I’ve always been a food motivated person, but when I became a father the importance of eating well increased that much more.

I’ve been in the advertising business for a long time. Getting stuff made, and airing on television is always a labor-intensive job requiring patience, collaboration, and sponsorship. Seemingly endless meetings, telephone calls, articulations, definition and refinement of ideas all make for a long process, particularly considering the end product is usually only 30 seconds!

But at the core of it, I’m still an art student, hopefully I always will be, and I get satisfaction from making stuff. Mid-day each day, I can begin to consider, somewhere in the back of my lizard brain, what dinner might look like. I can conjure the idea, gather the material I’ll need and make it happen, without all of the baggage I carry in my other professional life. By 6:30 or 7, I can have a concept come fully to life, executed without collaboration needed, without sponsorship beyond my own means, and an audience waiting and enthusiastic. That’s who my boys became for me, and there’s something particularly nourishing about that process well beyond the calories, for all of us.

For better or worse, my kids have come to expect a good meal from me, and have a list of favorites cued up, ready for the asking, (now often upon return from, or before departure into their now busy adult lives). I could not be happier than I am when I see them enjoy a food I’ve prepared for them…That’s what Canyon Gourmet is meant to be, a resource for that type of pursuit.

It’s a passion as much as it is a business, something I was gonna do anyway, but now I’m assembling ingredients for a larger group, for a more extended family, our lovely neighbors here in Topanga, and perhaps, beyond. I hope that those who read this feel compelled to come into our little store, share their inspirations, find a unique path to getting a meal onto their table, one that is nourishing beyond calories, and representative of the love they feel for the people assembled there each night.

Welcome to the new Canyon Gourmet.

Peter