
Name: Joe
Posts by Joe, Co-founder of Rouxbe:
Rouxbe Cooking School and the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) Join Together to Help Eradicate Lifestyle Diseases
March 9th, 2017The Rouxbe Cooking School announced a new partnership today with the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP), a lifestyle enrichment platform designed to reduce disease risk factors through better health habits and lifestyle modifications. CHIP will incorporate access to Culinary Rx, an online cooking and nutrition course, in its existing lifestyle change platform to solve the need for culinary education and complement CHIP’s behavioral change program.
“It’s an honor to become part of the long-standing CHIP tradition of excellence and dedication to help people make sustained behavioral change and improve outcomes in healthcare,” says Gary Apito, Chief Operating Officer for the Rouxbe Cooking School. “Rouxbe’s leading culinary platform is a perfect addition to affect positive change in CHIP patients worldwide.”
Developed in 2015, Culinary Rx is part of a collaborative venture with The Plantrician Project, a leading non-profit organization whose mission is to educate, equip and empower physicians and healthcare practitioners with knowledge about the indisputable benefits of plant-based nutrition. With more than 78 recipes and 96 instructional videos, this industry-leading online cooking and nutrition course empowers students through their transition to a more health-supportive diet and lifestyle. Healthcare providers prescribe Culinary Rx to patients through the Culinary Rx website or an iOS app called “Prescriber” and programs are individually tailored to patients, with 99 percent of patients stating they would recommend the program to others.
Jere Stocks, CHIP and The Lifestyle Medicine Institute’s (LMI) Vice President of North America, says, “We found it – a renowned online cooking school! LMI is excited to announce our new partnership with Rouxbe. CHIP has shown you the advantages of a plant-based, whole food lifestyle. Now it will be Rouxbe that will reinforce your nutritional literacy and provide a robust cooking service to our participants.”
The CHIP program is based on the fact that over 75 percent of Western diseases are “lifestyle-related,” as stated by the U.S. Surgeon General. The program has proven benefits to combating these diseases such as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, adult cancers, and depression, among others. Results have been published in more than 30 scientific articles in peer-reviewed medical journals such as the American Journal of Cardiology, the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, and Preventive Medicine.
Hans Diehl, the founder of the Complete Health Improvement Program states, “CHIP, the flagship program of the Lifestyle Medicine movement, has shown you the ‘whys’ for choosing the plant-based, whole food lifestyle. Rouxbe, the world’s leading online cooking school and our new partner, will show you ‘how’ to enhance your practical culinary skills, make you a more confident cook and help you on your journey to better health.”
About Rouxbe
Rouxbe is the world’s leading online cooking school delivering culinary technique, instruction and training to more than 200,000 home cooks, healthcare patients, culinary students, and professional cooks in more than 180 countries. Rouxbe’s online nutrition education courses, which include Culinary Rx, help students transition from an unhealthy diet to a more health-supportive, plant-based diet and lifestyle. For more information on Culinary Rx or to sign up now, visit http://culinary-rx.com/.
About CHIP
The Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) is an affordable, lifestyle enrichment program designed to reduce disease risk factors through the adoption of better health habits and appropriate lifestyle modifications. The goal is to lower blood cholesterol, hypertension, and blood sugar levels and reduce excess weight by improving dietary choices, enhancing daily exercise, increasing support systems and decreasing stress, thus aiding in preventing and reversing disease. The Complete Health Improvement Program has over 75,000 graduates to date, and is offered in many countries around the world.
For more information on CHIP, visit http://www.chiphealth.com/.
Dr. Scott Stoll Joins Rouxbe Cooking School as Chief Medical Director
April 28th, 2016Rouxbe Cooking School is strengthening its efforts in the health and wellness offerings by welcoming Dr. Scott Stoll, the co-founder of The Plantrician Project and International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference, as Chief Medical Director. In his new role, he will be instrumental in helping Rouxbe forge new partnerships with health and wellness professionals and organizations around the world who are seeking out leading food-first resources that help patients take control of their life and well-being with food.

Dr. Scott Stoll
Dr. Stoll, a champion of lifestyle and behavioral medicine, and an advocate for plant-based approaches to eating, was previously a member of Rouxbe’s Medical Advisory Board that contributed to the initial launch of Culinary Rx —a prescribable online course designed to help people transition to a healthier diet and lifestyle. Building on this success, he will now shift his time and energy towards educating and creating awareness about the unique learning opportunities and resources that Rouxbe can offer for patients and providers alike. Dr. Stoll will also provide medical and nutrition support to Rouxbe’s students, through weekly live online question and answer events and other online support features.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join the team at Rouxbe Cooking School. They have a vision and the online platform that I know will help bridge the gap between what we all know we need to eat, and how to actually cook those foods and make them taste delicious. It’s about empowering the lifestyle and behaviors that I know, as a physician, will really create the context for long-term behavioral change,” said Stoll. “With Culinary Rx and other online resources we will be developing, we now have the means to support people in new ways—all driven by data to show efficacy and positive, measurable impact.”
