Western Research Kitchens Team
NANCY BERKOFF - Consulting Chef and Dietitian
Nancy Berkoff (Ed., R.D., C.C.E., C.W.C.) is a leading culinary professional.
Her love for culinary arts is keenly reflected by the variety of positions
and activities in which she engages - almost simultaneously.
A graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in dietetics and food
technology, Nancy also earned a doctorate of education. She enjoyed her
culinary apprentices in Europe and currently uses her nutrition and cooking
skills in teaching culinary students at Los Angeles Trade Technical College.
She also doubles as an adjunct professor of nutrition at California State
University in Long Beach, in addition to teaching and lecturing at Los
Angeles Culinary Institute and other colleges and universities.
Nancy has a diversity of culinary experiences, ranging from having been the
chief therapeutic dietitian of several hospitals to being the sous chef for
several hotels, as well as a consulting chef for different clients. In 1993,
she was named "Chef of the Year" in Los Angeles and was one of only 50 women
members recently inducted into the American Academy of Chefs, an elite
society of 550 Certified Executive Chefs within the United States.
Nancy was the nutritionist for Team California, the group of top California
chefs, who competed in the 1996 Culinary Olympics in Germany. She is also
currently a nutrition consultant to the American Cancer Society.
She presently divides most of her time between culinary arts, nutrition
instruction and her fondness for writing. She is a food columnist for the Orange County Register. In addition to her stories on industry trends in the National Culinary Review (for which she is proud to have received the American
Culinary Federation National President's Award as a contributing editor) her columns can be seen in such publications as the Journal of the American
Dietetics Association, the Vegetarian Journal and other food and nutrition publications, as
well.
She has appeared on many local and national TV and radio shows demonstrating
her culinary skills, showcasing products of Lee & Associates' clients, as
well as offering advice on health, nutrition and food safety.
STEVEN KASMAR - Consulting Chef
Steven Kasmar (C.W.C.) is an American Culinary Federation certified working chef. He
received his accreditation at Orange Coast College Culinary program, graduating with honors.
His career includes work at Vie de France in South Coast Plaza, Mother's
Market and Kitchen (a total vegetarian restaurant), Le Midi (Southern French
Cuisine) and Sail Loft (Seafood Restaurant). He assisted the Touque
Blanche Culinary Team in Frankfurt, Germany at the 1988 Culinary Olympics and
is currently Director of the Culinary School, as well as, a culinary instructor at Los Angeles Trade Technical
College. Steven also teaches courses at Orange Coast College. He is very active in the education process and has involved his
students in several chef competitions, where they have won many medals for top honors.
He has appeared on many local TV and radio shows demonstrating his culinary
skills, showcasing products of Lee & Associates' clients, as well as offering advice on nutrition and food safety.
Steven's philosophy for his food presentations is that flavors, textures,
colors and aromas must be in harmony to create a well-balanced symphony of food.
RUDY GARCIA - Consulting Chef (English and Spanish-Language)
Rudy Garcia (CEC, AAC, CFE) is a culinary gold medal winner and the Chef
Instructor of the Culinary Arts/Food Service Management Department on the Los
Angeles Mission College campus. Before joining LAMC in 1991, Rudy was an
Executive Chef for the Hilton Corporation and Chef Instructor with the
A.B.C., Unified School District, Cerritos, 1980-1985.
Rudy is an active member in a number of culinary, hospitality and tourism
related associations. He is past chairman of the Chefs de Cuisine, Los
Angeles Chapter of the American Culinary Federation (ACF). This organization
was founded in 1923 and currently has 400 members in the Los Angeles
Metropolitan area and over 25,000 members nationally. Rudy also recently
served as the first Hispanic president of this prestigious organization.
In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for the International
Food Service Executive Association, Los Angeles. Rudy's credentials include
the achievement of becoming a Certified Executive Chef, 1985 and inducted
into the American Academy of Chefs, 1994. With only around 550 members
within the United States, this is a very elite society of Certified Executive Chefs. He was named "Chef of the Year" in 2005.
Rudy has been a culinary consultant to our agency for over
10 years. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, as well as being
featured in cooking demos at various food festivals and special events,
representing various Lee & Associates' clients, especially for the Hispanic community
MARCIE ROTHMAN - Food and Nutrition Consultant
Marcie Rothman believes that good, healthy and satisfying food is
affordable - even on a pinched budget. She says if you buy smart and cook with
easy methods, you really can have a great dinner for $5, no matter what the economy is doing.
Marcie has always cooked with an awareness of health and the foods that make
a sound diet. She grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by good cooks, fresh seasonal produce,
and hundreds of restaurants full of the ethnic cuisines she still turns to for inspiration.
