I’m so glad to meet you!
Sawatdee Ka, my name is Jeem Elliott and I’m Thai. I’m the creator of Gourmet Vegetarian Kitchen.Com. I have a background in art and design, and used to be an interior designer in Thailand for many years. About 20 years ago I was ready for a change, so I decided to follow my path to the USA. I landed in a place I have since called home: Eugene, Oregon. I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for seventeen years now. After many difficulties along the way, I’m also “Mama” to our one and only, amazing daughter– who was born two months early but has become an especially healthy pre-teen.
A little more about me,
Coming from Thailand, a land known for its most delicious food, I never learned to cook. If you have been to Thailand, you probably know how easy it is to find fresh food just about anywhere. Like many people, I always relied on other’s cooking. However, I had to learn to cook when I first moved to the US as I couldn’t just step out of the house and get what I wanted.
I started out cooking with my husband, following every step from cookbooks we used, and was so afraid to do anything slightly different from the instructions. I really had to change and confronted my fears of cooking without a cookbook when we welcomed our preemie daughter to the world. As you can imagine, every minute I had was spent on her, so the time to spend looking at cookbooks was gone. During that critical time, eating nutritious foods to stay healthy and strong was even more important to me, especially as we’d decided to raise our daughter vegetarian.
Carrying my preemie with the heart monitor on the other shoulder while cooking. I had to stay healthy & strong!
I have done a lot of experimenting and believe that foods closest to their natural forms with minimal seasoning are best, and that nutrition along with a little creativity easily makes foods gourmet. Even though my daughter is big and healthy now, and I have more time to follow recipes again, I don’t use cookbooks much anymore. I’ve developed a habit of creating my own healthier versions of well-known Thai dishes and west-coast healthy creations wherever I live–even when I don’t have all the cooking supplies. I’m very excited to share them with you!
. . . and my family’s adventure.
My husband and I love traveling and particularly living in other cultures, but we have also enjoyed investing lots of time in our own home and community. When our daughter was young we did mostly just that. After a trip to Asia when she was 8, we started a new phase of our adventures deciding that living in a different country as a family would be great for our daughter–turned out it really benefits all of us. We decided to do one school year abroad every third year, and to keep Eugene, Oregon as our home base.
Experiencing different cultures is what we want our daughter to have
By living frugally, consciously, and with good plans we were able to spend the 2013-14 school year in a small town in Taiwan. This 2016-17 school year, we are in Spain. The adventures have given us lifetime memories and exceptional friends. Besides the USA and Thailand, we now feel proud to call, Taiwan and Spain our homes too.
Now, it’s your turn, I’d like to know about you too. Please share your stories with me and let’s keep in touch.
Jeem
Hi i love your recepicies and your way to do yuor video! I hope you’ll come to Italy once! I live in Florence…maybe we can meet for a good vegetarion dinner!Bye bye Alexandra
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I lived in Spain for a year and traveled to Florence while I was there, I loved Florence so much and will definitely go back soon!
Thank you for sharing your story, Jeem.
I happen to be at the crossroads as I type this, desperately in need of change, of uprooting and being in a place where I would thrive. I’m from a city where I struggle for the most of the past three decades or so with the lack of a sense of belonging, a sense of ‘home’. I’ve arrived at a conclusion that I’m akin to a cactus in the Arctic – no wonder I’ve been wilting!
Three years ago, I found my ‘home’ – Amsterdam. It’s a city that I’ve been travelling to every winter for three years now. In your intro above you wrote that you were ready for a change, and that speaks to me, because that’s the state of mind I’m currently having, even though I have found myself a great job with flexible schedule and amazing coworkers two years ago. The desire for change is on my mind every day. I wish I could just do it. Perhaps it really isn’t all that hard, but it does take some planning and to have a spouse who is willing to come along on my adventure.
