Fresh Cooking

Shelley Boris was studying painting in New York City when she took a job at the newly opened Dean & Deluca to make ends meet. Soon enough she was manager of the cheese department and swept into the mesmeric food world of early-1980s New York, which tipped its hat to the qualities of traditional cooking while experimenting with novel approaches.

She went on to become the chef at Exile, then at Peter Dent Catering, both in Tribeca. Shelley opened the first Dean & DeLuca Espresso Bar at the Paramount in Midtown, then began working as a private caterer in the city. She has published recipes in various journals and books, including the New York Times and Food & Wine Magazine, Recipes From America's Small Farms, and co-wrote The International Mail Order Gourmet, a food guide, with friend Jamie Harrison.

Since forming Fresh Company Shelley has cooked for such personalities as the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev. She is a founding member of the Cold Spring Farmer's Market and works in the Hudson Valley region to promote local foodmakers and farmers.

Shelley Boris is the chef at the Garrison Institute and is a partner at Fresh Company, where she is the creative director and executive chef. She is inspired by a diversity of regional cooking styles from around the world. In the kitchen, Shelley's warm, relaxed sensibility is an extension of her love of a leisurely stay at the table and her belief in the elemental value of eating and drinking well. A board member emerita of Cold Spring's Farmers' Market, Shelley has long worked to support sustainable agriculture in the Hudson Valley. She lives in Garrison with her husband and two sons.