Backyard Lunch with Camila Marcus – Her Approach to Deliberate Cooking

At first glance, Camilla Marcus is a work of contrasts. Although she takes her work seriously, she brings a sense of playfulness to everything she does. She can pull off a dinner party for 100 people, but she might not plan the menu until that morning, using the farmers market as a guide. Her plant-based dishes are hearty and she never turns down a glass of wine during the day.

But I don’t see anything contradictory about Camilla. She is so deeply rooted in herself that all her layers come together as a beautifully arranged life. This reflects her passionate approach to her work as a regenerative chef, founder of west~bourne, and mother of four in Los Angeles.

To celebrate the release of her cookbook my reclaimed kitchenCamila also joined us for lunch under the trees in the backyard with some friends. We cooked the book’s colorful plant-based dishes, including tartines, crunchy fennel salad, and the most stunning rose chocolate bark, poured natural wines, and absorbed her perspective on what it really means to cook in a way that nurtures both our bodies and the planet.

Her philosophy is stated in her own words: “What’s good for the soil is always good for our health.”

What I love most about Camila’s way of thinking about food is the sense of freedom. She writes about improvised cooking like a musician writes about jazz. The important thing is that you don’t know exactly where the notes will lead. Farmers’ markets become her guide, and the “lack of control” provides a sense of freedom and inspiration rather than stress. I finished lunch thinking seriously about the relationship between spontaneity and nutrition.

Her book makes a persuasive case that our daily choices – how we buy food, how we prepare it, and what we do with leftovers – are actually the most accessible gateways to climate action. It’s not about deprivation or overhauling, it’s about making small changes that feel natural over time.

Camila Marcus’ tips for a lean kitchen

Separate with paper towels. Keep a stack of washable kitchen towels within reach and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll never run out of paper.

Rethink your pantry. Replace plastic wrap with a beeswax alternative. Use glass bottles and metal cans for everything from flour to preservatives.

Use storage to make it reusable. Stasher silicone bags replace Ziploc bags. Camila also freezes stocks, sauces and leftover wine in silicone molds for future meals.

Use whole vegetables. There are no stems left. Fennel fronds make a garnish, stems go into stock, and most produce doesn’t need to be peeled.

Let’s consider “scrap” again. Before you toss it, ask, “Can this add flavor to soups and sauces?” Onion skins, herb stems, cheese rinds are all fine. Compost what you really can’t cook.

beautiful green. Look for non-toxic brands like Koala Eco, Branch Basics, and Grove Collaborative.

Start composting. A countertop trash can (Camila loves Bamboozle) is a low bar to start with. Composting produces 20 times less greenhouse gas emissions than landfilling food waste.

Adapted from My Reclaimed Kitchen

Replacements, scraps, compost bins, all of this sounds like discipline. But as I sat in my backyard that afternoon, it didn’t feel like that at all. It felt like the most natural extension of how Camila moves through the world. It’s about being mindful, not wasting anything, and finding joy in the process. The menu below is our starting point. Where you take it is completely up to you.