Our Chocolatier: Lauren Gockley!

Lauren has been a part of Team Gnosis for several months and is bringing not only great knowledge, but also a new sense of calm and cool to the kitchen. She is busily at work creating new flavors weekly—so delicious!

How could a person be so lucky to land this Chocolatier posistion? Lauren received her “chocolate training” at a classical chocolate academy in France; this femme really knows chocolate in and out! Since coming to Gnosis, she has enjoyed working with a whole new palate of superfood ingredients. Currently a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), Lauren became interested in a holistic approach to nutrition after realizing that her personal ideals (passions of nutrition and high quality cuisine) weren’t aligning with her professional life.

At the IIN Lauren has been inspired by speeches from David Wolfe, Mark Hyman, and John Douillard. She is studying to become a certified Holistic Health Counselor.

Here are her responses to the need-to-know Mini Questionaire:

1.What is your favorite breakfast?
   My favorite breakfast is fresh juice and fresh fruit.
2. How much chocolate do you eat in a day?
   I probably eat the equivalent of 2 bars a day.
3. What’s the longest you’ve gone without chocolate since becoming a chocolatier?
    I try to go all weekend without eating it so I can eat my fill all week long.
4. Do you feel that chocolate enhances your mood?
    Absolutely, who isn't happier when eating chocolate?
5. Who would you invite, dead or alive, to your perfect Chocolate Tasting?
    My dad, Julia Child, my college music professor, Will Farell, and my dear friends Emily, Emily, and Lauren

Check out Lauren's website here!

Co-Op It! ---How Team Gnosis Eats, and your Team Can, Too

Once a week, I, your Chocoblogista, make a trip to my local food cooperative (i.e. co-op, or coop) for Team Gnosis. The place is well known in these parts, it’s called the Park Slope Food Coop and to shop there, you must be a member. Park Slope, for those of you outside of New York, is a neighborhood in Brooklyn. To maintain membership, a person needs only work there for less than three hours each month.

My chosen duty is to push grocery carts back to the store from people’s cars and homes (a fun outdoor job). Membership duties, however, are insignificant in comparison to what we get in return when shopping at the Coop. The coop focuses particularly on everything organic, whatever can be sourced organic, the coop will have it, and they will have it for jaw-dropping prices!

Most of the organic produce there is either equal to or less expensive than conventional produce in other stores. Not just for produce, the co-op has as many sections as other stores with the prices pleasing throughout.

So why would Team Gnosis even need me to bring things like leafy greens, avocadoes, apples, aloe, and tomatoes? Yes, I am forced to admit that we eat more than our superfood-filled chocolate! Greens will do a body good, especially in their unadulterated, whole form.

We would like to encourage you, at your homes and work place, to do the same! If you don’t have access to a coop similar to the one described above, there are other options, like joining a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and while plans vary by area, if you sign up you will receive a large box of produce every week, filled with local, seasonal produce.

Bringing local, fresh produce into the workplace assures that everyone has access to a variety of nutritious foods while supporting local farmers.