Bev Shaffer's Biography

Bev Shaffer is a chef, cooking school instructor and author.


Some of Bev's accomplishments: she is the Director of Mustard Seed Market's Cooking Schools in Akron and Solon, Ohio. She has developed more than 9,000 recipes on a wide variety of subjects, including seafood, desserts (especially chocolate), side dishes and grains. Bev has taught classes in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, and Akron General Wellness Center.

Bev has made over 90 appearances on the four major Cleveland networks (FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC), on public television, and has been a producer and host of the award winning cooking show, "What's Cooking?" and "What's Cooking, Naturally?" She has also been a virtual chef for an instructional web site for public television and has done several "cooking on camera" instructional classes for Cuyahoga Community College. Her radio "cooking" segments on WAKR's AM Morning Drive feature quick and easy, seasonal recipes with tips (also done in studio with live call ins and sizzle!); her popular "Bev's Kitchen", aired throughout the day on WCLV FM features delicious recipes with techniques to make cooking a tasty, enjoyable experience.

She is the co-author of the cookbook NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED, and the author of BROWNIES to die for!, as well as culinary (cookbook) editor for the books HEALING GOURMET: Eat to Lower Cholesterol and HEALING GOURMET: Eat to Boost Fertility.

Her latest cookbook, MUSTARD SEED MARKET & CAFE NATURAL FOODS COOKBOOK [Our Food is Fresh, Our Customers are Spoiled], was released in September, 2007 (Pelican, $29.95, 336 pages) and features 50 color photos by her husband, John, who has become her food stylist and food photographer.


Perhaps you enjoy Bev's current writings. A freelance food writer, her popular weekly column "ASK BEV" that appeared for many years in the Cleveland Plain Dealer [now available through her enewsletter, BITE THIS!] and her fun and functional column, "GADGET FREAK" in Northern Ohio Live Magazine. She also crafts seasonal recipes with food tips for the Mountain Valley Spring Water website under the Red Oval Society section.

Her Double Chocolate Raspberry Tart was featured in Chocolatier magazine; BROWNIES to die for! [now in its second printing] was featured in People Magazine's "Mother's Day Gift Guide"; and she was selected as one of the top 60 chefs by the National Turkey Federation for their 60th Anniversity Celebration. She has also been a Chef in Residence on the vanilla website (www.vanilla.com).

Bev was chosen as recipient of both the international culinary writing fellowship sponsored by Weber Stephens and the National Egg Board at the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, Arkansas.



Involved in the community, Bev frequently can be found teaching healthy cooking classes for two cancer recovery centers, presenting seasonal demonstrations at public libraries, or teaching high school language classes how to cook with a French or Spanish accent! Her low fat recipes were filmed for Northerneastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine; the American Culinary Federation has requested her presentations, and her edible Christmas tree ornaments were hung on four "culinary" trees in the Grand Foyer at the White House.

A member of: International Association of Culinary Professionals; Chefs Collaborative; Women Chefs and Restaurateurs; and a fouinding member of Les Dames d'Escoffier (Cleveland/Northeastern Ohio Chapter).