Christine Seelye-King

Christine Seelye-King started to cook when she was 8, or 6 if you count her Easy Bake Oven.  Her father owned a restaurant when her folks were first married and she grew up with him watching Julia Child and experimenting with cuisines such as French, Chinese, Japanese, German and party foods of all types. Throughout the 70’s, they were always the first ones on their block to have microwaves, electric woks, and all manner of Ronco kitchen gadgets.  Entertaining was an art form in the Seelye household. 

She served a 3-year chef’s apprenticeship through the American Culinary Federation, becoming the first woman to graduate from the program in the Southeast in 1984.  Since then her job titles have included Restaurant and Bar Manager, Personal Chef, President of the Board of Directors for Sevananda Natural Foods, Mad Scientist, and for the past 26 Christmas seasons, Mrs. Claus. 

 As a Chef Instructor, she enjoys teaching culinary skills to students of all ages from small children through senior citizens. She has taught for Chattahoochee Technical College’s Culinary Arts Program, Viking Cooking School, The Boys and Girls Club, Cook’s Warehouse, and the John C. Campbell Folk School.   She is a certified ServSafe instructor and proctor for the National Restaurant Association. 

During her tenure as the Health and Education Coordinator for Sevananda Natural Foods she led training classes on healthy lifestyles, herbs, supplements, and alternative diets.  She maintains a gluten-free and dairy-free diet, and works with clients that have complicated medical dietary restrictions, helping them find their “Yes” list and learning to work within their guidelines. 

Christy started studying history as a reenactor about the same time that she became an apprentice chef, learning to put on medieval and renaissance feasts while learning to create sit-down formal banquets for 500 at the hotel where she worked. Christianna has continued studying food and history, and has worked as a food historian demonstrating Roman, Viking, Medieval, Renaissance, Victorian, Edwardian, Native American, and Colonial period foods. 

Her recipes show her interest in cuisines from faraway lands as well as times long past.  She has written self-published books including: “The Feast Planner’s Handbook”, for planning large historical feasts, “The Accomplisht Childe”, a cookbook for children using ancient recipes, and “A Year Full of Celebrations”, an edited compendium of year-round holiday celebrations.

As a teacher to homeschoolers, Miss Christy puts on Living History classes that feature the culture, daily life, technology, and of course foods of her chosen time periods.  Her students love to refer to her courses as “Feast Class”, because the feasts and banquets are always the highlights of the semester.  No matter what name she goes by, her research is always extensive, her presentations are lavish, and the food is delicious!  Since 2020, many of those classes have gone on-line, opening up virtual access to students around the world!

Chef Christy resides in the Atlanta area and is the co-author of “Easy Gluten-Free Entertaining” (GlutenSmart Press, 2013), and a contributor to “43 Tables” (2020).