Welcome to another edition of the Real Food Kitchen Tour. This week we’re featuring Pam Montazeri.
What’s a Real Foodie?
A “real foodie” is someone who cooks “traditional” food. We cook stuff from scratch using real ingredients, like raw milk, grass-fed beef, eggs from chickens that run around outdoors, whole grains, sourdough and yogurt starters, mineral-rich sea salt, and natural sweeteners like honey and real maple syrup.
We don’t use modern foods that are either fake, super-refined, or denatured. This includes modern vegetable oils like Crisco and margarine, soy milk, meat from factory farms, pasteurized milk from cows eating corn and soybeans, refined white flour, factory-made sweeteners like HFCS or even refined white sugar, or commercial yeast.
We believe in eating wholesome, nutrient-dense foods that come from nature. So we shop at farmer’s markets or buy direct from the farmer, or we grow food in our own backyards.
This Week’s Real Food Kitchen Tour: Pam Montazeri
This week’s edition of the Real Food Kitchen Tour takes us to southern California to visit Pam Montazeri’s kitchen. I absolutely love Pam’s kitchen. It reminds me so much of my mother’s kitchen in Dallas. It’s elegant but cozy at the same time — and incredibly practical.
You can tell that Pam gets a lot done in this kitchen. And her backyard kitchen is just like the one in my fantasy!
I know you will be inspired by this kitchen just like I am!
Me with 2 of my 8 grandkids, Stella & Emma
Blog Name: Don’t have a blog, but seriously considering it!
Name: Pam Montazeri
Location: Simi Valley, CA
House or Apartment: House
Size of Kitchen: 12-x14-
Things You Love About Your Kitchen: My favorite thing in my kitchen is the stove. It is an antique (1930′s) O’Keeffe & Merritt, which belonged to my grandmother; in fact, I still have its’ original receipt that she kept! It works like a charm, and I wouldn’t trade it for any new model today. It is promised to my Real Foodie daughter up in Idaho, Tara Kelly, someday! I also love the view from my windows; I have lots of trees and plants outside to look at. We have many fruit trees including pomegranate, blood orange, navel orange, tangerine, lemon, loquat, mulberries, avocado, and persimmon. Several years ago, we remodeled the kitchen, and installed Silestone granite counter tops over the new cupboards. I can do anything on the counter, chop or set hot foods, and it never stains or cracks. I love it, and it is very easy to clean. Also, I am very fond of the cookware I have collected over the years, good quality stainless steel pots and pans, Le Crueset cookware, Pampered Chef stoneware, and a Green Pan.
Things You Would Change: No matter how I arrange things, I NEVER have enough room! I must confess, I have a passion for pretty dishes, and honestly I just can’t resist new gadgets and cookware!
Favorite Tools & Gadgets: I am really lucky to have so many kitchen tools now; I ran a VERY primitive kitchen when our kids were little because I just couldn’t afford any better, but now that they are grown, I have been collecting fun and useful tools and gadgets like my Fidibus flour mill, Excalibur Dehydrator, oat flaker, crock pots, food processor, Magic Bullet, and the Samovar, my Persian tea maker. We have 8 grandkids, so I’m always cooking something for them! I love to sprout Kamut and spelt wheat, dry it, and grind it into nutritious flour to bake yummy things for them! (Although I admit I should be seriously looking into the GAPS diet for myself, just not ready yet!)
Biggest Challenges Cooking Real Food: Cooking real food has come very naturally for me, for four reasons, I believe. First of all, I come from a “old vegetarian hippie” background, which I was involved with for many years; secondly, having a Persian husband and living in Iran for a few years really taught me how to prepare natural, and whole foods into delicious Persian dishes (including all types of meats), which I LOVE! Thirdly, my daughter, Tara, jumped on the Weston Price bandwagon before I did, and turned me on to things like fermenting, grass-fed meat, and locally grown produce. And last but not least, I live in Southern CA, where there is an abundance of raw milk, good meats, and organic farmers markets EVERYWHERE! So, because of my background, I think this journey is a natural transition for me (and my ol’ man!). If I were to mention one thing that has been difficult, it has to be SOME of the cultured flavors. I am not fond of all of them, so I pick out ones that taste good to me, and stick with those, like sauerkraut, and sourdough.
