Traditional Holiday Treats Get a Modern Makeover with Mackenzie Piccarreto

Self-taught foodie Mackenzie Piccarreto has spent years building her food blog, creating new recipes, and preparing meals for dinner parties. Her modern twist on fresh, seasonal dishes that taste great – and happen to be healthy – is shaking up how we think about and prepare food. We sat down with Piccarreto to talk about her food journey and to get her advice on spicing up traditional holiday dishes with modern takes that are far from “bah humbug!”

Rochester Food Experience

When Rochester native Mackenzie Piccarreto first moved back to Rochester, she was “craving grass and space.” She quickly immersed herself back into the community with great appreciation for all that Upstate New York has to offer. “There has been such an explosion of incredible food, and I’m always blown away by the new restaurants and experiences that open here!” Piccarreto noted. She would be no exception.

A Knack for the Kitchen

Piccarreto always had an intuitive knack in the kitchen herself. Her mom, a naturopathic doctor, taught her early on about high-quality ingredients and how they nurture our bodies. Paired with her experience working in and around restaurants, this ultimately led her to pursue her passion for creating and serving unique combinations of flavorful ingredients.

After becoming a certified health coach through the Institute for Integrated Nutrition, Piccarreto launched a food focused blog on which she posted her experiments with different ingredients and custom recipes. She also used her platform to share thoughts and theories about food. As she recalls, “It just snowballed from there.”