For six years on Sacramento's KOVR (CBS) television, she showed her ability
to put seasonal foods together in quick $5 meals. Marcie produced and hosted
a live one-hour food show on Sacramento radio (KSTE) for nearly two years.
She has shared her low-cost shopping and cooking savvy nationally on
television and radio, including The TV Food Network, America's Talking,
What's New, TNN's Cookin' USA and others. She was a regular on KCRA Radio
(NBC) and KMAX Radio in Sacramento and has "Dished with Jayne" (Bonfietti) on
KFMB Radio in San Diego.
Her no-nonsense, common sense style of cooking translates to lively,
information packed lectures to corporate wellness programs, including Mercy
Hospitals, American Heart Association, CALTRANS, Schools Insurance Authority
and Kemper Insurance. Long before it was fashionable, Marcie lectured at
Rancho La Puerta in Mexico, the Palms in Palm Springs and The Oaks at Ohai,
on how to read labels, cut salt and use herbs and spices as flavor boosters.
She has also created recipes for Western Research Kitchens.
As writer and publisher (Five-Spot Press) she produced her first book, "The $5
Chef: How to Save Cash & Cook Fast." It is a resource tool for California's
Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program. Her second book, "The $5 Chef Family
Cookbook" was released for 1997. Her $5 Chef newspaper column appeared for
six years in The Sacramento Bee and occasionally in the Los Angeles Times.
She appears in the new "No-Brainers Quick & Easy Cooking" video.
Marcie is a member of the International Association of Culinary
Professionals. She is an avid traveler and amateur photographer with trips
to China, Hong Kong, Tibet and France. She resides in San Diego, California.
MARY COYNE - Dietitian, Consultant
Mary Walorick (R.D., M.S.) is a registered dietitian and has a Master's
Degree in the areas of dietetics, food science and nutrition and is a
consultant on diet and fitness. She has been an independent consultant,
specializing in developing and testing nutritional diets that are low in
calories, fat and sodium, for a variety of Lee & Associates' clients. She
also develops recipes for cookbooks.
Mary enjoys creating programs that involve her knowledge in the combined
fields of nutrition, dietetics, food science and physical fitness, including
the formulation and administration of activities that affect the health and
nutritional knowledge of people. She also believes in the concept of "healthy
body - healthy mind." This is why nutrition and physical fitness are such
high priorities in her life. She is also (in her own words) "a fantastic cook!"
With all of the products on the market today with labels reading
"low-fat," "non-fat," "fat-free," and so on, Mary offers advice on the
differences between low-fat and non-fat foods and shares ideas on the
subjects when appearing on TV and radio, or during interviews for newspapers.
Violet Coto – Ethnic Food Consultant
Grew up in Los Angeles, California. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree at
the University of California, Santa Barbara in Comparative Literature and Spanish
Literature. Violet worked for Lee & Associates Public Relations and Marketing,
and Western Research Kitchens for over four years, and continues to freelance
for them while working as Development Associate and short-film writer and producer
in Santa Barbara, California, while always being a “foodie.”
Violet has traveled throughout the world touring and learning yesterday’s
and today’s kitchens. She collects and reinvents ancient and modern day recipes
from Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Italy and Turkey, to name a few
countries she’s visited. She worked with different food companies coordinating
recipes and simple ways to prepare various food products for consumers – especially
around the holiday time.
Today, Violet continues researching and enjoying different ethnic foods to
help expand her knowledge of recipe development.
She’s always had a passion for food from around the world. She has learned
different types of cooking methods and has shared them with family and friends.
Now she enjoys it as part of her work at Western Research Kitchens, appearing
on TV doing cooking demonstrations, featuring handy hints and elegant, yet,
simple-to-prepare recipes of the agency’s clients’ products, with a unique,
ethnic touch.
As a bonus two of our key team members have additional experience
that can be of great benefit to our food clients:
Pam Johnson - Food Consultant/Writer
Pam Johnson has 20+ years of experience including public
relations, sales promotion and marketing communications. Pam’s “niche” is
in the food industry, including marketing and PR for consumer packaged goods,
restaurants, chefs and nutrition communications. Pam has developed and managed
strategic programs for companies such as Ready Pac Produce, Lawry's Foods,
Vons, California Egg Commission, Kerr Consumer Products, California Avocado
Commission, National Nutritional Foods Association, Dole Foods, and Gelson’s
Markets, as well as national restaurant chains including Chipotle and Pasta
Pomodoro. Pam has also conducted numerous media relations and special projects
for Lee & Associates over the past several years.