Dr. Stoll is an active participant in the movement to help educate and inform healthcare professionals about the importance of healthful eating and to encourage people to develop the cooking skills to support a prevention-minded approach to better wellness. He served on the Whole Foods Scientific Medical Advisory Board and continues to offer immersion programs for Whole Foods Market employees.
His leadership at The Plantrician Project and the International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference has afforded him the unique ability to connect with and mentor healthcare professionals and their patients from around the world—creating a ripple effect that enriches the lives of individuals and communities alike.
“Dr. Stoll will help Rouxbe lead the charge to connect the dots between food, nutrition, cooking, and our health. With his leadership and Rouxbe’s online educational platform and programs, we will be able to serve the health and wellness communities in unprecedented ways,” said Joe Girard, Co-founder and CEO of Rouxbe.
Dr. Stoll joins an already impressive team at Rouxbe that includes Ken Rubin, VP Culinary Education and former IACP Board Member, Gary Apito, VP Operations and former COO and President of French Culinary Institute and Chef Chad Sarno, VP Plant-Based Wellness.
“With Rouxbe having now served over 200,000 students across 180 countries, we continue to see strong growth not only in our online wellness programs, but in all areas of online culinary education, including professional cook training in over 230 hotels in 4 languages. The future looks very bright for Rouxbe,” concluded Joe Girard.
Interested in learning more?
About Rouxbe’s Wellness Programs
Rouxbe (pronounced “ROO-bee”) provides wellness and health programming for individuals, health care providers and organizations. Rouxbe’s revolutionary online platform delivers cutting edge e-learning solutions that drive and measure learning outcomes and engagement while providing effective, lower-cost alternatives for teaching people the fundamentals of cooking as part of larger lifestyle and preventative health efforts. For more information on culinary wellness or to learn more about Rouxbe, please contact Joe Girard, Co-Founder and CEO at jgirard@rouxbe.com.
Rouxbe Powered Forks Over Knives Cooking Course Celebrates the Success of Over 3,000 Students
March 25th, 2016Forks Over Knives and the Rouxbe Cooking School celebrate the success of their students and the positive response after release of their online cooking course.
Since it’s launch in August 2015, over 3,000 students from around the world have learned to cook the Forks Over Knives way, thanks to their partnership with the Rouxbe Cooking School. The course is designed to help people overcome the challenges inherent in transitioning to a plant-based diet by giving them a better understanding of cooking fundaments. The end result—a new level of confidence that is transforming the lives of those that participate.
The experience has been fantastic! I am now motivated to create my own recipes and have confidence in being able to cook delicious and healthy meals,” said Sandra C., a graduate of the course.
The course is the first of its kind to be available online. In this self-guided, 90-day course, students dive into cooking fundamentals and learn the basics of plant-based nutrition. The course showcases rich instructional video, live web events, instructor-graded activities, and adaptive learning exercises – all embedded in Rouxbe’s proprietary learning management system.
Richard V. said, “I went from a complete novice in the kitchen to someone who is confident and competent. Thank you!”
The techniques and approaches taught in the course all focus on cooking fundamentals specific to the Forks Over Knives plan, including topics like knife skills, how to cook grains and beans, a variety of moist and dry heat cooking techniques, preparing foods, sauces and dressings without added oils.
“It’s amazing to hear about the life-changing experiences people are having with the Forks Over Knives online cooking course. Every week, I read the posts and am overwhelmed to see how so many people have found great joy in cooking. But the best part are the testimonials about how these important skills are helping our students and their families lead healthy and vibrant lives, says Brian Wendel, President and Founder of Forks Over Knives.
The next course offering is May 3, 2016 and is filling fast. To read more about it, please visit Forks Over Knives Online Cooking Course.
About Rouxbe’s Wellness Programs
Rouxbe provides wellness and health programming for individuals, health care providers and organizations. Rouxbe’s revolutionary online platform delivers cutting edge e-learning solutions that drive and measure learning outcomes and engagement while providing effective, lower-cost alternatives for teaching people the fundamentals of cooking as part of larger lifestyle and preventative health efforts. For more information on culinary wellness or to learn more about Rouxbe, please contact Joe Girard, CEO & Co-Founder at jgirard@rouxbe.com.
