Meet the Team
We are a network of private chefs in Portland Oregon who share a passion for healthy, whole-foods cooking & environmental sustainability. We believe that eating healthy should never mean compromising on deliciousness. We combine vibrant local foods with simple yet elevated cooking techniques for a unique farm-to-table experience you can enjoy at home!
JOHANNA GLASER
Co-owner, Chef, MScN Nutrition
She/Her
Chef Johanna is a personal chef & holistic nutritionist who is passionate about creating nourishing dishes featuring fresh produce from local farms and seasonal wild foods. She operates with the wisdom that our bodies are microcosms of the larger living earth and that in turn, each individual has different needs to support optimal health, in contrast to the one-diet-fits-all approach. Chef Johanna's cooking style is informed by farm-to-table and focuses on creating meals that highlight the abundance we have here in the PNW. Her work is also influenced by her Italian roots and the crafts of cooking passed down to her by her grandmother.
JED THAGGARD
Co-owner, Chef, MScN Nutrition
He/Him
Jed is a chef & nutritionist living in Portland, OR. After a decade working on organic farms, studying holistic health & nutrition, and growing a love for cooking, these interests & passions intersected to help form Gather Around Nutrition, a farm-to-table private chef company with a food-as-medicine approach to cooking. With Cajun roots and an adoration for rich global cuisines such as Thai, Mexican and Eastern Mediterranean, flavor is never lacking in Jed's food! He loves adapting recipes to have a "northwest flair" to showcase the abundance of local produce of our region. He also takes pleasure in adapting classic comfort foods to fit his clients' dietary needs. With a vegetable-forward approach to cooking, his meals will leave you feeling satisfied & healthy. As someone who has suffered with IBS, but now has it under control through diet & lifestyle changes, Jed wants to support others on their own health journeys by providing delicious home-cooked meals prepared with local, seasonal ingredients, creativity & love.
ALEXA BILLY
Chef, RD, Oncology Specialist
She/Her
Chef Alexa has been working as a registered dietitian since 2016, however her love of food began much earlier in life, growing up in the kitchen with her Italian mother. During her time working in an oncology clinic, Alexa recognized a significant gap between nutrition knowledge and the ability to nourish oneself well. Having witnessed the profound impact of nutrition on overall health and well-being, Chef Alexa became dedicated to providing her clients with the tools and knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their nutrition through carefully tailored medical nutrition therapy. She aims to empower individuals to take control of their health and find balance amongst the chaos. Chef Alexa is deeply committed to supporting and caring for individuals facing the challenges of cancer and treatment plans. By combining her expertise in oncology with a compassionate approach and a love of food, she strives to make a positive difference in the lives of her clients. Chef Alexa is proficient in a multitude of diets including diabetic, Mediterranean, paleo, low-FODMAP, vegan/vegetarian, heart healthy and many more. Her favorite cuisines to cook are Mediterranean, Middle-eastern, and Asian-inspired cooking. Her farm-to-table cooking style ensures the most nutrient dense foods of the season while also supporting local agricultures and economies.
KRISTINA TRANCKINO
Chef, CSC
She/Her
Kristina is a farm-to-table chef, yoga teacher, and herbalist living in Portland, OR. She is passionate about cooking with the best offerings of every season and has been working with farmers and seasonal ingredients for over 10 years. Kristina’s time spent at the Himalayan Institute provided her with knowledge of Ayurvedic cooking and using food as medicine to bring the body into balance. Through her self study and training, Kristina has observed the power of Ayurvedic food to heal a number of bodily imbalances, such as allergies and poor digestion. She pairs this with her knowledge of western herbalism to bring healing herbs into your daily meals. Kristina is experienced at accommodating allergies and food intolerances as well as a wide range of diets: vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and pescetarian. Kristina offers her clients the best produce, meat, eggs, and dairy that Oregon has to offer. She is excited to bring healing, nourishing, and tasty meals to your home.
RYAN BUGNASKI
Chef
They/Them
Ryan has over 15 years of professional cooking experience in a host of environments including a vegan food delivery service, a fine dining restaurant, neighborhood cafes and as a postpartum personal chef. Their love of food began at a young age in their grandmothers’ kitchens and was solidified in a culinary arts training program in high school. Informed by their roots in Ashkenazi Jewish and US Southern cooking styles, as well as an interest in international cuisines and whole food cooking techniques, Ryan brings dynamism and passion to pleasing your palate. In their twenties, they traveled extensively, volunteering and learning on organic farms, bolstering their love of farm-to-table cooking and invigorating a commitment to local & sustainable nourishment. They care deeply about making delicious, nutritionally dense meals with fresh local ingredients that nourish and bring people together. Ryan is very experienced in cooking and baking for a wide variety of dietary needs including: vegan/vegetarian, allergen-free, Mediterranean, Paleo, high protein & low carb, high or low fiber, and elimination-based dietary trials. They can accommodate even the most particular palate and preferences with pleasure.
SARAH BRENNAN
Chef
She/Her
Sarah’s relationship to food is guided by the permaculture principles of earth care and people care. She has found nourishing others through locally sourced, organic, nutritionally dense foods to be the most fulfilling way to intersect her passions for soil regeneration and community gathering and connection. With an educational background in environmental science and farming, cooking has become a way for Sarah to embody the things she cares about most, the health of our local community and the health of our local ecosystem. Sarah has been on a journey of exploring culinary nourishment since 2015. Her expression of working with food has looked many different ways, from cooking for a food truck serving up organic superfoods to hosting large scale farm-to-table dining experiences. All of her cooking excursions have been rooted in an affection to share the pleasure, joy, and healing that intentionally sourced and lovingly created foods can offer her community. Sarah is largely inspired by Mediterranean and Asian cuisines, with a seasonal twist, always bringing bright flavors and colorful aesthetics to her cooking.
