THOSE WHO NOURISH
Clover and Timothy Trained & Certified Postpartum Chefs
In 2023, Alicia Allison created a unique program called NOURISH to train doulas, private chefs and other care-workers in the art and practice of supporting families as a postpartum chef.
NOURISH trained and certified postpartum chefs have completed a five-month-long, live training with Alicia that includes in-depth lectures on postpartum nutrition and business development. Subject of lectures include topics such as: foods to favor for the first two weeks, blood building with whole foods, postpartum appropriate beverages, the role of nutrition on lactation, how to create postpartum menus and engage in menu planning with new parents during a sensitive and intense moment in life.
In addition to these live lectures, all participants also engaged in ongoing self-study throughout the course, including readings and podcasts on perinatal nutrition, recipe practice and personal menu creation informed by the principals and energetics they learned in the course. Each graduate has also engaged in a private mentorship session with Alicia and some go on to be part of our ongoing mentorship program where they receive real time support from Alicia while doing this work.
Every graduate is also part of a greater community of postpartum chefs who have completed the program, which allows them to have a wide resource and support network.
Those who are certified have additionally submitted their menus and packages to us and have our stamp of approval on them!
When you hire one of our trained postpartum chefs, you can rest assured that the person you will have in your home during this time period has not only a deep passion for this work, but the educational background, sensitivity and practical know-how to serve the needs of your body, your family and your spirit in a professional and organized way.
Alicia Allison is a pioneer and expert in the field of postpartum chef support and nutrition. She has been supporting families as a postpartum chef, herbalist, doula and lactation counselor for more than ten years and has supported over 80 families through the sacred first forty days postpartum. Additionally she works with people during their pregnancies, in the preconception period and sometimes throughout the entire first year of their child’s life. She has also supported people through miscarriage, abortion, fertility challenges and loss.
She created NOURISH to teach others to do the work she has been doing in an informed and supported way because she believes all families deserve and need this kind of care. She sees an incredible void in our modern medical system related to both postpartum care and the nutrition that is essential for long term recovery. She hopes that through this work we can affect long-lasting change in our society’s care of families and infants.
Based on Alicia’s many years of experience with families, we recommend you hire a postpartum chef for a minimum of 1-2 visits per week for 5 weeks postpartum whenever possible (or have family and friends sign up for a meal train to support you!). All of our chefs are trained to cook larger portions so that at each visit they leave you with nutrient dense meals for several days. We have recommended that our chefs charge no less than $50 an hour, aside from instances where they are offering sliding scale or low cost programs. When hiring someone for this time period and considering their fees, please remember personal chefs are freelancers so we must account for sick days, vacation days and administrative time such as menu planning with you in our hourly cooking rate. Additionally, many of us offer an on-call period where we hold time for you even if your baby hasn’t yet arrived. There is truly no other field that does so aside from some OBGYN’s and midwives, but even in these professions people often work as a team so as to not be on call and unpaid.
If you have any questions about our program or are looking for a postpartum chef to support you, we’d love to hear from you.