About

Hi, I'm Chef Maria! 

I’m deeply committed to organic, regenerative, and nutritious food systems, a lover of rock climbing and other mountain sports that keep me connected to the natural world, and a steward of this beautiful planet.

I’ve been cooking professionally since I was 17 years old. This level of devotion has earned me a James Beard Award-winner for Best Chef Northwest, one of Food & Wine Magazine's 10 Best New Chefs, and winning Food Network’s “Iron Chef America: Battle of Pacific Cod.

Developing storytelling content for companies aligned with these values, through brand partnerships, consulting, and product development is my greatest pleasure. Working together to inspire people to live actively, happily, nutritiously, cook, eat, and be well. 

It’s so important to me to cook food that’s organic for the health of my guests and the planet. But at the time, there was only one restaurant in the nation that was certified organic. So I focused my commitment to opening the second restaurant in the nation to be certified organic. Open from 2006 to 2020, Tilth Restaurant was named one of the top 10 best new restaurants in the country by the New York Times. 

I’ve been using my entrepreneurial experience to consult for a variety of food and beverage operations, developing retail products, and building restaurants ever since.

One of my all-time passions is rock climbing, along with a handful of other outdoor activities (trail running, mountain biking, paddle boarding, skiing, etc.) I realized when pushing physical limits that my body was working too hard to keep up. I hunted for a sport’s nutrition cookbook for mountain athletes to help take my body to the next level, and the book just didn’t exist. So I became a certified nutrition coach through Precision Nutrition and wrote Peak Nutrition with Mercedes Pollmeier. This comprehensive sport’s nutrition cookbook for the mountain athlete is a Mountaineer’s Publishing bestseller and won the NOBA (National Outdoor Book Award) for the best instructional book. 

Community and connection are everything to me. As a leader in the chef and sustainability community, I’ve donated my time to causes such as a chef advisor for the James Beard Foundation sustainability programs, American Chef Corps for the US State Department, the Mountaineers, Decriminalize Nature Seattle, PCC Farmland Trust, food equality for low-income families and other food system advocacy and access. I’m also a founding member of Seattle Restaurant Week.

Check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel to gain inspiration for cooking in the outdoors, learn about nutrition, and food advocacy here: chefmariahines.com/screen

Join me on an Outdoor Cookout adventure- Follow me on Instagram at chefmariahines

Explore storytelling content brand-development opportunities for your organization- Email:maria@chefmariahines.com