Current Family Favorite Meal: Right now in the summer, it has to be giant grilled portabello mushrooms with melted raw cheddar cheese on toasted sourdough bread. Yum. And I’ll grill a grass-fed flank steak to go with it. Also, I cook lots of Persian foods, which are always full of vegetables, healthy fats, meats, yogurt, goat cheese, and flat bread. When the weather cools off, I do stews and stocks, and comfort foods. We get our eggs and chicken from a local farm in Santa Paula (Healthy Family Farms, mentioned in Farmageddon) and our grass-fed beef from Novy Ranch. And of course, our milk from Organic Pastures Dairy!
Favorite Cookbooks: I used to collect cookbooks, and I still do to a degree, but for sure I have Nourishing Traditions, as well as ideas and recipes from all the bloggers in the Real Food Media!
My Kitchen
A Place to Nourish
Kitchen sink
Is that Depression glass on the shelf above the sink? I collect that, too.
My favorite kitchen tool
“This O’Keefe & Merrit belonged to my grandmother, and someday I will pass it on to my daughter. It works great!”
Beautiful! I had a friend with one of these in her home in the Hollywood Hills. And another friend who just moved to the Fairfax district in LA and she has one, too. They are fabulous!
Different kinds of sprouted wheat and grinder
Fibidus grain mill
This is the same grain mill I have. I love it!
I am a natural Salt Junkie!
“Here you see smoked sea salt, Murray River salt, Kala Namak salt (from India), Pink Himalayan salt, and Flaked Lava salt. Also in the little jar is truffle salt, and in the back is a pink Himalayan salt slab for serving on, or grilling on.”
How wonderful!
Oat Flaker
I plan to buy an oat flaker next. I love granola and oatmeal — but I want freshly rolled oats!
Organic Zucchini bread with Kamut flour, coconut oil, organic walnuts
My Pampered Chef Stoneware collectionWow! How wonderful! I think this is going to be my next collection (I’ve been collecting Le Creuset for a while now.)
Cast iron collection
I need the cornbread skillet!
Casey, My Companion
The kids sit here and help cook, or just eat!
What lucky grandkids!
Love the pot rack!
I am a huge fan of pot racks. I’ve had them in the past two homes I’ve lived in and I will have one in my next home, too. I love just reaching up and grabbing a pan instead of having to stoop over and dig around in a cupboard.
Tray Excalibur dehydrator
Le Creuset collection
I adore my Le Creuset.
Kombucha Scoby Hotel
Kitchen staple
A whole lot of Milky Goodness!
Don’t you love being able to get raw milk at the supermarket? We are so spoiled in California!
In the fridge...whey, sauerkraut, bone broth, and kefir
One Tough Helper
“I’ve had this mixer for 20 years, it’s a workhorse!”
I love my KitchenAid stand mixer, too.
My special nook
“My little kitchen office next to the fridge”
Sourdough rising...
Back side of my outdoor kitchen
How fabulous! And living in Southern California, you can use for this most of the year.
Front side of my outdoor kitchen
Check Out the Previous Real Food Kitchen Tour Posts
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Cracking an Egg with One Hand
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Yolks, Kefir & Gristle
Real Food Kitchen Tour: The Okparaeke Family
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Holistic Kid
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Artistta
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Nourished & Nurtured
Real Food Kitchen Tour: May All Seasons Be Sweet to Thee
Real Food Kitchen Tour: The Horting Family
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Hybrid Rasta Mama
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Granola Mom 4 God
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Real Food Devotee
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Real Food Forager
Real Food Kitchen Tour: The Leftover Queen
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Health Home & Happiness
Let Us Tour Your Kitchen
Are you a real foodie? Do you have a kitchen that you’d like to see featured on CHEESESLAVE?
