Hi, I’m Alison!

Hey there! My name is Alison Gütwaks. I live in Columbus, OH with my husband and three kids.

I am a personal chef and recipe developer. I focus on making my clients happy while specializing in nutrition and dietary restrictions. I also give cooking classes and travel around the world and United States with clients, providing them with a relaxing and gourmet food experience. I started my career in high school working for a chocolate store and baking cakes, which I think is not a bad way to begin!

I started Alibabka in 2011 to blog about my passion for the culinary arts while attending The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City. After completing my internship at Solo Restaurant in NYC, I started working full-time as a chef and event planner at Celebrations Kosher Catering in New Jersey. Soon after I began my career as a recipe developer for OSEM, an Israeli-based company, and have continued to freelance for other companies throughout the world (South Africa, NY, Israel). My recipes are published on many websites and I was the hired as the lead recipe developer for “The Pediatricians Guide to Feeding Babies and Toddlers” book that came out in April 2016.

One of the things that made me different from most of the other students in culinary school was that I was an Observant Jew and keep the laws of Kashrut. This unique aspect of my schooling led to an article written about my experience in the Wall Street Journal! Graduating from ICE is proof that observant Jews can do whatever they are passionate about and still strictly uphold Rabbinic Law. Keeping kosher in the culinary world has pushed me to be extremely creative by substituting ingredients and coming up with new takes on classic dishes. I hope that I inspire people of all different religious and cultural backgrounds to pursue their dreams and know that they never have to compromise their own belief system to do what they love. I love sharing my ideas, thoughts, recipes, and experiences about cooking. I believe that anyone can cook with a little direction, the right tools, and a lot of patience.