Miami Valley Meals makes thousands of meals each week to feed our community. transforming donated and rescued food into nutritious meals for those experiencing food insecurity. For their third anniversary in 2023 they unveiled a lineup of chef-created spice blends created in partnership with Big Axe Spice Salt Free Seasonings; The Root of Love, Give Back Garlic Blast, and Feel Good Fusion.
Having recently celebrated their fifth anniversary they added a new spice to the lineup – The Spice of Life by Chef Marilyn! It’s a baker’s best friend and is perfect for fruit pies, cobblers, cakes cookies and quick breads.
Chef Marilyn Britt first joined MVM in the kitchen as part of her participation in Goodwill Easterseals’ Senior Community Service Employment Program, and upon completion, was hired on permanently. “I joined MVM because they are doing something positive for the world we live in by addressing and contributing to food insecurity, something I always wanted to do. The chefs that prepare the healthy meals love and enjoy their jobs.”
We asked Chef Marilyn to take a break from meal prep to answer our Chef 10 questions and here’s what she told us:
1. What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
My favorite ingredient to cook with is basil – I love it! It can really uplift a dish and I buy some every time I’m in the store.
2. What ingredient do you dread?
I dread too much salt. As a transplant survivor, I limit my sodium and generally follow a healthy diet.
3. What’s your favorite dish to make?
My favorite dish to make is stir fry. It’s very nutritious and colorful. All of my children and grandchildren love it, and I love making it for them!
4. What’s your favorite pig out food?
My favorite pig out food is sweet potatoes – baked or as a pie. My sister Betty makes the best sweet potato pie. She really puts love in it and it puts a smile on my face.
5. What restaurant, other than your own, do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley?
I like dining at J Alexander’s Restaurant. I like a few of the healthier options from the menu, the atmosphere and the service.
Chef Angie (left) and Chef Marilyn (right) with a table of meals.
6. What’s your best advice for home chefs?
After working at Miami Valley Meals with such a variety of donations – I’ve gotten to be creative and experiment with the team. Some of these ingredients, specifically certain spices and herbs – I hadn’t tried before but have now really grown to enjoy them. So, my advice would be to be creative and give it a try! You can always make small batches and you may find something new that you love.
7. If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party who would they be and why?
I would invite Calvin Britt Jr., my sons TaeVon and Justin, as well as my best friend Cheryl. They all love a variety of foods and they are open to trying new things. I love cooking for them because they very much appreciate it and they always give their honest opinion. 
8. Who do you look up to in the industry and why?
In the culinary world I look up to Chef Gordon Ramsey because he tells the truth when it comes to food and explains why.
In the nonprofit world I look up to Ms. Amanda because she always greets you with a smile (-: and she always makes her staff know she appreciates our hard work. She is truly concerned with each and everyone’s feelings.
9. What do you do in the Miami Valley on a day off?
On my days off I read and write letters. I also cook zucchini and banana bread to give away. The team at Miami Valley Meals loves them. (-:
10. Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story:
I was hired at the Monday Community Correctional program part-time in culinary but the very next day, they offered me a full time position. I was also training to become a bus driver at the time and weighing my options – but cooking is in my heart. I’m lucky I got the offer and grateful this led me on my culinary journey. Cooking brings me peace.
Like many female chefs in the Miami Valley Chef Mariah Gahagan is quick to credit to other women in the industry that mentored her. She thanks Elizabeth Wiley for teaching and The Winds’ co-owners Mary Kay Smith and Kim Korkan for helping start her career when she first worked as a dishwasher. ” Since then she’s had stints at Coco’s, Chin’s, Sidebar, Wheat Penny, Lily’s has been with Tender Mercy for at least the last yer.
If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party who would they be and why?
What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
Meet Chef Waverly Howard, affectionately known as Chef Wave, hailing proudly from Dayton, Ohio. Over the last decade, he has breathed life into his culinary aspirations. Chef Wave’s odyssey commenced with launching his food truck, 
A Dayton native whose culinary career includes stints at Rue Dumaine, Hotel Covington and a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York has returned to Ohio to lead a new boutique eatery opening in early 2022.
David Belknap is the Area Executive Chef overseeing The Foundry and all banquet, catering and private dining events for guests at AC Hotel Dayton in addition to running the Spanish-inspired rooftop lounge and restaurant VASO at AC Hotel Columbus Dublin.
