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OUR STORY
Our Story
These are my parents on their wedding day. Even though I grew up in the USA, my parents felt it was important to keep our Filipino culture alive. They fed me authentic food from the Philippines and even taught me how to speak Tagalog. I've also been to the PI several times. When you are a customer you will taste the cuisine of my country. The history of the land is translated into the food with an influence of flavor from the Chinese, Spanish, Malaysian, & Indonesian. We hope the vibrancy of our food will bring you the same warmth and happiness that I felt as a child when eating my parents cooking.
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owner
Jan Zoleta Parker is a wife of a retiree in the US Army and currently lives in Tacoma, WA. She created a successful culinary program at the USO Rhein-Main in Germany for the military community offering a wide array of classes and events. Jan graduated with honors from The Art Institute of Seattle with a Bachelor of Culinary Arts Management and an Associate of Baking & Pastry. Her alma mater showcased her work in a national campaign, “Create Tomorrow”.
Jan’s professional culinary experience includes cooking at a 5 Star hotel, The Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle, working on a private estate, and catering on yachts. She has made contributions to the Emmy Award winning show on PBS, “Nick Stellino Cooking with Friends''. Her food has been showcased on No Passport Required hosted by Chef Marcus Samuelsson.
Chef Jan loves how food brings people together and enjoys teaching all levels of cooking. She is passionate about sharing world cuisine flavors and ingredients. Jan takes pride in cooking from scratch and using seasonal ingredients in her Filipinx inspired menu.
Her previous community contribution was mentoring the Wiesbaden High School Culinary Team for the DODDS European Culinary Competition for Pro-Start. Chef Jan has taught in different capacities for large corporate events, Military Spouses Club, Girl Scouts, Mothers of Preschoolers. The Armed Forces Radio Network in Wiesbaden, Germany allowed Chef Jan to make frequent appearances to share her culinary expertise and offered cooking advice to its listeners.
Jan Parker Cookery can be found at local Farmer’s Markets and outdoor events in Tacoma, WA. Her booth showcases “Fresh & Distinct” Filipinx food. Past markets include: Broadway, Proctor, & Steilacoom Farmers Market, Tacoma Night Market, Tacoma Sunday Market, The Community Market, Moonlight Market & the Field House Flea Market. Creating a sustainable business is important. We have a relationship with a local CSA, Share the Wealth Organics and Adam’s Mushroom.
This year she wants to continue to build relationships with Filipinx in Tacoma and all over the world. It’s her mission to continue to spread the word about her culture through food and curated events.
Chef Jan dreams of building a culinary center in Tacoma for immigrants and people of color. This space would provide business acumen education and a commercial kitchen where people can build their food business. Most importantly where this community will be compelled and proud to produce food from their heritage.
CHEF JAN
TESTIMONIALS
I met Chef Parker when I signed up to take a cooking class through the USO in Germany. I always loved to cook so when I came across the announcement I didn’t hesitate to enroll and let me tell you I’m glad I did it, not only did I get to learn new recipes and meet new people, it was a pleasure of meeting Chef Parker, she's not only made us feel comfortable but had a lot of patience and took pride in teaching us how to make lots of good food. After the first class I decided to continue taking classes with her and in one of those courses, I enrolled my husband, a guy who has not cooked anything in his life but to my surprise, he enjoyed it very much and was very pleased with the class and the Chef. He ended up taking one more class with her. Chef Parker engaged everyone in the class making it fun. I will take more classes with her anytime.
Maria A.
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