Please email me at annmarie AT realfoodmedia dot com. Either send me a link to a Flickr set or email me your photos (minimum of 5, but more is better). Note: Please send me LARGE photos. Minimum 610 width. If they’re too small, I can’t use them.
Oh, and please send the answers to the above questions (at the very top of this post).
As much as I’d love to include all the photos I receive, I can’t guarantee that I will use your photos in the series. I’m looking for creative, good quality photos.
Some ideas for photos:
- Show us what’s in your fridge or what’s fermenting on your counter
- Take some snaps of some of your favorite kitchen gadgets, or show us how you organize your spices
- Got backyard chickens? Send some pics!
- How about a lovely herb garden?
- Kids or pets are always cute!
- Try to include at least one photo of yourself, ideally in your kitchen
And no, you don’t have to have a blog to be included in the tour.
Photo credit: A warm welcome Project365(3) Day 10 by Keith Williamson, on Flickr
Disclosure: cmp.ly/4 and cmp.ly/5
{ 58 comments… read them below or add one }
I miss this kitchen and the food that comes from it since I’ve moved to ID. But I’ll gladly take the stove any day now.
Oh, Tara, Pam is your mom! I didn’t realize! How awesome! You are so lucky!
Yep, the apple (or orange or avocado or persimmon…) doesn’t fall far from the tree! My food tastes are more similar to my dads – tart, sour flavors. Which make it easy to consume the fermented foods. My mom favors the sweet flavors – hence all the fun kitchen equipment for baked goods. I grew up watching her work in the kitchen all day to put a traditional persian meal on the table- and yes, our kitchen (the same one without the remodel and most of the tools) was quite bare bones. So it CAN be done with only the simplest of pots, fire, and knife. We rarely had processed foods in the house because they were more expensive than whole foods at the time. Simply couldn’t afford them. How sad that they seem to be the ‘cheaper’ foods now.
That’s right, the whole foods back when Tara was a kid (although not so much organic) were far less expensive than processed foods, so I would buy the basics and staples, and spend hours in the kitchen preparing meals. And my tools were minimal; I used to joke about my “primitive” kitchen!
…and it misses you.
What a fabulous kitchen, and you don’t look old enough to be a grandma. I thought you were the kiddies mom before i saw otherwise.
LOL! not only grandma of the young, my son is the oldest grandchild – 18 years old!
I get that all the time! But it’s true, Tara and I were both young moms, consequently, I have 8 grandkids ranging in age from 18 yrs to 7 months.
You are so lucky, Pam! I wish I had had my daughter when I was younger. (But then again, I’m very glad I didn’t have any kids with my first husband!
)
I think there is a huge benefit to waiting till you’re older to have kids. I wish I could apply my knowledge of food and health now to my babies. Unfortunately I didn’t know any better and went along with vaccines, antibiotics, formula (although I did bf my daughter for nearly three years), SAD foods, ect. I’m trying to make up for it now, but you can never get those first years back.
Aw, thanks, Tara. That is a really good point. I would have done the same thing when I was younger!
I’m so grateful for the internet today. Young women have so much more access to better information!
When Tara was born in 1973, I was 17. I didn’t know my #$% from a hole in the ground. But I did the whole hippie mama thing with her til she was 3, you know, vegetarian, home baked bread, alfalfa sprouts, and carob cookies. Then we moved to Iran for 3 years, and a whole new food world opened up for us. But I’m telling you, if I had had internet back then…well, things would be A LOT different! I did things on my own most of the time, and learned life the hard way. But all said and done, I’m sure glad I had Tara when I did; she’s my best friend.
That is so sweet!!!
Pam,
Thank you for sharing your Wonderful Kitchen.
You have given me some great idea’s.
I love your stove. My Mother gave me hers, although it was from the early 50′s, but looks some what the same!
My Hubby so nicely gave the stove to a friend, when we build our new home 6 years ago, and bought me a new one!!
What do men think! lol..
