• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

  • Home
  • Advertise
    • Advertise in One or All of our Magazines
    • Advertising Payment Form
  • Print Subscription
  • Digital Subscription
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Login
  • Contact Us

Chappaqua Wellness Center

Cook is Her Name, the FoodieBus is Her Game

August 24, 2019 by Shauna Levy

Each morning climbing aboard her Ossining school bus, Jennifer Cook was playfully greeted with the question, “Hey Cook, what’s for dinner?” Years later, she’s still riding a school bus and still being asked what’s for dinner, but now she has an answer. Cook recently launched the FoodieBus, Inc., a farm-to-table culinary mobile experience that offers private, customized meals on a school bus, affectionately known as Loretta in honor of a “wonderful” benefactor, that’s been transformed into a restaurant. The concept is as fresh and original as the fare being served.

The Magic Properties of Food

Cook’s diverse resume boasts roles as owner of Chappaqua Wellness Center, volunteer firefighter with the New Castle Fire Department and private chef on movie sets for the likes of De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. Though seemingly unrelated, these experiences were cumulatively instrumental in inspiring the FoodieBus. Cook explains, “As a chef on movie sets, I catered to a wide range of palates from my food truck. I loved it and opened a wood fired brick oven pizza truck, which I made use of as a firefighter. When the Rockaways were devastated by Hurricane Sandy, I showed up with the pizza truck. By simply serving pizza, this community got the sense that they weren’t alone. I had an epiphany that food is magical. We all must eat and it’s therefore one of the true connectors we share. I’ve always strived to help others and wanted to foster this connection in a bigger, deeper and more meaningful scale.”

A Bespoke Dining Experience

To make this concept a reality, Cook had a very specific list of criteria. “I needed a dining area that functioned as a beautiful gathering space as well as a kitchen, storage space and bathroom,” she says, elaborating, “And, I’ve always had a thing for barns and find the farm-to-table movement so special, so I incorporated those elements as well.” Ultimately, Cook checked each of those boxes by making a few modifications to Loretta, a school bus she located in Wisconsin. Not only did she gut the bus, but she painted it mint green and removed its sides and roof, atop which she built a barn structure. The result is a dining experience that is anything but status quo. As she says, “The opportunities are endless. I’ve scoured Westchester and identified a host of idyllic locations. We can offer any type of food in any setting from Mexican on a beautiful lake to vegan on Fable farm to wine and cheese at the Rose Garden at Lyndhurst to dumplings in your own backyard. We host groups of friends as well as events meant to connect people who’ve never met in addition to offering culinary classes. It’s really been very exciting.”

The HELP Bus True to Cook’s passion for improving lives, the FoodieBus

transforms into a nonprofit, the HELP (Healing, Educating, Liberating People) Bus through a partnership with Feeding Westchester, an organization with the mission of ending hunger in Westchester County. Recipients waiting for Feeding Westchester’s food resources can queue for up to three hours. The HELP Bus is seizing this time as an opportunity to provide education in culinary and farming skills. Explaining her nonprofit’s mission, Cook says, “We’ll bring the bus to distribution points and offer demos and suggestions. Oftentimes, families are stretching these groceries for up to two weeks and we want to help them achieve that in a healthy way. We are also teaching culinary skills that can be leveraged so that people can have a background in handling food, empowering them to get work–there’s over 500 different culinary employment opportunities out there.”
As Cook provides culinary education, she is also gaining valuable lessons. She shares, “I’ll never complain waiting on line at a grocery store again. This experience completely debunks any stereotype of who these people are. People within our own communities are struggling. As someone who’s had my own struggles, I think it’s so important to take the opportunity to change someone’s life if you can, even if it’s for just one moment.”

Paving a New Path

Whether it’s called the FoodieBus, the HELP Bus or just Loretta, Cook is paving her own path with a roadmap that’s of her own design. She says, “I love creating dishes that aren’t textbook by taking everyday ingredients and pairing them in odd, yet delicious combinations. But, the excitement for me is not just in creating a unique dish. It’s in bringing different people with different passions and lifestyles together in peace and happiness at the table over food.” As Cook goes on, peppering the dialogue with phrases like sous-vide, portobello carpaccio, lemon-infused olive oil and microgreens, it’s clear that there will be no shortage of patrons eager to take a seat at her table.

Filed Under: Pleasantville Cover Stories Tagged With: Chappaqua Wellness Center, fare, Foodie Bus, FoodieBus, Jennifer Cook, New Castle Fire Department, Pizza Truch, Wopd fired

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Over 350 Students From 31 Schools Attend 21st Annual Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center High School Institute at Iona University
  • Greeley Boys Swim & Dive Team Wins State Championship Title Second Year in a Row
  • Chabad Center Invitation to a Community Passover Seder: “Don’t Pass Over Passover!”
  • New Castle Fire District No. 1 Announces Bond Referendum to be Held April 25
  • Don’t Resist JUST DESSERTS at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center April 28-30
  • When There’s A Dog in Your Life

Please Visit

Chappaqua School Foundation
White Plains Hospital
William Raveis – Armonk
William Raveis – Chappaqua
Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival
Houlihan Lawrence – Chappaqua
Houlihan Lawrence – Armonk
Houlihan Lawrence – Briarcliff
Westchester Table Tennis
Compass: Miller-Goldenberg Team
Armonk Tennis Club
Raveis: Stacey Sporn
Compass: Natalia Wixom
The Tea Experience
Temple Beth El
Beecher Flooks Funeral Home
Raveis: Sena Baron
Houlihan Lawrence – Rusminka Rose Jakaj
Houlihan: Tara Seigel
Briarcliff Manor Dentist – Allan Miller
Briones Weight Loss

Follow our Social Media

The Inside Press

Our Latest Issues

For a full reading of our current edition, or to obtain a copy or subscription, please contact us.

Inside Chappaqua Inside Armonk Inside Pleasantville

Join Our Mailing List


Search Inside Press

Links

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Subscription
  • Print Subscription

Footer

Support The Inside Press

Advertising

Print Subscription

Digital Subscription

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Did you know you can subscribe anytime to our print editions?

Voluntary subscriptions are most welcome, if you've moved outside the area, or a subscription is a great present idea for an elderly parent, for a neighbor who is moving or for your graduating high school student or any college student who may enjoy keeping up with hometown stories.

Subscribe Today

Copyright © 2023 The Inside Press, Inc. · Log in