About Rochelle
I’m a food, wine, travel and lifestyle writer currently based out of Syracuse, New York.
After receiving a Grand Diplome in Classic Culinary Arts from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan, I worked as an intern and line cook at Aldea, a New York Times and Michelin-starred restaurant where I promptly got a good ass-kicking and learned how to arrange chive tips on a plate using tweezers.
I moved back to Syracuse, New York, where I was raised and where herbs are largely taken less seriously to nurture a career in food writing. Since my return, I wrote a food and entertaining column for Syracuse Magazine and a culinary column for the Syracuse Post- Standard, as well as taught cooking classes and performed relevant charity work. A recent private dinner for 8 cooked by me was recently bid on for $6,000 at the Jim Boeheim Basket Ball Gala.
On a national scale, I’ve written a travel guide for the city of Syracuse in partnership with USA Today, write about local food for Edible Finger Lakes, and write a column about cooking for guys for the CBS Man Cave Blog.
I’ve been a regular guest on the Morning AMp with Brian Babylon and Molly Adams, talking about eating local, organic and in-season.
I also write about wine, food, tourism and travel for the Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Alliance.
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In the winter of 2012, I wrote a story about Greyrock Farm, a year-round, full-diet, draft-powered CSA in Cazenovia, New York. I fell in love with the lifestyle and hung around, cooking meals until I became a part of the farm crew. I spent the last year as the CSA manager and full-time cook, performing various farmy tasks such as weeding vegetables, caring for livestock and learning to drive horses. In June of 2013, I will be leaving the farm to pursue writing full-time.
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Food is important to me. I believe that it should be beautiful, thoughtful and fresh. It’s how I cook, and it’s how I eat.