Chef Michael Mina and entrepreneur Tanya Melillo, co-founders, today launched Cook Taste Eat, a digital media company delivering free daily emails and a website, featuring premium culinary videos and recipes by some of the country’s most acclaimed chefs. Cook Taste Eat provides culinary content designed to educate and inspire food lovers and home cooks, hosted by Michael and singer-songwriter Michelle Branch, a passionate home cook herself.
Similar to the way in which oenophiles delight in wine, Cook Taste Eat aims to provide subscribers a greater appreciation of food centered around what Michael believes are the keys to becoming better cooks and eaters – great ingredients and the ability to understand them to build meals centered on balance and flavor. Cook Taste Eat helps aspiring chefs and curious foodies take the ingredients, balanced flavors, and insightful techniques that drive restaurant-quality dishes into their home kitchens.
“One of my greatest pleasures as a chef and restaurateur is connecting with guests, colleagues, friends and family through cooking,” said Michael. “Cook Taste Eat allows me to engage with an even broader audience and provides individuals the unique opportunity for real culinary learning – whether they love to cook or eat or both – in a casual and entertaining environment. Our goal is to expand subscribers’ appreciation for food and enable them to wow guests and feel more confident in the kitchen.”
Cook Taste Eat affords subscribers an intimate look behind the scenes and an exclusive, informal opportunity for culinary learning by chefs like Michael, a Michelin-star recipient, James Beard Award winner, and recipient of Esquire and Zagat’s Restaurant of the Year 2012. Michael’s culinary and business vision has led to the opening of 20 concept restaurants across the country.
As co-host of Cook Taste Eat, Michael will cook alongside Michelle, a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, wife, mother and friend of Michael’s. Inspired by her love of all things food and cooking, Michelle acts as the voice of viewers, asking practical questions, trying new techniques, and tasting seasonal meals during each daily video.
“The concept of Cook Taste Eat was conceived after wondering why more culinary media – specifically food videos – were either entertaining or informative, but rarely both” said Tanya, co-founder and visionary behind Cook Taste Eat. “Cook Taste Eat, which intends to inspire and engage food lovers by connecting them to experienced chefs and influencers, is the first digital culinary platform of its kind. We encourage subscribers to have fun and be adventurous, using the digital videos, daily emails and website to test out meals they never thought they could cook at home and to approach culinary learning in a very different way.”
Cook Taste Eat delivers a premium culinary video each day via a free daily email and website. Over the course of the week, subscribers will learn how to cook an amazing meal that they never thought possible to prepare at home. In addition to learning practical chef techniques to use at home, Cook Taste Eat delves into using one’s palate and sense of smell and sight, providing tricks and tips to make go-to dishes that taste and look incredible.
The first meal, developed by Michael and prepared alongside Michelle, is a Sesame-Crusted Ahi Tuna, Falafel (Michael’s mom’s falafel), Tahini and Grilled Cucumber. Meals for the following weeks include Michael’s favorites from his own home, in addition to restaurant signatures from Butter Basted Chicken to Lobster Pot Pie as well as flavorful dishes by renowned guest chefs who exemplify cooking with bold, balanced flavor.
Cook Taste Eat’s line-up of guests is comprised of celebrated chefs from the Bay Area, and will be followed by future appearances by notable chefs and personalities from across the country, invited by Michael to cook dishes that are interesting throughout the entire meal. Touching on every point of his balance philosophy, confirmed guests include Charles Phan of The Slanted Door on elevated and creative ethnic cuisine; Mourad Lahlou of the Michelin-starred Aziza on harmonizing flavors and modern interpretations of traditional dishes; Michael Chiarello, acclaimed chef and owner of Napa Valley’s Bottega and star of the Food Network and Cooking Channel, offering insights into Southern Italian favorites; Ken Tominaga, famed for his Sonoma County’s Hana Japanese Restaurant and Baltimore’s PABU, who will take the mystery out of making sushi; and Tim Ferriss, #1 New York Times’ bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Chef – The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life.
A go-to resource offering subscribers exclusive access to expert advice and insight, Cook Taste Eat’s free daily emails feature a daily video along with fun facts and insights into the flavors that come together to make the dishes work so well. All content is also available on the website, www.CookTasteEat.com <http://www.CookTasteEat.com> , which provides a comprehensive library of video recipes, ideas and recommendations by acclaimed chefs along with specialized content such as wine and dessert pairings shared by sommeliers, tastemakers, and culinary personalities.
Subscribe to Cook Taste Eat’s free daily emails by visiting www.CookTasteEat.com <http://www.CookTasteEat.com> and entering your email address. For more information please visit Cook Taste Eat’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/CookTasteEat <http://www.Facebook.com/CookTasteEat> , follow exciting content and tips on Twitter via @CookTasteEat and on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/cooktasteeat/ <http://pinterest.com/cooktasteeat/> .
About Cook Taste Eat
Cook Taste Eat is the first digital culinary platform of its kind founded by Chef Michael Mina and entrepreneur Tanya Melillo. Headquartered in San Francisco, the epicenter of food and technology in America, the free daily email and website deliver premium culinary videos and recipes by some of the country’s most acclaimed chefs including Mina, a Michelin-star recipient and James Beard Award winner. The start-up has attracted a team of luminaries including Grammy Award-winning singer Michelle Branch as co-host, Emmy-nominated producer/director Paul Swensen, some of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors, and an array of guest chefs and tastemakers from across the country. Driven by the shared passions of its founders, Cook Taste Eat affords home cooks and food lovers an intimate look behind the scenes and an exclusive, informal opportunity for culinary learning. Learn more and/or subscribe by visiting www.CookTasteEat.com <http://www.CookTasteEat.com> .
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