Meet ET
Do you want to up your game in life? Better nutrition is definitely a part of the answer. But even more importantly, you need to enjoy the food you make.
My name is Erin Tarectecan, but you can call me ET. I’ve been a chef specializing in nutrition for over a decade, and I believe that food and cooking are radical tools.
What if I told you that medications perform better, brain fog lifts, energy returns and your quality of life goes up just by making really good food for yourself and your loved ones?
It’s not some magical miracle pill that’s going to solve your problems: it’s you, taking the power into your own hands.
Maybe meal prepping has felt like way too much work, but you know you should do it anyway. Or maybe you’re tired of spending money on unsatisfying meal kits or protein shakes.
No matter what ‘s keeping you from taking charge of your. meals, I’m here to help you overcome and burst that barrier.
I focus on:
Whole, local foods.
Any budget.
Practical meal planning, tailored to foods you actually want to eat.
Fundamentals of cooking and nutrition.
Specialized diets based on your unique needs.
Teaching you the skills you need to take it all into your own hands.
When it comes to nutrition, I take an individualized approach. I’m passionate about teaching people not just how to cook but how to think about food and nutrition. Food is the best medicine, and healing starts in the kitchen. Eating three times a day means three opportunities to give your body the best tools it needs to thrive.
My goal is to teach you to heal yourself and your loved ones through cooking. In fact, you shouldn’t need my help for very long. If I’m doing my job right, you’ll be self-sufficient in the kitchen in no time.
Fun facts about me:
It’s only fair that if I make you answer an intake form full of personal questions that I share my own!
What’s my favorite style of cuisine?
I spent my training days learning from French chefs, so my foundations are solidly European. That being said, I’ve only ever worked in fine dining Chinese, Japanese and Filipino restaurants, which I’ve found to be older and even more fundamental than French cooking.
My own cultural background is South American, so I love the fusion of Andean/Asian cuisine (something known as chifa in Peru and parts of Bolivia.)
I’ve also spent a lot of time working in daytime brunch cafes, which mean I am obsessed with easy, whole, balanced meals that come together quickly.
To make a long answer short: I love chifa-style brunch the most.
What does my kitchen look like?
I’m a millennial on a line cook’s salary, which means I rent, obviously. My kitchen has a half-sized dishwasher (a pain) but a decent gas stove with a terrible ventilation problem. As much as I want to cook like I’m on a restaurant line at home, my smoke detectors won’t let me.
That being said, you’d be stunned by the sheer quantity and quality coming out of my Jersey City apartment kitchen. I myself am an avid meal prepper. (And I won’t take any excuses as to why you don’t think your kitchen can do so, either!)
How did I get started teaching?
I used to be a line cook. I still think of myself as one, even though people do call me ‘chef’ now. I spent years of my life making no money, working 12+ hours a day 6 days a week, all for the love of restaurants.
I am obsessed with restaurants. I am obsessed with people who work in restaurants. It’s the most beautiful subterranean world to ever exist!
However, it wreaked havoc on my body. After a severe, prolonged, very confusing battle with a hormonal birth control-induced hormone imbalance, I realized that the life I loved was slowly but surely dismantling me from the inside out. (Ladies, please talk to me about hormonal birth control. It’s my other new favorite subject.)
So I stepped back from working the line and started doing other things: daytime brunch cafes, a little barista-ing while freelance recipe developing, and finally, teaching other people to cook. In fact, my day job right now is teaching hands-on classes in Hoboken, New Jersey.
I learned throughout the journey that the most important aspect of my healing was (ironically) the thing I’d been denying it for my entire career: food. The good, whole, balanced, well-made kind. As it turns out, I love to teach, as well!
Food holds remarkable transformational power. Anyone can wield it.
Contact me
I answer every email personally.