Meet Chef Jade | Cooking With Jade

Meet Chef Jade

Hi. My name is Jade and this is my story! I was born in Hatsukaichi, Japan adopted at the age of 3 by Sandy and Edward and brought to Springfield, Illinois to live. I have an adopted brother named Naveen and a fur baby named Zelda.

When you’re adopted, you usually spend a lot of time thinking about your biological background. So, after I graduated from culinary school, I decided to backpack across various countries where my ancestors hailed from, in order to find out more about “who I am”. I traveled back to Japan where my Mother was from, to Jamaica where my Father was born and raised, and even went to India where my Great Grandmother on my Father’s side was from.

While traveling and connecting with biological family members, I realized early that food was a great way to connect to culture. I learned why certain ingredients were used in different regions of countries vs. others, why some dishes are served cold in Southern France vs. being served warm in Northern France, and the different ways of handling chopsticks in Japan vs. China.

All these new experiences and knowledge made me so excited and I was bursting to share it with someone, so I thought the best way to do that was a blog. And that’s how Cooking With Jade was born. So, take a look around and let me know what you think!

Five Thousand Two Hundred

My Mission

During my travels, I have seen some incredible countries with bountiful resources, but I have also been exposed to countries that aren’t as fortunate. This has led me to my mission of providing at least 100 meals per week to people who are food insecure around the world. I’m doing this in several ways. It is through either donation, volunteers, or partnerships.

I’m currently working on putting out exclusive NFTs that will allow this work to flourish, but until then, check out the links below if you’re interested in helping with my efforts.

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