I miss the Shelve on the top. I do not understand why new stoves do not have those already attached.
Your backyard is fabulous with all your trees and build-in kitchen, BBQ etc.
What a fun place for all your Grandchildren and Family to Share.
Enjoy…
Annie in Ca.
Thanks Annie! Sorry to hear about your stove; my husband has done the same thing with some of my treasures, now I watch him carefully around the antiques!
And yes, we do have many family gatherings in our backyard kitchen, in fact we had one this past Sunday.
LOVE this kitchen. That stove is something else. I use and sell the portable style flaker mills Anne Marie.
I have drooled over some of these kitchens. They are all so beautiful. My house was built (not by us) for total frugalness and we are trying to get out of debt. So until then, I have a kitchen that I am not in love with.
We live on a farm though and are blessed to raise and grow much of our own food.
I hope we get to see lots more kitchens!!
Thanks Marci!
This might be my favorite kitchen! So wonderful. I LOOOOOOVE all your glass storage jars. Where did you find them all?
Target! They have the best and cheapest glass container collection now. But I wouldn’t wait, you know how things get moved in and out so quickly.
LOVE the outdoor kitchen… heck, that’s a sexier kitchen than my indoor one lol.
LOL!
What a beautiful kitchen and a fabulous set-up. I need that grain mill! Actually I’ll take quite a few of the things in the pictures. Fantastic!
Thanks Therese!
Gorgeous! What a kitchen- you can just tell it’s full of love
Tara, you’re a lucky lady in line for that stove 
Agreed! Not only do I really love the stove itself – but it has deep meaning. I have memories of going to my great grandparents house in Santa Barbara and my great grandma cooking at that stove. The grandparents and even the house don’t exist anymore, but we’ll always have the stove. My dream is to build my own kitchen someday and incorporate the stove and a 1950′s fridge I have into the kitchen along with all modern appliances. Kind of a vintage/modern combo kitchen.
Thanks Amy! Tara is going to need to haul that stove from CA to ID, but something tells me she would haul it even farther if she had to!
I really love these kitchen tours! This kitchen is so sweet and grandmotherly. I covet all the excellent tools.
LOL! That’s the first time anyone has referred to anything of mine as “sweet and grandmotherly”, but yep, I suppose it is!
Oh, I love this kitchen! I’m bookmarking as a dream kitchen
Thanks Cara! I just signed up for your 30 day GAPS intro challenge, I think I’m ready!
when do I move it?!?!?! please adopt me. Wonderful. I hope to have a kitchen some day that inspires family meals like yours does!
Thanks Tiffany! Come on over any time!
I not only want to copy everything in the kitchen, but I also want to adopt Pam!
LOL! OK…!
What a beautiful, homey kitchen! I absolutely love the kitchen tours, and I am gratified to see one that is not all white!
I have only one small disagreement. While it is wonderful that raw milk is “legal” in CA, I have to say that I much prefer my current arrangement, and feel so fortunate to have it. I drive 17 miles (actually, I share this trip with our pastor), and pick up my milk from a cow whose name I know (I usually hope for Roo’s milk, but Daisy’s is fine, too), placed into a jar I supplied, and pay my farmer $4 a gallon.
Sorry, but California seems to have used raw milk as a way to regulate real food into one more financial barrier, and I will be happy if my own state, Minnesota, leaves things as they are.
I was *THIS* close to a herd share for milk, but it turned out that there were health problems in the herd. So they are looking for another, and I am waiting!
But, Mark McAfee over at OP is my current hero; he runs an awesome milk farm, and I am so thankful to have him!
Jill, I agree with the satisfaction of getting milk from a small family farm. My raw milk situation her in ID is very similar to yours. I drive out of my town every week, go their farm/home, supply my own jars, and pay a similar price. I’m friends with my lady farmer, and she even lets me pick from her garden in the summer. I occasionally bring her baked treats and we share food tips back and forth. It’s been brought up in the past that farmers should be paid much more for raw milk and I agree. But I also think it depends on the situation. I drive to them, supply my own containers, ect.. So I don’t feel so bad about my lower cost milk.
