About Living Real Food Founder, Philippe Canabou

Coming from Italian and French ancestry, fresh, wholesome ingredients and healthy food are in my DNA. I was raised on real food. I come from a long line of chefs, cooks and farmers who had a strong work ethic, a passion for delicious fresh food, and a respect for the land and environment. They were connected to their food knew where it came from and how it was made. They believed that good food was fresh ingredients, simple, unrefined and the center of family and community. Food knowledge used to be handed down through generations of family tradition. Yet today that concept is lost. People often don’t grow up in an environment where they glean a lot of their basic food skills and knowledge at school or home.

While working in the point of purchase marketing industry, in the late 1990’s, I saw the very troubling beginning of the obesity epidemic. Since 1980, our national food culture has centered around a highly processed-laden Standard American Diet(SAD). Unfortunately we now see the signs of this processed foods legacy: off the charts obesity and poor health. Today, 1 out of 3 kids is overweight, if not obese.(Sources: American Heart Association and Center for Disease Control and Prevention). And as a chef, teacher, entrepreneur and stay-at-home father of five children, I know it’s possible to change this unhealthy trend with knowledge about real food.

It’s simple; just eat real food

In the mid-2000’s when I finished culinary school, I was constantly being asked how to eat healthy. My Response was always the same: “it’s simple; just eat real food.” I realized that while I had special training as a chef, and a healthy food heritage, most people didn’t know what real food was and how to prepare it. As my family’s main food nurturer and cook, I know making consistently healthy, good, and delicious food can be challenging, yet it can be learned. And it doesn’t have to be time-consuming, either. So by 2007, the ideal of Living Real Food was born. Living Real Food is about changing the way you live by changing the way you learn about food.

Food is so much more than what’s on your plate

My goal is to inspire people how to make real food, in their kitchen using fresh ingredients, a purposeful pantry and with basic tools. I believe health and community start with good food made from real food ingredients in your kitchen, and extends to making more informed choices outside the home, too.

Food is so much more than what’s on your plate. I am on a mission to educate folks about where their food comes from, which ingredients matter, and how to feel great about what they eat. Real food, made real simple.

Philippe has a Business Degree from San Diego State, a Le Cordon Blue Culinary Arts Degree from the California Culinary Academy and is a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers.