My name is Kyle Slaven and I am the creator/owner/chef of Whole @SS Meals.

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I started cooking in my mid-teens. My first job was at a local restaurant in my hometown where I started out as a busser. I had the opportunity to work in the kitchen for a few years where I was able to learn more about cooking. 

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While in college, I continued to learn about the culinary world. Different flavors, different cooking techniques, how to better refine some of the skills I already had. I also met my future wife to be and we began doing some basic traveling abroad which expanded my views of food even more. We moved to Chicago in 2013 to finish our Undergrads, and this is when/where I was really able to learn quite a bit about different cultures and how they treated food. After a few years of living in Chicago, my wife began experimenting with her diet and how it could affect her health. She had always had anxiety, but was done with medications because of the side effects. She began removing gluten, dairy and processed sugars out of her daily diet and this made a tremendous impact on her overall well being. Since I did most of our cooking, it made me rethink how to prepare the recipes I was used to.

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Fast forward to 2020 when COVID happened. Like most everyone everywhere, we did as much as we could to keep ourselves and others safe. We skipped our family events and holidays that year and most of the following until we felt that it was safe to be around those we cared about. I pulled out the recipe book my mom had given us for our wedding the year before and started learning how to make all of our favorite meals from back home, but using dietary friendly ingredients. 

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After I left the last gym I was at in early 2023, I was unsure of what exactly I wanted to do long-term. I looked at other career paths, but never felt like it was a path I really wanted to go down. Cooking was always a passion of mine, and being able to cook for others always made me really happy. One night as we were eating one of our meal delivery meals, I blurted out "I could make this so much better." My wife looked at me and I began to get the idea of doing a meal delivery service that could provide better meals. Meals that are inspired by family. Meals that taste amazing and are dietary friendly. As far as the Whole-ass part, you can think Mr. Ron Swanson for that.

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