Bachelor of Arts in English with Honors in hand, Ellen moved straight from Kenyon College to New York City. After working as an assistant editor for a commercial publisher, Ellen headed to Vermont, where she earned a degree from New England Culinary Institute. A quick stint in New Orleans was followed by another move, to Portland, where Ellen was a pastry chef for 12 years in some of the city’s best kitchens. Ready to move on from professional kitchens, Ellen cherry-picked the best parts of the jobs she’d had to date to launch foodprintstyle, a business where she grew her skills as a food writer, recipe developer, consultant, food stylist and author of five cookbooks and numerous articles for local and national publications. Her abiding interest in sustainability, advocating for a better food system and supporting local producers provided the impetus to
pursue her current work as a communications expert specializing in growing direct-to-consumer sales for small food producers including Pacific Northwest ranchers and fishers.
Ellen is a former board member of the Portland Farmers Market and treasurer for Slow Food Portland. She belongs to Chefs Collaborative, IACP and the Portland Culinary Alliance. She’s also the founder and co-producer of Eat Oregon Now, an annual marketplace event with the mission of supporting small food producers and championing the idea of giving “more food, less stuff” during the holiday season. She still spends lots of time in the kitchen, and loves to forage, hike and explore with her husband and their Labrador.
Areas of Expertise
Marketing & Communications: What began as an inquiry into how to purchase beef directly from the rancher for her own consumption evolved into a genuine investment in Cory Carman’s values and business model. Ellen serves as the manager and direct-to-consumer sales coordinator for Carman Ranch. She created their buying club which in only 4 years grew to 550 customers with sales between 2017 and 2018 doubling. Ellen’s success with Carman Ranch drew the attention of Tre-Fin Foods, a small commercial albacore fishing operation based in Ilwaco, Washington. They’ve tapped her to be their communications manager and CSF coordinator as they pursue a similar growth trajectory. Ellen has researched, consulted and written for local sustainably-minded restaurant and food clients including Argyle Winery, Clearwater Cranberries, Cooking From the Source, Cristom Vineyards, GoodMoon, Meriwether’s Restaurant, Organically Grown Company, Patton Valley Vineyard, Ruby Jewel, Stone-Buhr Flour and Truitt Bros.
Product Development: While contracting with the Food Innovation Center to oversee their test kitchen for sensory and consumer studies, Ellen consulted with food service operations, developing recipes. When recipes were used for marketing purposes, she also did the food styling. Some of these businesses include: American Lamb Board, Driscoll’s Berries, Duda Produce, New Seasons Markets, Northwest Pear Bureau, Rainier Fruit Co, Stone-Buhr Flour. Ellen has also developed dessert programs for local restaurants, and created the flavor profile for GoodMoon, an adzuki bean-based snack bar modeled on the traditional Chinese moon cake.