In our fast-paced urban lifestyle, sometimes the comfort of a home-cooked meal seems like a luxury of the past. Much of what we’re putting in our mouths, as we rush from work to gym to home, fails to match the quality, both in terms of taste and of health, of a home-cooked meal.

Enter the personal chef.

For the young urban professional, the new mom, the busy family - for you, and me - they are the perfect solution. Every personal chef runs his or her business differently, but the principle remains the same: they cook, their clients eat. With a focus on healthy and tasty meals for clients with diet restrictions, Monique Taylor of LemonTree Chef Services is one such personal chef, offering a one-on-one, custom-made, homemade food solution for busy singles, families and couples in Toronto.

Taylor’s business was born out of her own experience learning to cook for her husband after he suffered a heart attack. She describes the process of adjusting her own cooking practices, “I began to read about good fats, bad fats, cholesterol, omega threes, percent of fat in your diet, different forms of proteins, etc.,” she says. “So I could educate myself and my husband. Before I knew it we were eating healthy every meal and not feeling like we were missing out.”

With experience as a graphic design entrepreneur under her belt, she saw a business opportunity, “I knew how much time it took to learn how to eat healthy and knew not all people facing the same health scares would have the time or ability to do the same.”

Taylor’s service is personalized, from start to finish. Most clients find her via her website, or through Hire a Chef, part of her paid membership and association with the Canadian and United States Personal Chef Associations. Monique begins by sitting down with a client, and completing a five page survey giving some indications of their likes and dislikes, as well as their particular diet requirements and budget.

Importantly, she notes any medical or dietary needs, and works to accommodate these, and also offers the LemonTree Organics line for clients who wish to eat organic goods. She then generates a personalized menu, based on research and the tried and true classics, as she says, “I have a number of recipes that many clients like so I can alter them to each individual’s needs, but I also do research and come up with new recipes for some clients.” As she notes, there are many ways to adjust the recipes: “usually adding a small twist, say lemon zest, or roasted garlic, or toasted pine nuts - something to make it more unique and add another dimension of flavour.”

The actual “cook day” usually takes about 8 hours. Taylor purchases the food first thing in the morning, then brings it, along with all her cooking and cleaning equipment, to the client’s home. She will make 4-6 meals of 4 portions each, plus side dishes if needed, and package them all to be frozen in the client’s freezer. After clean-up, she leaves the client with instructions for preparing their homemade meals, and heads home to rest her tired feet!

Clearly, the work of a personal chef can be gruelling, but it seems that for Taylor, the ability to offer a personalized food experience is worth it. “I feel there are many sources to find convenient food,” she says, “but not many to find food that caters to your specific health requirements while incorporating your own tastes as well. What if you need a really strict diet - no dairy, low salt - and you can’t digest onions or you hate mushrooms? Where else can you go but to a personal chef?” In a world where fast seems to rule so many peoples’ lifestyles, including our choice in the kitchen, it’s refreshing to see homemade meals making such a resurgence!