GABRIELLA GONZALEZ
Chef, CHN, Certified Body Trust Provider
She/Her
Gabriella is a holistic nutritionist, grassroots food sovereignty activist & community educator. She graduated from The Wellspring School for Healing Arts in Portland where she studied nutrition with both a Western and Eastern lens. Her passion for cooking blossomed at a young age and she views food as a way to express her creativity, connect with her ancestors & the earth, as well as re-affirm self-love. Her cooking style is global and she loves to weave flavors from all across the world including her own Nicaraguan indigenous roots. Guided by the rhythms of PNW seasonality, Gabriella infuses herbal medicine knowledge and foraged foods into the meals she creates. Passionate about contributing to a more just food system, she focuses on supporting local farmers, ranchers, and fisherfolk directly. She is experienced in cooking for a variety of therapeutic diets including AIP, gluten-free, nightshade-free, and IBS but her passion lies in helping women become more in tune with their cycle and balance their hormones through food.
Gabriella also runs Sky Above Trail Grub, an adventure meal company that provides whole food plant-based dehydrated meals!
HANNA LILLY
Chef
She/Her
Born and raised in the rich and diverse ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest, Chef Hanna finds her food roots in Earth, literally! From preserving the harvest from the backyard plum tree to making Frolly Soup (an amalgam of sticks, leaves, dirt, and if we're lucky a worm or two), Chef Hanna has long understood that relationship to food and relationship to place are largely one and the same. Over the years, Chef Hanna has integrated this philosophy into work as a food systems educator, a farmer, and, most recently, the founder and lead producer of Freedom Harvest, a project working to build just food systems with previously incarcerated folks and their loved ones. While in the kitchen, Chef Hanna focuses her culinary exploration on foods that are highly nourishing, both on a biological and experiential level. She takes inspiration from her German matrilineal line to incorporate a nose-to-tail approach to cooking with animals (sometimes even doing her own butchering). She is also savvy with vegetarian and vegan cooking, thanks to several seasons as a produce farmer (you eat what you grow!).
EMILY GREEN
Chef
She/Her
As a personal chef, vegetable & herb farmer, and folk herbalist, Emily is passionate about actively practicing what it means to live in reciprocity with the land. She loves to cook nourishing meals that connect people to their environment and bodies, while also supporting farmers who are engaged in regenerative soil & seed practices to promote plant diversity. Her French, Italian, and Jewish roots have informed her love of cooking simple & seasonal foods, and her background in studying herbalism has expanded her ability to cook through a lens of food as medicine. Her joy in preparing meals informed by therapeutic diets is fueled by her own experience healing her body through nutrition.
CIEL LININGER, MScN
Chef
She/Her
Born and raised in Portland, Chef Ciel graduated from the National University for Natural Medicine with a master’s degree in the Science of Nutrition, where she focused on culinary and clinical nutrition. Chef Ciel aims to apply medical nutrition therapy, therapeutic diets and other dietary interventions to support people through improving quality of life and reaching nutritional wellness goals. She has a holistic approach which features foods that support health and vitality, and an emphasis on quality ingredients, seasonal produce, and supporting local farmers and food economy. With a background in preventative nutrition and community education, Ciel appreciates the value of people engaging directly with their food to create meaningful connections to nourishment. From a place of nonjudgmental and non-harming, Ciel strives to facilitate attainable yet significant shifts for individuals with their health and wellbeing through education, empowerment of food as medicine, and plant medicine.
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ALEYA BURG
Chef
She/Her
At the center of Aleya's food philosophy is the deep belief that when prepared with reverence and care, food holds so much power to heal, nourish, and support our unique needs. She takes to heart the responsibility of supporting small scale localized food systems by working with local regenerative and organic farms as much as possible. After years of vending at various farmers markets, she's cultivated close relationships with farmers in the area and enjoys sourcing the highest quality ingredients she can find. When not cooking for Gather Around, Aleya runs her own small batch herbal ghee business and loves utilizing her own products in her menu offerings. With a degree in Integrative Health Sciences from the National University of Natural Medicine, she has a rich understanding of ancestral nutrition principles and styles of cooking, Ayurvedic food philosophy, and folk herbalism. These systems all fuel her kitchen practices and ethos, and provide a deep appreciation for the rich food landscape we have the unique honor of being in relationship with here in the PNW.
JENNA MORENO, MScN
Chef
She/Her
Jenna is a holistic nutritionist with a Masters of Science in Nutrition from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. With a background in sustainability and environmental studies, she is passionate about bringing the power of nutrition to communities through emphasizing local, seasonal, and sustainable foods. Her love of cooking stems from her love of deeply nourishing the body with healing foods that highlight the beauty of seasonality. This holistic approach focuses on healing gut issues, balancing hormones, and preventing the onset of chronic diseases. The connections she has made to local producers has only further fueled her desire to connect more individuals to the abundance of the PNW. Her secondary passion lies in helping replenish and support the health of postpartum women as she is a mama herself.