Meet Jeremiah Lemons of When Life Hands You Lemons by Chef Lem in Ellenwood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremiah Lemons.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Jeremiah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m the educational and private chef! Back in 2016 I started doing full-length cooking tutorials as an excuse to make a Snapchat. I’d take raw ingredients and show friends step-by-step how to construct whatever dish came to mind. The feedback I received was awesome, and I noticed a key detail; people didn’t know as much about food as I thought. I wanted to change that, and felt a responsibility to. So I became more detailed in my social media instruction giving more insights, history, and tips on the food I was making aside from simply executing a recipe. To educate became my purpose. I do cooking demonstrations for college programs, volunteer with The Atlanta Community Food Bank, and draft infographics to help people learn about what they’re eating, and how to prepare it for themselves.

Outside of Food Education I dove into the culinary and hospitality industry last year working as an Execution Chef in catering, maintaining clients as a private meal prep chef, and catering my own private events. I would have never dreamed all of these things would come after not being able to find full-time employment after I quit my first job out of college. And for my profession to be something I love is a blessing.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The struggles are unending, but that’s part of the process of learning your craft. Time and finances are the main two; keeping enough money in your pocket for ingredients and equipment while still having the time to use them is a true balancing act. Food Education itself has several moving parts just to name a few: recipe writing, taking quality pictures of your food, writing and executing video shoots, and building a website come to mind immediately. But, I love it, honestly. My steps were led here, I feel that way every day.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
When Life Hands You Lemons is the name of my Food Education platform. My goal isn’t to show off my culinary skill, but to empower you to try cooking for yourself, and transcend the way you view food and interact with it.

Choose Joy Catering, established last year with my friend and co-owner Cameron Everson is my pride and joy. We specialize in private dinner parties and catering for small organizational meetings or events. Choose Joy delivers excellent service and makes your experience one of pure joy, as the name suggests.

What were you like growing up?
I was a very quiet child, and curious about things I found interesting, which was all things Michael Jordan. To be quite honest I was one of the pickiest of eaters. School lunch was a cycle of nightmares for me. Basketball was my first love, I played since I could remember and watched a ton of it. But after basketball I can immediately recall always watching what my mother was doing in the kitchen. I learned a lot about food from her, and Alton Brown. His show Good Eats on Food Network was my favorite show. I still watch re-runs to this day when I can. Around 10 or 11 yrs. old I would call and ask her if I could cook myself something to eat after school before she had gotten home, those are my first cooking memories. Chili was my favorite dish early on.

Contact Info:

• Website: cheflem.com
• Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
• Instagram: @_cheflem
• Facebook: @chefjlemons
• Twitter: @_cheflem

Image Credit:
Noemie Tshinanga
Courtney Jones-Stevens

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