Meet Vedam Clementi | Executive Chef & Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vedam Clementi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vedam, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I began Vee Culinary in quite a roundabout way, and to understand how it came to pass, I need to give you some history. I could say that the birth of Vee Culinary happened because of life events from childhood to a 30-year evolutionary process in adulthood with health-related issues. From my earliest memories, I was always in the kitchen with one of the two favorite people that shaped my life into what it is today, and those two people were my mom and one of my aunts. I grew up on a substantial Virginian family farm, and we were constantly having family events and “Sunday dinners.” Since we consistently ate most of what we grew on the farm, and just about everything we ate was made from scratch, when it came to mealtime, there was a ton of prep work that had to be done with every meal.

By default, I was one of those in the kitchen helping. They not only taught me about feeding the masses, but they also taught me something extraordinary that is alive and well inside of me today. They both taught me that food not only nourishes people’s bodies but they also taught me that food is a way to show love to the people that you love. They taught me that whatever “energy” you were feeling while cooking was an invisible ingredient that was being cooked into every dish that was going to be consumed during the meal. Those meals set precedence in my life for the love of great food and growing into adulthood as being a foodie!

When I moved away in my early 20s, I began to have severe digestive issues. I can’t even remember all of the times I was hospitalized because of them and being given multiple wrong diagnoses. Finally, in my late 40s, I found an internal medicine doctor who was also a naturopath, who listened to all I said about the issues I had experienced for the last 30 years. She put two and two together and tested me for Celiac Disease, which came back positive. She made me promise her that I would immediately begin a gluten-free diet, which I did. I was one of the blessed ones because after going gluten-free for 30 days, most of my illnesses were on the noticeable mend!

I was determined not to eat nasty gluten-free cardboard disguised as food for the rest of my life. Along with my knowledge of food and cooking and a fair amount of studying, I began to test my gluten-free trials on my family. While that was occurring, I also set up a ‘test kitchen’ in my own home, creating and testing my own glutenfree flour blends by making biscuits, breads, and cakes, etc. While that was happening, I was also sharing my successes and failures on my personal social media channels. It wasn’t long before people started asking for a cookbook, and since I was already recording everything that I was doing, I thought, why not? How hard could that be?

That was a joke! Self-publishing a cookbook truly is no job for the weary! Hours and hours of work went into it, and while that was occurring, I continued sharing my successes and failures. I must have been doing something right, as people began to ask me to cook for them, which I did! In May 2017, “Vedam’s Gluten Free & Fabulous! Recipes From A Southern Gay Househusband” was born!

As that began to grow, my husband made a few statements in a rather demanding way regarding if I would turn this into a business, then I would have to do it legally! He found the national organization of the United States Personal Chef Association, and from there, Vee Culinary was born!

It was my goal that I could feed people delicious and nutritious gluten-free food and meals that not only tasted great, and you would NOT be able to know the food was gluten-free by its taste or texture. I not only wanted to feed as many people as I could, but I also wanted to show and educate people and create products that would help those that were not within my driving distance.
So, even though that story only took seven paragraphs, that was a very condensed version of a 57-year story that evolved from one thing happening and that leading me to the next. I can’t wait to see what the next 50 years have for me!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am the executive chef and owner of Vee Culinary. We are a personal chef and concierge catering company that focuses specifically on a gluten-free diet. We are based out of the North Georgia Mountains, though we often do jobs and events from Atlanta to Asheville, NC. Even though we focus on a gluten-free diet, we also accommodate other dietary restrictions, allergies, and diet types. I am so proud that over 75% of our clients use us not because of the need for a gluten-free diet; they use our services because our food ROCKS! Of course, the person that has hired us knows that we only cook gluten-free foods, but it is so cool to let the other guests at our events know after the fact of their enjoyment of their meal that our food is truly 100% gluten-free. How did I get where I am today (and where I am going in the future), and was it easy? Certain aspects were extremely easy; for example, cooking comes very easy. Making great food comes very easily. Having excellent customer service and making people experience a great ‘down-home meal’ as well as a bougie event comes very easy, but many other aspects were extremely difficult. I am a 57-year-old, gay, dyslexic man who spent most of his life thinking he was damaged, dumb, and way too sensitive for my own good. I not only made it through school by the skin of my teeth and continued to think that I was not the sharpest tack in the box, but I also did not grow up with computers and that technology. Hell, I didn’t get my first computer until 1996, when I was 32 years old. Learning about business, social media, etc., has been the most challenging part. But I keep dreaming and making those dreams become a reality!

I have learned that even though I have thought those things about myself in the past, that was a story that I had been telling myself. Since, even though many things about my past were indeed not pleasant, I could genuinely write and tell a different story about my history and the future that was still to be lived. I also realized that the only way that I could honestly do that was by being authentic about who and what I am and embracing the vulnerability that comes with this.
What do I want the world to know about me? Well, it’s not so much about me as it is about me as an example of what I have learned about life and what I hope the reader gets out of reading this. I want the world to know that you are the writer, director, and producer of your own life story, no matter what life throws out at you! My brand, Vee Culinary, is a walking, talking, living example of how I have lived my life. I do not take ‘no’ for many options, and I want to help the world be sweeter and more delicious. I want to touch people’s lives through my food, love, and friendship as I meet our clients and my ministry regarding life while cooking for and with them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As someone who has lived in Atlanta since 1987 and has now become a resident of the North Georgia mountain for over a decade, I have watched Atlanta change, grow and evolve for quite a long time. I love Atlanta in all of its aspects. Atlanta is such a diverse place to live and explore, but I genuinely love the nature that Atlanta holds as much as I do the shopping, eating, and the sites. So with that being said, I would urge them to take a few days to enjoy both! I would encourage them to enjoy the beauty and nature of Grant Park, Piedmont Park, and the Botanical Gardens. Even though eating safely for a celiac is rather tricky in just about any city, the shopping, dining, and the sites would totally depend on who was visiting and where I would take them. It could be from shopping in and around Buckhead to Little 5 Points to Virginia Highlands to West Midtown. I would let them know that Atlanta has so much to offer, and rather than getting bogged down by going here and there and trying to see everything, I would urge them to do something like my husband and I did while visiting Italy. I would recommend they walk out of their door and flip a coin in the morning. Before flipping the coin, decide which side of the coin represented right and which side represented left, and then let Existence take them on a journey of discovery and trust the process! Atlanta will not let them down!
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost, I want to give a huge shoutout to my husband, Nirish Moody. He has not only believed in me, but he also continues to support me beyond measure, loves me, and calls me out on my bulls*t! Beyond him, many close and trusted friends, allies, therapists, teachers, and gurus have believed in me through the three professional incarnations that have occurred in my adult life. Without them, I would not be alive and well to tell you this story today. Some of them that I would regret if I did not mention would be my sweet Mama, my Aunt Bet, my surrogate Atlanta Mom, Judi “Lou” Collins, my guru, Isa Naster, and many of my dear friends! I wouldn’t begin to name all of them because, in many situations, I have friends that I have had since elementary and high school, as well as my many years in the hair business and my spiritual life.

Website: https://veeculinary.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veeculinary/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chef-vedamclementi-167b5430/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChefVedam

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VeeCulinary