Eat, Train, Love

By Amanda Burrill

Jesa Henneberry, a chef and fitness competitor, is grocery shopping at the Columbus Circle Whole Foods for a meal to be prepared and consumed in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where she lives. She’s of average height with a distinctive short, chic hairstyle and an urban air.  “I have two clients uptown, so I just shop here for their meals,” she explains. She then takes those groceries to her client’s homes and cooks for them in their own kitchens.

Chef Jesa Henneberry stands in her Bay Ridge, Brooklyn kitchen. Photo: Chef’s own.

“But since I get on the subway here to go home I’ll pick up my personal groceries here too. It’s a one-stop-shop. Whole Foods and Fairway are the places I shop.” Henneberry, 35, moves deliberately, like a woman on the hunt: next, she’s after Lacinato kale, also known as Tuscan kale, that will be cut into shreds and tossed into dinner’s slaw.

During the subway transit to Brooklyn, Henneberry explains how she became a chef after 10 years in the NYC fashion industry. After being diagnosed with several food intolerances and sensitivities five years ago, she cut out dairy and gluten and immediately felt and looked a lot better.

“I felt like a new person,” she says. “I started eating a lot of whole, healthy foods, and focusing on making the good foods taste delicious, too. This was not how I was raised eating!” She took her fitness regimen to the next level and entered her first bodybuilding competition in 2010. Cooking to satisfy both her taste buds and the macronutrient requirements of her training became a true passion.

After culinary school she started her business, Goodie Goods, and has been working as a chef ever since. In addition to in-home cooking for clients, her other services include customized meal deliveries, in-home cooking lessons, dinner party catering, and chef’s guidance and advice. She will even accompany a client to the grocery store to help them understand how to make better wholesome and nutritious food choices.

“This is a similar meal to what I’d be making during prep for a show,” she says while tossing diced sweet potato with a light coat of olive oil. Henneberry is not competing again until November, so there is a bit of wiggle room – she and her husband have a glass of white wine while she slices and dices away.

Chef Jesa Henneberry gets ready to toss roasted sweet potato with diced jalapeno and cilantro. Photo: Amanda Burrill.

On tonight’s menu is a Cajun chicken paillard, honey lime kale slaw, and jalapeno roasted sweet potato. Henneberry first chops all the vegetables for the slaw and combines them in a large bowl, then adds the liquid and spice components right to the bowl, tosses it all together and allows it to sit while she preps the potatoes. Once the potatoes go into the oven she has time to pound the chicken breast into paillards, season them, and let her cast iron grill pan get nice and hot.

By the time she’s finished – and she works fast – three plates of food sit on her dining room table, each with a healthy portion size and a side dish of sweet potatoes. She’s happy with the results. “I guarantee you will not be hungry when we’re done!”

See Jesa Henneberry’s recipe here.

Amanda Burrill