Jessica Braider

I love food and I love cooking food. It hasn’t always been this way. As a kid I grew up in a family that valued good food with all kinds of interesting smells, tastes, and textures. But I was a picky eater. I made my mom crazy every morning with fights over what I was willing to eat for breakfast. Despite her best efforts at getting me involved with cooking and having a healthy relationship with food, I wasn’t interested (unless it was baking cookies). After college, I either cooked a big, intricate meal or I made ramen late at night after not eating well all day. It was a mess.

Then, my boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Ann Arbor to study social work at the University of Michigan. Since we were students, there wasn’t much extra cash around, so eating at home was essential. During this time I fell in love with food and cooking for others. Dinner parties, meals with leftovers, new recipes—all of it was fun! And the more I cooked, the more I relaxed about the food I was putting into my body. Over time, the food gremlins in my head quieted and I began to enjoy food for its flavor, rather than its caloric count or nutritional value. So by the time we got married and had kids, I was hooked on home cooking.

Cooking for (and with) my two active, strong-willed, fun boys has been a challenge and a joy. As parents, my husband and I have had to navigate growth issues, picky eating, food sensitivities, and the biggest challenge of all: time. Despite it all, including countless humbling and frustrating moments, feeding my family is one of the biggest pleasures in my life and I want to share that joy with others.

After years of working in the non-profit world and struggling to find the right balance in my own life, I decided that it was time to combine my love of helping people with my love of food. I enrolled at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and studied a wide range of dietary theories, as well as a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods that help to build congruency between changes in diet with satisfaction with life. Drawing on all of this knowledge, for five years I worked one-on-one with individuals and families who wanted to integrate more home cooking or healthy living into their lives, without it becoming an added stress or burden. Then, in 2017, I had the opportunity to acquire The Scramble from its founder (and one of my “sheroes”), Aviva Goldfarb. I jumped at the chance since it would give me a larger platform for helping people to shift their relationship with food and learn to love cooking. This journey has been challenging, exhilarating, and deeply meaningful.

So whether you are a complete novice or an experienced home cook, I welcome you to The Scramble where we seek to simplify mealtime so that you can savor the food and those you share it with. Here’s to Happy Scrambling!