We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katherine Dwight . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katherine below.

Alright, Katherine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

We do almost everything differently from the industry standard. We are all about making everything in house from scratch. We go back to basics, the way food used to be cooked. It all starts with using what’s available from our local farmers. We only use seasonal produce that is grown utilizing sustainable practices. We also only utilize whole animals from local ranches where the animals are pasture raised. We then break the animals down ourselves, and utilize every part. We make everything in house from scratch, all the way down to ketchup, mustard, vermouth, bitters, salumi, the list goes on and on. There is no other establishment in Arizona cooking this way. And the funny part is, this isn’t some off the wall idea. This is how our ancestors ate forever. We know this kind of cooking has the best nutrients, and most of all the best flavor.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Katherine, and together with my husband we co own Persepshen. He is the butcher and the chef, I am the baker and the behind the scenes office lady. We both got into the industry because of our love of food. We worked for years under the best chefs in whatever city we were living in. Hungry for knowledge and willing to work for nothing, we slaved away for years to earn more. Finally we got to the point where we where ready to start our own business from the ground up. At Persepshen, we focus on cooking real food. Many if not most places where you go and eat, the food is partially or completely mass produced in a factory. Produce and proteins are grown/raised from half way across the world. This is so ridiculous to us, as there are countless small family farms/ranches all over our state. Buying from these family farms/ranches does many things. 1, it makes the food we eat way more nutrient dense, and that right off the bat makes more flavorful food. 2. It supports the local farmers/ranches which in turn boosts the state economy. We get people all the time in Persepshen who after eating their food say, “Wow, this is what real food tastes like? I’ve been eating fake food for years and didn’t even know it!” We want to show people what it is like to eat real food. Food that wasn’t produced in a factory. There is such a disconnect in America about where the food people eat comes from.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Jason and I met in culinary school. We first became friends who would hang out quit a bit. We both appreciate each others strong passion for good food. It became the focus of anything we did, and still is! If we are going on vacation, its centered around food. If we are traveling, we always have food packed for the day so we have something good to eat. When are days off are coming up, we are talking about what we will cook.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Well, 6 months after we opened covid hit. 6 months after that our 3rd baby was born. To say it was a challenge is an understatement. But, we did it. The community supported us through the pandemic. We buckled. down and got creative and made it through.

Contact Info:

• Website: persepshenarizona.com
• Instagram: Persepshen

Image Credits
Shelby Moore