia)

Chef Rachel Finn
Chef Rachel Finn of Nutricia

Chef Rachel is the chef/educator for medical diet therapies at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. Rachel has a background in hotel/restaurant management and owned a restaurant for 17 years.

Since 2014, Rachel has been developing a kid friendly approach to diet therapies at Children’s Mercy Hospital. She works in tandem with clinical providers to convert the science of nutrition into the art of cooking with patients at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. She develops individual plans, creates recipes and hosts monthly “Cooking with Keto Kids” classes for her patients and caregivers that provide a venue to test original recipes and receive support in a nonclinical setting.

Rachel has presented the benefits of her work as a member of the ketogenic diet team at American Epilepsy Society and Ketogenic Seminars conferences. She also creates original ketogenic recipes for Nutricia® North America using KetoCal® formulas.

Ketogenic foods Rachel has created for her patients that have received thumbs up are chocolate doughnuts, peanut butter banana muffins, chocolate chip and butter cookies, as well as puddings. Thanksgiving favorites include green bean casserole, stuffing, and apple crumble. Her favorite class was creating the keto friendly gingerbread houses that her patients decorated to their ratio.

Keto Gingerbread House
Keto Gingerbread House

 

Authored by

Eric Kossoff MD

Reviewed Date

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

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