A lifelong mission of building culinary enthusiasm
The Journey
Old-world skills, nourishing traditions, and simple food made with soul. I’m Courtney Contos Cofino—French-trained chef, culinary educator, and wellness coach with 30+ years of experience at the intersection of food, healing, and tradition.
Raised in a family of restaurateurs in Chicago (running around my father’s legendary restaurant Chez Paul), I grew up immersed in the deep culture of real food and hospitality. I earned my degree in Hospitality Management from Kendall College and was honored to complete a culinary internship at Charlie Trotter’s, where I received the Outstanding Internship Award—an experience that shaped my love for excellence, creativity, and craft.
Over the years, I’ve taught cooking since 2000, developed recipes, led seasonal and international cooking classes, and owned Chef Contos Kitchen & Store in Vermont—a beloved cooking school and specialty kitchen store. My recipes and work have been celebrated by outlets including Food & Wine, Culture Magazine, and the Vermont Cheese Council, and I’ve appeared in over 100 TV cooking segments.
Today, I’m based in Florida and focused on helping people feel grounded, empowered, and nourished through food. I’m studying herbalism, launched Heritage Kitchen line of salts and infused honey’s with a tea line on the way. The Heritage Chef YouTube is a fun place to check out what’s cooking in my home. Encouraging scratch cooking and deeply nourishing meals at home—rooted in tradition, simplicity, and joy is my joy.
Credentials & training include:
BA in Culinary Arts and Hospitality
NBC-HWC
Certified GAPS Coach
Certified Functional Medicine Coach
Certified Journey of Intrinsic Health Coach (Zach Bush, MD)
Currently studying herbalism
Cook with joy, nourish deeply, and honor where your food comes from.
Your chef friend,
Courtney
Cooking by Candlelight
In the gentle glow, the simplest tasks become sacred again.
A wooden spoon stirring broth.
A loaf rising slowly.
Herbs crushed between the fingers.
Honey warmed into tea.
Salt sprinkled like an old blessing.
This is the kind of cooking I believe in — the kind that nourishes not only the body, but the spirit. The kind that says, you are safe here. The kind that makes a home feel like a home again.
And this is the heart of Heritage Chef.
On my Heritage Chef YouTube channel, I share recipes and rituals from the old world — scratch cooking, traditional nourishment, pantry remedies, and timeless kitchen wisdom. Not complicated food… but meaningful food. The kind that steadies your nervous system, strengthens your family, and reconnects you to the living intelligence of nature.
Because real food is more than fuel.
It is memory.
It is medicine.
It is a way back.
Welcome to Heritage Chef — where we cook like it matters.