Former French Culinary Institute President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Apito Joins ROUXBE as VP Operations
January 8th, 2016Vancouver, BC, Canada, January 8, 2016 – Rouxbe Online Cooking School (Rouxbe) has hired former French Culinary Institute (FCI) and International Culinary Center (ICC) President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Apito as Vice-President of Operations. Apito will bring to Rouxbe, over two decades of culinary and career school expertise to the growing table at the world’s leading online cooking school.
Gary led FCI as Chief Operating Officer through its biggest growth period as it scaled revenue by tenfold, grew its square footage from 10,000 square feet of space to over 100,000, and added a west coast acquisition of the former Professional Culinary Institute in Silicon Valley California during his tenure.
As VP Operations, Gary will join the outstanding Rouxbe leadership team to continue their rapid expansion into the online institutional training sector which now provides professional cook training at over 190 progressive food service establishments around the world in English, Mandarin, Arabic and Spanish.
Rouxbe CEO Joe Girard shares, “Gary has been on our radar since we met in 2009. We could not be happier to have him join our team and know well the intelligence, passion, and commitment to excellence that is his hallmark.”
Apito remarked, “After seventeen years at one of the most prestigious bricks and mortar culinary Institutes in the world, this new role with Rouxbe is the perfect opportunity to launch online awareness of the remarkable content and learning management system at Rouxbe. Culinary education continues to evolve as evidenced by so many recent culinary school closures across the country, and the rapid rise of online alternatives to conventional education and training. Passionate students deserve a flexible, low- cost option at the highest standard, and Rouxbe is that platform”.
Rouxbe has grown dramatically in recent years and has developed specialized programs at the highest caliber, including both Professional Cook and Plant-Based certification programs. Their enterprise division has acquired top brand clients like Marriott International, Waldorf Astoria New York City and Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services to train and professionally develop their staff. In its wellness division, Rouxbe’s Culinary Rx course, provides a food-first approach to medicine, delivering an online, self-paced, cooking and nutrition course that healthcare professionals prescribe to their patients or clients. This instructor-guided cooking course has the potential to be one of the most influential and life changing wellness experiences of its kind.
About Rouxbe
Founded in 2005, Rouxbe (pronounced “ROO-bee”) is the world’s leading online cooking school for cooks of all levels (home or professional). Rouxbe deliver technique instruction and training to over 170,000 home cooks, culinary students, professional cooks and healthcare professionals in over 180 countries, in multiple languages.
Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) Initiates Formal Pilot Program with the Rouxbe Cooking School
April 14th, 2015Oregon Health & Sciences University, the largest medical institution in Oregon, has partnered with the Rouxbe Cooking School to power an online education program to support patient outcomes through lifestyle health initiatives that focus on cooking.
The partnership with the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at OHSU marks the first step toward developing programs that will help patients transition successfully to healthier cooking through culinary education and at-home, online training.
While many programs focus more on nutrition information and “what to eat”, this pilot program focuses on the “how and why” of cooking so that patients can actually apply their knowledge and begin to practice prevention and self care through cooking.
The pilot is underway through the OHSU Multiple Sclerosis Center. It includes an online instruction component, powered through the Rouxbe Cooking School as well as regular visits with the patients’ healthcare providers to help monitor and track outcomes.
The pilot was initiated with support from Dr. Dennis Bourdette, Chief of Neurology at OHSU and Dr. Vijayshree Yadav, the Clinical Director at OHSU MS Center. Their interest in the impact of cooking was driven in part by preliminary research, which suggested that a plant-based and whole-foods focused diet can help alleviate primary symptoms of MS.
“Our experience has shown that learning plant-based cooking skills has been helpful to patients as they look to alleviate some common MS symptoms, such as fatigue. In this pilot, we expect to show how these skills can also be taught in Rouxbe’s online format, thereby reaching an audience much larger than if taught in an in-person training course.” said Dr. Dennis Bourdette.
About Rouxbe’s Wellness Programs
Rouxbe provides wellness and health programming for individuals, health care providers and organizations. Rouxbe’s revolutionary online platform delivers cutting edge e-learning solutions that drive and measure learning outcomes and engagement while providing effective, lower-cost alternatives for teaching people the fundamentals of cooking as part of larger lifestyle and preventative health efforts. For more information on culinary wellness or to learn more about Rouxbe, please contact Joe Girard, CEO & Co-Founder at jgirard@rouxbe.com.
About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is the state’s only academic health center. It provides an uncommon array of services from providing the state’s most comprehensive health care, to educating the next generation of clinicians and biomedical researchers, to achieving breakthroughs and innovations. Its hospitals and clinics serve more than a quarter of a million patients every year with innovative care and treatment models based on the latest knowledge available.