But thank you for showing that such a change is possible by living it yourself. 🙂
Best,
TC
Yes, it’s easier to make a change when you are by yourself– that what I did 23 years ago. Now that I have a family, I agree that it’s harder. However, I’m every lucky that my husband and daughter have the same idea of where we want to be and live. It’s also good to be able to stay put for while, this way we get to know the area better.
Hi. my name is Lady Mascheria. I came across your youtube channel and felt in love with it. I am a Podcaster. And the founder of Better Health for Women and Men.
I love cooking. Food is what can heal us or destroy us. So I am working on ways to promote better health and a better lifestyle. Once again Thank you for such great videos
Hi Lady, I’m so glad you found my channel. What you do sounds really good, thank you for sharing it with me.
Your videos are very beautiful and, may I say, serene.
We are Whole food plant based since a few years and sharing knowledge and hard earned e experience like this is a great gift to everyone who tries taking responsibilities for their health and their impact on the environment. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind comment!
Thank you for sharing your story, you are a blessing !
I am French, vegetarian since 2 years. 6 months ago i found out i have endometriosis and had a surgery.
The surgeon said i am at a severe level, i don’t know whether i can have a baby oneday or not.
Since then, my health become my priority and i am now learning how to cook vegan and anti-inflammatory by myself.
This is how i came across your YouTube channel. I also enjoy food from all over the world.
Thanks again for your inspirational recipes ! Keep on cooking !
Sorry to hear about your heath issue, please take care of yourself. Thank you so much for your kind comment, I’m so glad you found my YouTube channel!
I’ve just came across your videos and I love them!!! You are very inspirational and the answer to my quest for cooking from scratch and with simple but nutritious ingredients. I’m very encouraged by your fermenting foods to try my hand at it. Your family is lovely and your lifestyle very inspiring.
Thank yo so much fro your kind comment, I’m so glad you like my way of cooking and lifestyle.
I came across your YouTube channel and was blown away! I love the simplistic way you show how things are made, I am encouraged now to continue along the path of healthy eating and I’m so glad that you are sharing these recipes with the world. I wish you many blessings and joy!
I’m so glad you found my YouTube channel and so happy you’ll continue the path of healthy eating. I’ll definitely continue to share my recipes through my blog and videos. Thank you so much!
Your videos are inspirational – your background in Art and Design absolutely shows! And your kitchen counter and sink are so spotless clean – how do you manage that? I just binged almost view videos [ I’m vegan so I skipped the ones that are not] and will follow you from now on watching peach video from “cover to cover” to help it rank as it is the best of its kind and should be having millions of subscribers ! I strongly suggest you start your own email list so that you are less dependent on YouTube or Google search. Seems you’re very special family – all the best!
(Forgive the anonymity – I prefer it this way – I don’t let it take away from my heartfelt words above)
Thank you so much for you kind comment. Please forgive me that I took so long to see this. I don’t usually get comments on my blog posts so I don’t check it as often as I should.
I like to keep my house including my kitchen clean so I can have a clear mind to create my contents.
I don’t know much about doing my own email list or growing my website and channel yet. I know that I’m not comfortable asking people to subscribe to my website or channel at all. I feel like if people really like what I do, they will subscribe to both my website and channel eventually. Thank you again for your support!
I love your video on how to make Korean style soy sauce. We had Thai next door neighbors when I was growing up. Military Attaches’ and their families, on their postings here in the Philippines, during the 60s. My brother and I were friends with the son of the first family, the Pivulvechs. I recall that they always had cold tea for drinking instead of water, a practice I did at my own house for sometime. Is this a common practice in Thailand. BTW, the eldest daughter was also named Jeem.
Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your memories. Is your friend daughter’s name spelled the same as mine?
ทำดีมากค่ะ สนับสนุนค่ะ ถ้าทำเป็นภาษาไทยด้วยน่าจะ ได้ผู้ชมเป็นคนไทยเยอะนะคะ
Thank you so much ka, I’ll keep it in mind.