I’d Rather Be A Chef began in 2015 with one honest sentence. I was burned out and miserable in a company I had built, and one night my wife asked me what I actually wanted. I blurted out, “I’d rather be a chef than do this!” She told me to do it, and to find a way to be home with our family while I did. This site is how I did both.
Today it’s a home for low carb and keto recipes built on real ingredients and big flavor, written by someone who has cooked professionally and still cooks dinner at home. I live in Provence, France, and after a break from publishing I’m back in the kitchen, testing and writing again.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Find Here
- Recipes. Browse the full Recipe Index for grilled meats, vegetables, salads, sauces and comfort food made lower carb.
- Getting started. New to low carb? Begin with the Low Carb for Beginners series, packed with information and free downloads. Coming back after a break? There’s a series for restarting low carb too.
- Guides. Check an ingredient with Is It Low Carb?, read the Low Carb Articles, or find quick answers on the FAQ page.
My recipes use whole foods without a hint of gluten, refined sugar, or pretentiousness. I understand that everyone is on their unique eating journey… my goal is to share good recipes that are also low carb!
How I Approach Recipes
Every recipe here starts with one question: would I actually want to eat this? If something is low carb but doesn’t taste good, I don’t want it either. I test every recipe myself, keep the techniques practical for a normal home kitchen, and explain why things work so you can adjust them to your own taste.
Where It All Started
Before this site, I ran a physician staffing company. By 2010 I was 33 and completely burned out, so I resigned. I started a food blog called The Chubby Cook, and within months it had thirty thousand visitors a month. In 2011 that became The Chubby Cook Cooking School & Catering Company in Cleveland, Ohio.
The work was a joy, and it was also 18 to 20 hour days, seven days a week. I closed the school in 2013. A few hard years later came the conversation that named this site. You can read the full professional history on my Bio page.
Low Carb and Me
In 2016 I weighed more than 335 pounds, and my doctor was warning me about my heart. I adopted a low carb lifestyle completely and lived it for a full year before writing about it. In that year I lost 140 pounds and fell in love with this way of eating. It hasn’t been a straight line since, and I share the honest version of that on My Journey.
You’ll still find some gluten free recipes from before that change. They’re from an equally important time in my life, so I’ve kept them.
Why the French Antiques?
You may notice old plates, copper pans and French pottery in my newer photos. I moved to Provence in 2018, and during my time away from publishing I learned the French antiques trade.
That became my shop, The Provence Collection, where I source antique pottery, copper, linens and kitchenware from markets across France. I cook with these pieces and photograph food on them, so they’ve become part of the kitchen here too.
The mortar, cutting board and painting in this photo are all old French pieces I found at the markets. If you enjoy these objects as much as I do, you can browse the collection here. Nearly everything is one of a kind.
The Team At I’d Rather Be A Chef
Nutrition guidance keeps evolving, so I work with registered dietitians who help make sure the information here is accurate and up to date.
Scott Groth
Founder, recipe developer and former cooking school owner. Read my Bio
Brenda Peralta, RDN, CDE
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Educator. Read her Bio
Elizabeth Salvino, RDN
Clinical nutrition and community health. Read her Bio
Julian Valiao, RDN
Evidence-based meal planning. Read her Bio
Come Cook With Me
Follow along on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, or join the newsletter for new recipes as they come out of my kitchen in Provence. We’re stronger together.
