Personal chef offers lean, Caribbean food for clients

special to vIEWChef Mayra Trabulse cooks up a Caribbean-style meal. Advertisement

With red hair and a thin frame, Chef Mayra Trabulse is full of life and passion for her craft. The personal chef offers clients Caribbean food, a fitness diet or a mixture of both -- no American food here, folks.

The experience starts off with a personal meeting with Trabulse, where she asks clients about their taste preferences, diet needs and fitness goals. "I ask if they have a nutritionist or a personal trainer to see where their motivation is coming from. I need to see what their goals are," Trabulse explained.

The chef charges $25 to $30 per person to cook for a party, and if there is any hands-on learning involved, the price goes up to $70 per person. For that cost clients receive two courses, depending on the food. All cooking is done in the client's home.

"I get them all excited and give them jobs to do in the kitchen, like sous chef and prep cook," Trabulse said. 'It's different, it's personalized, it's very specific." Trabulse, who is half Cuban and Lebanese, used to weigh 218 pounds, but has since slimmed down with the help of diet and exercise. She ran two marathons in 2005 and 2006, and at 49 years old said she has more energy than many 30-year-olds.

"I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, but I can give them resources to help," she said. "We need to understand as a culture we're going to have hips and bellies. It's who we are. It's up to us to use the food and exercise to reshape it."

Trabulse learned Caribbean cooking when she lived in Florida, and has worked with many personal trainers to create fitness diets for their clients. "I can play with the Caribbean menu to make it fitness-ready," she said. "It's all about the food. I think society is going towards a revolution of heath. It's happening."

Even those who aren't interested in getting into shape, however, can use Trabulse's services. The entrepreneur teaches at-home cooking lessons, is available to cook for parties or special events and cooks for busy families. She does, however, have one rule.

"I don't want to do American food," Trabulse said. "I do true Caribbean -- not Bahama Breeze Caribbean."

Dinner and shopping for four people runs about $100 a day and the personal chef also cooks a romantic dinner for two, which starts at $275. "Mayra's great," said Kathy Wilkinson, one of Trabulse's customers. "We've used her for an intimate Christmas dinner and for our family dinners."

Menu selections that Trabulse offers include jerk chicken, shrimp or meat; rice and beans; rotti, a Jamaican burrito; patty, a banana turnover; and fruits like kiwi, mango and "all the berries."

"It's very fresh, everything is cooked on the spot. And, I leave you a whole jar of jerk," Trabulse said. The personal chef also can cook breakfast for her clients, including waffles, eggs and smoothies.

"With breakfast I'm more diverse," she said of her non-Caribbean breakfast fare. Trabulse also includes alcoholic drinks in her menus and of the concoctions said, "My drinks are funkdafied. If you cannot come to the islands, let me bring the islands to you."

When Wilkinson wants Trabulse's help she gives the chef her schedule and Trabulse does the rest. "She works with me and she'll go shopping for me," Wilkinson said. "I'd highly recommend her. She's very dependable and her prices are great. She's very affordable."

Trabulse is a member of Women Chef and Restaurants and of the Personal Chef Association. For more information, call 372-4709.