Chef-prepared meals brighten the lives of recovering military veterans

This post written by Potomac Local is unlocked for all readers thanks to Dizzy Pig Barbecue Company.

HAYMARKET — For injured members of the military returning from war, there’s nothing like a home-cooked meal to help in the recovery process.

Serve our Willing Warriors provides a retreat for injured servicemen and women. Each week, it hosts wounded military members and their families or friends each week in Haymarket. It’s a reprieve from life in recovery and a chance to reconnect.

For many, it’s the first time they’re able to spend time together outside of a military hospital.

A professional chef is invited to come to the retreat every Sunday to prepare a special meal for their families every Sunday. Chef Angela Davis, the owner of Kitchenista Diaries, actively participates in this program.

Davis says she considers their experience and what the family wants it to be when preparing meals.

“They fill out a questionnaire about their favorite foods, ingredients they like and what they don’t like and whether they want to help. I just try to make it special,” Davis says.

Davis said she uses ideas from recipes she does in her catering business and her books and incorporates the family’s preferences.

“The inspiration can come from anywhere,” she said.

Once inspired, the entire kitchen is transformed.

“We prepare a four-course meal. It is formal dining. We set the table. The chef presents all of the courses. It’s like a restaurant date.”

Davis shops for fresh ingredients for her meals, to include local butchers. Her favorite style of food to cook is comfort food – soul, southern and American.

That meat is seasoned with spices from Dizzy Pig, a craft seasoning and barbecue supply company headquartered in Manassas. In addition to selling their spices in more than 700 stores across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Singapore, it donates a wide array of its spices to the warrior retreat.

During her time cooking for the families, Davis has learned the kitchen is more than just a place to create a memorable meal, it’s a place where families learn to communicate. One of her most memorable experiences was with a family who had parents visiting from China.

“The hadn’t seen the mom in a few years and she didn’t speak good English. The couple, both military, helped me cook. We did a duck gumbo. It was fun and more interactive than any of my other experiences. They staying in the kitchen with me the whole time. Her mom helped me cook the rice and even showed me how to use the rice cooker in a way they would use it.”

The military members, their families, or their friends staying for the week are always appreciative of her cooking. She’s never had an experience where the family did not like or enjoy their meal.

Davis said she was introduced to Serve our Willing Warriors through her parents, who attended Park Valley Church, in Haymarket, which helped to build the warrior retreat, which sits at the base of Bull Run Mountain.

Her father was in the Army, and she grew up in a military family.

“I know what it’s like to have a family member deployed,” she said.“This was my way to give back.”

Prior to becoming a chef, Davis was an accountant in Washington, D.C. Her company moved her to Florida and she started a food blog as a side project.

Davis said she eventually moved back to Virginia and decided to pursue food full-time.

“I always liked to cook,” she said. “It was a form of stress relief when I was working as an accountant, putting in 50-60 hours each week.”

Early on, she started visiting local farmer’s markets while she was in Florida and it opened her eyes to better ingredients. She was inspired.

She watched cooking shows, read magazines and picked up everything she could get her hands on to learn.

“I ended up realizing I was happier in the kitchen than I was at a desk,” she said.

Davis started her business as a private chef in 2015, and she began publishing her cookbooks shortly after, The Kitchenista Diaries Vol I, The Kitchenista Holiday Handbook and The Kitchenista Appetizer Handbook.

Davis says she teaches people to refine their techniques, work with fresh ingredients, and to cut out processed foods.

“I put a new spin on recipes you’ve grown up loving.”