Pam provides Lee & Associates’ clients with a wide range of marketing
and public relations services, including program development, media relations/pitching,
spokesperson development and training, trade show management, special events,
marketing communications and copywriting. Pam has worked on both the corporate
and agency sides of marketing, including consumer promotions, brand management
support and public relations management, as well as agency account management
and new business.
Pam's work has won several creative awards including a CIPRA award from Inside
PR Magazine, a first place PRism award in the audio-visual presentation
category from PRSA Los Angeles and a second place PRo award for continuing
internal publications from the Publicity Club of Los Angeles. Pam holds a Bachelor
of Fine Arts, Magna Cum Laude from Texas Tech University, and a Certification
in Public Relations from UCLA. She is an active member of the International
Association of Culinary Professionals.
Gerry Furth - Food Consultant/Writer
Gerry Furth began working with Lee & Associates over
20 years ago as the creator/producer of the Ethnic Community Segment of the
Chef Boy-ar-dee National Pizza Bowl Cook-off. A record-size pizza presentation
to the Los Angeles City Council by three generations of a prominent Italian
family made for lots of fun print and TV coverage.
A seasoned photojournalist, Gerry has been covering the food and restaurant
scene in Los Angeles, since it first gained national prominence. Her experience
ranges from Newsweek editorial and television broadcasting to three ethnic
magazine publications: (Jewish Forward English section; Saludos and
the African-American publication, Cause). She also covered Southern
Los Angeles for a Frommer Guidebook series. Her cookbook work securing
contracts and writing, includes Sofi’s Aegean Kitchen and pizza-making
icon Ed LaDou’s pizza book, as well as Peggy Mellody’s Guidebook to L.A.
Her column, "Kids in the Kitchen” appeared in L.A. Family Magazine,
and she is a regular contributor to Valleyscene Magazine.
As TV spokesperson, Gerry develops recipes with top chefs, representing a
variety of Lee & Associates clients’ products, to present on multi-city
holiday media tours. She does cooking demonstrations, as well as offering
viewers health information and ways to prepare the products.
Gerry has personally represented dozens of ethnically-diverse and major Los
Angeles area restaurants, including the introduction of the national Buca di
Beppo chain and the newly-remodeled Malibu Chart House, as well as publicizing
top catering companies, such as Along Came Mary and Someone’s in the Kitchen.
Gerry strategized national publicity for Chef Prado and for Chef Sal Marino
of Il Grano and La Bottega Marino, including dinners for the James Beard Foundation
in New York.
A SAMPLE OF GERRY’S MANY PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:
- Tommy Tang's Global Catering at the SAG AWARDS
- “Let’s Get Cooking” TV Show
with Tommy Tang – on location in Thailand and major urban cities in the U.S.
- The
first and second Royal Thai Government sponsored Food and Cultural Festival
with pre-event parties for 300, national post-festival PR.
- As a PRODUCER/CREATOR
and/or PUBLICIST:
SALUDOS MAGAZINE Video "The American Dream" and National Awards
Banquet, including Ferde Pacheco, Muhammad Ali's physican , Julio Iglesias,
Jockey Lafitte Pincay
- AmFAR's "Two Steppin' for the Cure," for Elizabeth
Taylor's birthday,
- First Olympic Cook-off on behalf of the St. Nicholas Church
23rd Annual Valley Greek Festival with top hotel and restaurant chefs and
owners; food writers as judges and sponsors. Exclusive full page story in
L.A. Times.
- First Sephardic Seders at Cava Restaurant, which benefitted
charity. National and extensive local coverage in print and TV
- "Cinco
de Mayo Feast and Wine Tasting to kick off the Latin Cuisine series, "Keeping
Ethnic Food Authentic" with John Sedlar, Felix Salcedo of Sonora Cafe;
Border Grill and "Day of the Dead" costume ball at Cava, sponsored
by the American Wine and Food Institute.
- Waiter's Race "Taste of L.A."
- “SOS Taste of the Nation": "Give
Back to the Hungry" in conjunction
with Universal Studios Hollywood and American Express
- Various Women's Culinary
Alliance Program Activities
- *"Food is Architecture/Architecture is Food":
Holiday Gingerbread Houses by famous architects and pastry chefs (which inspired
an annual NYC event).
*Panel: "Women in Food" of top, notorious male, female chefs; *"Etiquette
Dinner at Le St. Germain Restaurant
- Planned Parenthood Guild’s Food Fare
Gerry holds a dual - Master's Degree from Antioch College in Ohio, as well
as an English as a Second Language Certification from UCLA; her undergraduate
work was done at University of Michigan and Monteith College.
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