On the other hand – each state is different. If you are even allowed to purchase raw milk legally in your state you are blessed. So people in CA are fortunate that they can even buy it. In some states it’s not available at all. Where my mom gets her milk from – organic pastures, is a great farm for raw milk. I’ve visited it. But yes, I really do prefer my small arrangement. for many reasons.
Yes, it’s wonderful to be able to buy raw milk from a small farm like you are doing. But $4/gallon sounds way too cheap! I hope your farmer can stay in business selling his milk so cheaply.
“Sorry, but California seems to have used raw milk as a way to regulate real food into one more financial barrier, and I will be happy if my own state, Minnesota, leaves things as they are.”
Gotta disagree here. California is leading the way for other states. Just look at all the small raw milk farmers around the country who are being shut down and driven out of business. Individual raw milk farmers are sitting ducks. We have to organize and get big (at least in numbers of farms and consumers) in order to effectively fight them.
The feds have tried to crush Mark McAfee but they can’t do it. He’s a hero to many (including me!) and I’m so grateful that he is doing everything he’s doing to make real change for raw milk not only in California but throughout the country and eventually the world.
So awesome, Pam! it is hard to keep up with you and all your energy; I don’t know how you do it, but you do it so well! It’s an honor to be one of your “co-grammas” and learn so much from you and my D-I-L Tara. (Hope you start that blog soon)
Oh thanks Jayne! I only LOOK like I have energy! LOL! I really have a lot less than I used to. It’s hard to keep up with all these kids! But we love them all the same, don’t we?
I love that stove!
WOW…what a kitchen! I love all the kitchens we see. Some are large and some are small. The small ones inspire me with their necessary organization even though I have a spacey kitchen right now. I love seeing an item that may be consistent in every kitchen.
Such a cool thing to see. Very inspiring all the way around.
Thanks Molly!
This kitchen is magical!!!! Pam, you are seriously such an inspiration! I have learned a lot just by touring your kitchen. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Cassandra! It was so much fun to do this for AnnMarie, and makes me appreciate what I have.
What an amazing kitchen! I do hope you start your own blog. I’d love to learn how to make Persian foods from someone who knows the good stuff.
Can you grind beans in your grain mill?
Thanks Gopika! I haven’t ground beans, but I believe you can in this mill.
Pam, where did you get the oat flaker? it looks like a standard kitchenaid attachment?
It is! I got it from Amazon.
is it just the grain grinder attachment? i can’t find one labeled ‘oat flaker’
Well, I thought it was Amazon! Maybe they don’t carry it anymore. Here’s another place that has it:
http://www.spoilthecook.com/bosch/Kitchen-Aid-Flaker-Mill-Attachment.html
I want that back yard! I’m not so good at the whole Pinterest thing yet, but I’m going to try to “pin” (or whatever you call it) that picture on my “board” (??)
Kelly
Go for it!
Kelly, to bad you live in michigan! This backyard really is an oasis in a track home atmosphere. They’ve lived there since 1980 and it’s gone through many transformations, but this one is the best. Of course when I’m not anywhere near it.
Hahahaha!!!!!
I love these kitchen tours!!! This is a great kitchen, and I am looking up some of the individual elements for a future kitchen update. I HAVE to show my husband these pictures. Yesterday when our refrigerator died, he complained that we have too much “weird stuff” in our refrigerator! Haha, since he likes my cooking, I’m not too worried, but I don’t normally think about my refrigerator in terms of how much it looks like a typical American one! Yeah. Fermented stuff, half gallon jars of raw “homemade” milk, etc. OK, so we’re weird!
LOL!!! The weirder the better!
Pam,
You have a wonderful kitchen! I am impressed with your collections of stoneware etc.
What are the uses of the bowl shaped stoneware in the back corner? We have one, but I haven’t known what to do with it.
Thank you for sharing your kitchen with us. It is inspirational.
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