The husband and wife team of Mykie and Patrick Thompson are celebrating the third anniversary of their breakfast and lunch bistro in Troy. When creating the concept, their vision was to create an atmosphere that would relaxed and comfortable. redBERRY would serve the classics with all the taste and no fuss. There’d be breakfast populars like biscuits and gravy and French toast, and lunch favorites like BLTs and hearty soups.
Chef Franco Gallo grew up in a small town in Italy by the Adriatic Sea in Brindisi, where he got his first taste of the restaurant business doing every job imaginable alongside many Italian Chefs in his hometown. He also served in the Italian Army and was trained in culinary art to serve the high ranking officer staff. He met his wife in the Navy, stationed in Italy where they met and he followed here here. His most recent experience was being the Head Chef at the Dayton Bicycle Club for 15 years. Last summer the stars aligned with the opportunity to open Franco the Foodie, where he is the now the owner and Chef, creating a unique rotating menu every week and catering for parties and events. His family is all involved in the business with his wife and one daughter works in the kitchen, while his other daughter works the front of the house.
Chef Summer Key is an American Culinary Federation award-winning certified chef. She started culinary school at Sinclair and after years of learning and honing her skills, and working with renowned chefs, she started her own catering business, 
What ingredient do you dread?
Well if you know me at all then you already know this answer. Chef Anne Kearney and Anthony Head. I love them very much.They both have done so much for me in different ways. Chef Head taught me in school to do more, better, faster. A good cook, cooks. A better cook reads and the best cooks write. He pushed me to join our competition team in culinary school at Sinclair. I won an American Culinary Federation bronze metal for the state of Ohio and became captain then coach. He introduced me to the top chefs in our city doing events for them with him and other students. Holding me accountable for my work still to this day, never letting me give up.
Even though I never get a full day off I always make time for my son. He has to deal with my schedule so I make sure we go on ‘”adventures” a few times a week. Normally something fun outdoors. Metro Parking it up. Young’s dairy, putt putt golf, swimming and movies/drive in theaters are a few. We love the $6 tuesday shows at The Green
Meet Executive Chef Gavin St. Denis!
1.What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
6. What’s your best advice for home chefs?
professionals to assist by quickly and efficiently bulk preparing nutritious food.
What’s your favorite dish to make? A dish I call Rotolino. It was created by my mentor, Chef Dennis McCarthy, and passed along to me. I use it as a teaching technique (similar to foie gras torchon) with young chefs and everyone gets to enjoy the result. It consists of 4 cheeses, 3 pestos, and pinenuts, rolled up to make a pinwheel that screams Italian on an American table.
What restaurant, other than your own, do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley? There are many wonderful places to dine in our region to carve out just one. I tend to find myself in a booth at any ma and pop kitchen I come across, looking for that genuine heartfelt creation. Yet to put a spotlight on the best we have around, I have enjoyed experiencing what Chef Wiley has done at her restaurants over the years, along many of the other greats that have come and gone, but truly the props go out to all of those independents getting up everyday and cooking their hearts out.
y because he would never stop laughing, and that would be an entertaining evening with great food!
Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story: Many years ago, I was hired as a new corporate chef for an independent dining group in downtown Columbus. Two weeks into my tenure was Easter Sunday. I spent the week prepping and setting up the usual. I was all ready to go. Turns out, the night before was graduation day for OSU, and I had no idea of the amount of people we would serve, since I was from out of town. Needless to say, I ended up using much of my Easter prep to complete dinner service that night. After the shift ended, myself, my sous chef and her wife (also a cook) stayed through the night and into the next day restocking the menu. That Easter we served over 800 guests and no one had any idea I was on a 32 hour straight shift to make it happen. That was the longest shift of my career.
Whitted has operated 
Jorge Guzman
Susie and Iván Núñez have developed a comfortable blend of international culinary styles that has evolved into the distinctive Casa Núñez flavor. Iván learned the traditional cooking of his native Puerto Rico from his grandmother and his great-aunt. As a young man, he not only owned a successful Mexican restaurant called “Paso Real” in New Mexico, but also placed third in the prestigious Chilympiad in San Marcos, Texas. He later married Susie in Gibraltar and the pair made their first home together in Madrid, Spain.
What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
