About

However, may I ask you an important question first?

Jump to:

• 😋 What do you like to eat?
• 🥭 Inside Poppy’s Kitchen
• 📖 Find your favorites
• 🤫 Secrets about Poppy
• 👩‍🍳 Restaurant work
• 💖 The Mission
• 🌿 The Garden
• 🌈 Present day and future

😋 What do you like to eat?

Let me guess. Because you've stopped here, I'm thinking not only do you love to eat, but you also want to be healthy. Why, you may even aspire to be the most vibrant self you can! Then, you have landed in the right spot.

🥭 Inside Poppy’s Kitchen

You will find recipes that feature gorgeous fruits and vegetables from a tropical climate to inspire your culinary skills no matter where you live. I can't wait for you to find out how beautiful plants, delicious food, and good health go hand in hand.

📖 Find your favorites

You can search for favorites by clicking on any of these categories on the home page:

The sidebar on recipe pages holds even more choices and includes a section on edible tropical plants to learn more about the garden and cooking with wild foods.

If you want to browse everything, the recipe index holds it all on one page, grouped into familiar categories by meal type, kitchen tips, dietary preference, and season.

Finally, you can use the search bar at the top of every page if you are looking for something specific.

🤫 Secrets about Poppy

Okay, so here’s the scoop I promised on Poppy. Only my closest friends know that at the tender age of eight, I boldly auditioned for the iconic Ed Sullivan Show. Despite my polka-dotted pink tutu, tap shoes, and enthusiasm, I didn’t make the cut.

However, I had a trusty source of solace in my favorite childhood TV show, Gilligan’s Island. I will admit I cringe when I look at the inappropriate and outdated sitcom now.

However, back in the day, innocent young Poppy was enthralled with the romance of being marooned on an island rich with tropical plants.

By the time I was 12 and my dance career had faded behind me, my new passion was in full bloom. I was confidently cooking all our family meals and scratching down recipes in hand-bound notebooks.

👩‍🍳 Restaurant work

It was only natural that my first job barely out of high school would be at a restaurant. I will always be grateful to Kalisa, the Queen of Cannery Row for taking me under her wing and entrusting me as a cook at her Asilomar cafe by the sea.

Over the years, I worked in everything from pie shops to fine dining establishments like Peppoli's in Pebble Beach. I loved being a server, helping diners enjoy the most exquisite meals.

When I moved from Carmel, CA to Maui I had the tremendous honor of working with Hawaii's first Master Sommelier, Chuck Furuya, and was inspired to earn my first-level sommelier certification.

After 40 grand years working in restaurants, I wrapped it all up at one of Hawaii's top French restaurants in the town of Lahaina on Maui. I don't suppose I miss ironing the white tablecloths, but I do miss the very special Aloha I shared with my coworkers.

💖 The Mission

I think by now you've figured out deliciousness is a fundamental requirement in Poppy's Wild Kitchen. But even more, after marrying the love of my life and raising two children, a deeper purpose has found a home in my kitchen.

Everything in my heart resonates with the source of our food. Plants and the earth and water they come from are truly sacred to me.

My dream is to help people who sense that not only good health, but a deeper spiritual connection with our planet, is fostered by eating more plants. Thus, plant-forward recipes!

🌿 The Garden

I like to think I'm walking the talk each time I dig my fingers into the soil where I have the privilege of working a plot in our nearby community garden. It’s good, hard work, and the rewards of struggling are one hundredfold. It keeps me healthy in body and spirit.

Not only do I have access to the treasures that show up in your recipes, but gardening nurtures my love affair with plants and feeds my insatiable appetite to learn more.

Even if the most you can do is grow fresh herbs under your window sill and share them with a friend, I highly recommend growing something. I guarantee it will benefit your life more than you can imagine.

🌈 Present day and future

While I never made it to "Gilligan’s Island", I'm so grateful to be living on the gorgeous Hawaiian island of Maui.

I kid you not, a short trek from my house are some of the same wild and exotic foods MaryAnn made into pancakes and the Professor made into glue! 😂

Well, that’s Poppy’s Wild Kitchen in a nutshell. I hope you’ve found what you are looking for and we will become fast friends. Here’s a toast to your vibrant self and the healthy future we support for our children and the earth by eating more plants.