“A recipe has no soul, you as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.”

– Thomas Keller

Gabriela Flores is a culinary nutrition expert, health coach, and a wellness enthusiast. She’s the co-founder and kitchen goddess at Bliss B4 Laundry: Inspirational Events for Mind, Body and Soul

She has a heart of a Latina, a mind of a Canadian, and a spirit that belongs to the world. Moving around the globe started at early age. She was born in Toronto but spent her childhood in Venezuela. In her teens she moved back to Canada to complete high school and university, at which point she developed a craving to discover what’s ‘out there’. She worked seven years for the United Nations dividing her time between chasing hurricanes and working towards making this world a better place. She lived in five different countries, married, divorced, completed a triathlon, learned a few languages, and was touched by the hundreds of people she met along the way. Today, after traveling a quarter of the world (still so much more to explore), she decides to come back “home.” The year 2013 gave her a chance to re-group and re-launch her life.

Her heart has always known that her purpose in life is to help others whether it’s at a community or individual level. She’s made it a mission to find ways to transform the human body from deprivation to abundance. Her passion is food: to get in the kitchen and experiment with new ingredients to make them delicious, nourishing and extract their power to heal.

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience”

– James Beard

Gaby’s Journey to Gluten-Free Vegan Cooking

My food philosophy has evolved over the years. It’s been an incredible and exciting journey.

I started 16 years ago by simply calling myself a vegetarian, but I didn’t fully understand what that meant until 2010.

My whole world changed when I set out to discover what was causing my migraines (I had my first migraine at the age of 11). I had accepted it was hereditary and I just had to ‘learn to live with it.’ Learning that I was lactose intolerant, rather than closing doors, it opened a world of possibilities. I learned to make peace with the kitchen and I challenged myself to look at food differently: I learned not to take food for granted and to cherish and honour every ingredient added into a recipe.

This ‘awakening’ moment was followed by my ‘coming-out-to-the-world’ phase. I was excited to share with the world that veganism was the answer to people’s problems! But I did not make many friends by lecturing, preaching and judging. I slowly but surely discovered that we all process food differently and that our overall health is affected by more than just food. The more I read and get involved in the beautiful (online) community of conscious, healthy, mindful people, the more I am eager to help, engage, share and meet people where they are at.

Today, my food philosophy is: To eat foods that are whole, plant-based, closest to earth and closest to you. To eat and life consciously, mindfully and kindly. To strive to be part of a community where you can share, teach, and learn. Above all, to never stop exploring, experimenting, and savouring.