By Deborah Reed

WKTV Managing Editor

deborah@wktv.org

Chef Syndy Sweeney of T. Rex & the Rabbit Foods will be at the Wyoming branch of Kent District Library (KDL) on Tuesday, March 26 to share her love of food and cooking with local residents.

For Sweeney, cooking is about more than just food. It’s about connection and comfort.

“For me, food has always been love,” said Sweeney. “My mom started teaching me when I was about four, and food was always something that I did for comfort and for connection.”

Combining books and cherries

At the Baking with Michigan Cherries KDL event, Sweeney will share the many ways to create delicious baked goods using Michigan’s seasonal cherry bounty.

The event is being held in conjunction with KDL’s On the Same Page community-wide reading initiative featuring the novel Tom Lake by best-selling novelist Ann Patchett. Patchett’s novel is centered around Michigan’s Traverse City cherry orchards.

“I read the book and have developed a lecture where we’re going to cover basic baking tips with regular flour and gluten-free flour, and incorporate as many different cherry products as possible,” said Sweeney.

Attendees will learn common-sense tips to successful baking, as well as favorite components, ingredients and baking equipment/utensils.

Sweeney encourages participation and questions during her demonstrations.

“I want people to feel engaged,” said Sweeney. “I want people to feel comfortable touching the dough and smelling the ingredients that I am using in my demonstration.”

Dinosaurs and rabbits

As a personal chef, Sweeney offers catering services for small events, meal prep, and several options for cooking classes through various community programs.

“Where you need a chef, I go,” Sweeney said. “I don’t have a restaurant, and I don’t have a storefront. But I have a lot of equipment, and a car and a cart. And muscles,” Sweeney added with a laugh.

Though Sweeney has been a vegetarian for over thirty years, her parents and her husband eat meat.

“I was always making substitutions,” said Sweeney. “I would make two versions of the same thing but with different proteins.”

T. Rex & the Rabbit Foods is a fitting name for Sweeney’s business due to the chef’s refusal to restrict herself to one practice of cooking. Whether vegetarian, a meat lover, vegan, kosher, gluten-free, halal, or dealing with food allergies, Sweeney is onboard.

“I don’t like when food is politicized,” said Sweeney. “I cook for everybody.”

Though Sweeney loved cooking, she doubted she would be able to make a living as a personal chef. However, Sweeney has been amazed at how her desire to help people connect through food has expanded into the successful business it is today.

“It’s been a lot of work, a lot of talking to people, testing recipes, and just word of mouth and hustling,” said Sweeney. “It’s a lot of fun, and it’s been very challenging and humbling at times.”

Sweeney enjoys the teaching aspect of her job, using her skills to highlight the ways food connects people rather than dividing them. That sense of community is something she strives for in each of her lectures and classes.

Registration and information links for a variety of fun upcoming events!

For more information about Sweeney’s Baking with Michigan Cherries KDL event, click here.

To register for Sweeney’s Cherries on Top hands-on cooking workshop at Kentwood Parks & Rec, click here.

Many of Sweeney’s cooking classes can be found at the Kentwood Parks & Recreation and Forest Hills Community Services websites.

KDL branches are hosting various events centered around the novel Tom Lake in preparation for author Ann Patchett’s April 24 visit to Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin University. Details for this event can be found here.