Chef Yury in the News

The local television station and several newspapers have profiled me and my Personal Chef Service on numerous occasions.

News Channel 12 has had me on as a regular guest chef on their Daytime Edition.  In profiling new trends in busy lifestyles and healthier eating habits, the Daytime Edition gave me an opportunity to highlight the need for my Personal Chef Service for today's families.

I have also been profiled by several local newspapers, including the CT Post, Stamford Advocate, and The Hour.  Some of these papers' reprints follow:

Reprinted from The Hour

PERSONAL CHEF SERVICE LAUNCHED

Local chef, Yury Berson, has started "Your Chef on Call," which provides on-call personal chef service for people too busy to prepare their own meals at a cost "about the same as take-out from you favorite restaurant."

As part of the service, Berson makes customized menus, shops for groceries, and prepares nutritious dinners.  Meals will be tailored to the clients' personal tastes and dietary needs.  Berson prepares two weeks worth of meals, and packages them with labels and reheating instructions.

In addition to the personal chef service, Your Chef on Call can cater special events in clients' homes and conduct private or group lessons.  Gift certificates are available for all Your Chef on Call services.  The service is available in Fairfield County.

For more information, contact Berson at 555-555-5555.

Reprinted from The Stamford Advocate

FUN WITH FOOD
Norwalk man takes joy in experimenting in the kitchen

Yury Berson grew up wanting to rely on no one but himself. It was a drive he nourished since arriving in Fairfield with his family from Belarus when he was 10 years old. "Maybe it was because I didn't have a father," says the Norwalk resident, whose father died of cancer when Yury was 12. "I learned to be serf-dependent. I learned how to sew, cook, clean, do laundry so that no one would have to do it for me."

He taught himself to cook by watching and helping his mother and grandmother in the kitchen. He grew more intrigued by the process of cooking while in high school and working for extra money as a host, waiter, busboy and prep cook in assorted restaurants and country clubs in the Fairfield area.

He decided to make a career of it by graduating from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, N.Y. "I didn't want to go to culinary school," he says. "I didn't want to be behind a hot stove all the time"

After what Yury calls a "post-college stint" in the hospitality business, he decided his love of cooking did not extend beyond the home. He instead embarked on a career in sales, marketing and business strategy and earned an MBA from the Stamford branch of the University of Connecticut. Yury launched and now heads FinanceNYC from his home office in Norwalk. "I help entrepreneurs find financing," he explains.

But off-hours, the 31-year-old newlywed is the primary household cook, a job his wife, Marcie, is happy to delegate.

Because it's fun

Preparing a dish brings Yury as much pleasure as enjoying the final result. He experiments with ingredients, measurements and combinations. "I have always expressed myself through cooking,'' he says. "Everything comes from my head"

And from his pantry. A tour of his kitchen yields cabinets chock-full of spices, oils, dried fruits and vegetables, pasta, flours, healthy snacks and much more, many with labels in a variety of languages. His refrigerator boasts shelves with an array of mustards, relishes, spreads, nuts, sauces and fresh produce. The freezer, is packed with containers neatly piled and filled with Yury's leftovers. "I always over-make so we can freeze what's left" he says.

Nothing goes to waste and there's little danger the Berson stock will ever be depleted. One of Yury's favorite day trips is to eat dim sum in New York's Chinatown, followed by shopping along Mott Street's food markets. "You can't find anything like this anywhere else," he says, pointing to five varieties of dried mushrooms in his stash.

When the couple shops closer to home, Wild Oats and Trader Joe's are favorite destinations.

Such variety may feed Yury's method of cooking. Unfortunately, it results in little record-keeping. "It is very unusual for me to write a recipe down," he says, laughing. "I rarely make anything twice."

Marcie says she doesn't mind. "He sometimes makes something again but it's never exactly the same," she says.

To their health

Perhaps it was destined that Yury develop his skills and method in the kitchen as he did. When he met Marcie, she was struggling with digestive difficulties and was on a wheat- and gluten-free diet.

Not long after, Yury "did a little research." He wanted to prepare a special meal for his new girlfriend that was compatible with her gastronomic limitations. "Yury was not frightened by this but found it a challenge to make the meals he would normally cook meet my needs," she says, "He researched gluten-free products, read up on wheat allergies and started experimenting in the kitchen.

"Yury has redone the way he does things to change the way we eat," says Marcie. "I eat so much better now than I ever did on my own."

More recently, with the help of a local nutritionist, Marcie has eliminated dairy products and refined sugars from her diet while adding whole wheat. No big deal to Yury. "I have healthy sense of how things go together, how the ingredients interplay," he says.

Such careful preparation has focused the Bersons' attention on other healthy habits, including no red meat, no caffeine and very little alcohol except as an ingredient.

He eats what she eats. A marriage made in the kitchen.

Doing it together

So it comes as little surprise that Marcie nominated Yury for Cook du Jour honors, not because she married him or because he is a good cook. Diet restrictions, to many, can mean less than tasty food. Marcie says Yury drew from his well-honed self-sufficiency to avoid the trap. "He can look at any recipe, boil it down to its parts, make adjustments and make it better and healthy for us to eat," she says.

It's a benefit their friends don't overlook, especially when he hosts impromptu dinner parties, makes up recipes for friends who want to impress their partners or organizes his make-your-own sushi party, which is quickly becoming a Berson tradition. "He's not one of those snob cooks," she says.

"I cook for enjoyment, not to impress," Yury adds.