Nice to Meet You

I figured it may be a good idea to give you all some background into who I am and what this brand means to me.  

My name is Zack Brown, I am 24 years old, and I love to cook. I have been drawn to cooking and the culinary arts since an early age. I always loved to order the most adventurous meal on the menu at restaurants, and my family always told me they had “order envy.” I loved to help my mom out in the kitchen, especially around Christmas time. Cut-out cookies, Kringla, homemade fudge—I would help with it all (and eat most of it too).  

Moving into middle school I would always go to my oldest brother’s house and do “Chopped” challenges. We would make artery-clogging meals out of the mystery ingredients we were given (fried pickle burgers ring a bell), and we would let my parents be the judges.  

In high school I lost touch with my love for food and cooking a little bit. I became more aware of what people would say about my size and I unfortunately grew to hate the one thing I was the most passionate about.  

During the Pandemic, I found foodtok (food TikTok) and it felt like I had rediscovered my passion for cooking. I started experimenting with vegan and vegetarian cooking, and I created an Instagram page dedicated to my vegan journey. This Insta blog was called “Zack’s Veggie Tales.” It was a cute name, and I grew a decent-sized following over the course of two years.  

I decided that the vegan diet was no longer sustainable for my health, and I took a break from posting on my Instagram. I lost a lot of followers, and I felt bad posting my new creations that were no longer plant-based because I felt like I was betraying the people who decided to support my once-vegan cooking page.  

I found other opportunities to pursue my love for cooking and food though—I added culinary arts as a minor, I became the editor in chief of a student-run food publication on my campus, and I became an apprentice copy editor for Dotdash Meredith where I copy edited food content for Better Homes and Gardens and Magnolia.  

Even though I was not posting on my Instagram anymore, I was still cooking every single day—perfecting my craft with every single trial and error. My culinary classes taught me how to develop desserts and how to cook meat properly—two skills I did not have during my vegan journey. Copy editing for global food content showed me how to write and develop a recipe properly, and being the editor in chief of a student-run magazine gave me insight on how to connect with people on a deeper level.  

Now, I am studying law in Minneapolis. It was hard to decide whether I wanted to do food professionally, but I wanted to keep food as a passion and hobby for now so that I did not grow to hate it. I have a passion to help others, so law has been the right path for me at this time.  

Everything that I have done has led me to this point, and it has made me a stronger person and cook. Food has always been a love language for me—a way to show my appreciation and gratitude for those who I care about the most. This website and this brand have been a long time coming. I have poured countless hours into developing recipes, designing a website by myself, and creating a brand. What I envision for Cooking Convos is that it is a place where conversation is sparked—whether you cook a recipe of mine, read a blog post, or listen to a podcast episode—I want this to be a place where you partake in the universal language of food.  

Thank you for being here. Little Zack would be so happy to know that his lifelong dreams would be coming true. Enjoy Cooking Convos—I am so happy to have you a part of the conversation.