Chef Leah Nichols

By: Food & Dining, Lehigh Valley Style April 2012, In the Kitchen With..., Lehigh Valley Style, In the Kitchen with, Food

The name Rodale is synonymous with healthy living—staying active, fit and perhaps most importantly, eating well. Rodale, Inc.'s founder, J.I. Rodale, touted the benefits of organic growing and eating long before the term was understood and even longer before it became trendy to do so.

Today, the company finds many ways to educate the world about the benefits of eating organic foods. So it seemed only natural (pun intended) when the company established Rodale Catering and Events last November as another way to perpetuate their founder's message of healthy eating and bring the fruits of their labor directly to the plates of Valley residents. Helping to oversee this venture is Aussie chef Leah Nichols.

As Rodale's Director of Culinary Brand Development & Services, Nichols runs not only their catering efforts, but the company's test kitchen where recipes are developed for cookbooks, magazines and websites, and internal food service for employees. “Being at Rodale has been the most freeing experience of my professional life,” Nichols explains. “We share the same food philosophy of using organic, fresh, whole ingredients, which I believe are the building blocks for creative and delicious food.”

Chef Leah Nichols' Kitchen Essentials• Mezzaluna knife• Quality olive oil and vinegar• Maldon sea salt flakes• Microplane zester

It's a philosophy Nichols carried over from her many years in the food service industry in her native Australia. Growing up in a farming community, Nichols' parents and grandparents were interested in holistic food as part of the healing process and were incredibly good cooks, she says. “At Rodale, food is an essential component in health and wellbeing so in a way it's like coming home for me.”

Nichols and her “family” of 30 staff members steadily built up catering clientele over the last several years before their official launch. From dinner for 20 in a private residence, to a corporate picnic for 2,000, Nichols and her staff have developed menus of all kinds.

Another notch on their catering belt has also come in the form of concessions, exclusively providing refreshments for the Valley Preferred Cycling Center velodrome in Breinigsville. Hot dogs and French fries are not usually the kind of fare one would associate with organic eating but this follows in the Rodale principles of eating organic all the time.

“We're here to educate people on the benefits of organic eating,” says Nichols, who emphasizes that planning menus seasonally provides both better taste and a better price. And since Rodale not only prepares the food they serve but grows it as well, they understand every facet of the business. Many of their ingredients come straight from the Rodale Institute in Maxatawny and the Rodale Working Tree Center in Allentown (the 60-acre property where J.I. lived with his wife, Anna, and once experimented with organic soil methods) so Rodale in many ways is a one-stop shop. For items they can't cultivate themselves, they turn to local vendors like the Lancaster co-op Farm Fresh and River & Glen in Warminster.

“We want to be the premier caterer in the Lehigh Valley, the go-to caterer,” says Nichols, who is looking forward to another busy year of social events and weddings throughout the area. “We want to give Lehigh Valley residents a taste of great organic food.” To create your own organic taste at home, Nichols has shared a colorful brunch menu well suited for a Sunday gathering with your family.