Meet, Wild woods chef
Cate Meade
Cate Meade is a wild child adventurer turned professional chef.
Three-time MasterChef competitor and former Top 4 finalist. Cate was born in Chicago, Illinois, with her heart and soul lost somewhere in backwoods country.
Cate feels most grounded and connected to the earth when hunting and gathering all that it provides.
Cate is redefining “farm to table” as “forest to fork” by bringing the “wild woods” straight to your plate.
My Approach
I am a hunter gatherer,
just like my ancestors.
We have it much easier than they did, but I still feel their spirit within me every time I’m in nature. I feel a connection not just to my past ancestors but to my present community thru my work as a chef.
Connect to the Earth, share the wild, and conserve its beauty for the future. It’s my philosophy not only in cooking but in life. My north star is hunting for nature’s gifts and creating a connection that I can share around a table. It’s the fuel to my fire, the marrow in my bones, I am the wild woods chef. “Let’s Get Lost Folks!”
Connection
There is something so beautiful about tasting food that you grew, harvested, and served for yourself.
Appreciation
There is joy in bringing attention to the natural form of food. Wild foods don’t need anything to keep coming back. They just need you to find and enjoy them.
My Background
Growing Up in the city didn’t stop me from getting outdoors
My home was in Chicago, but I was still riding horses, throwing atlatl, and competing in archery competitions any chance I had. I spent many weekends at a family friend’s farm, in Pecatonica, IL and quickly fell in love with the country, fishing, and bird hunting.
It was an innate feeling I didn’t understand then, but I was discovering something not many kids were being taught. It was a deep respect for Mother Nature. The wild foods you work for not only taste better, but they better you in the process.
When you engage all 6 senses in the wild, you recharge all of life’s internal batteries. You can’t pick up a book to find this or feel these connections. Its something innate inside of you, only nature has the key to unlock.
