Claudia's Mesa

Claudia Galofre Krevat grew up on the northern coast of Colombia, South America, where lentil beans are a traditional comfort food, and she has gathered food tips from countries around the globe, relishing the foods of many cultures.

Claudia Galofre Krevat approaches cooking with a base of down-home cooking blended with flavors that include Caribbean, Latin American, Mediterranean and American.

Along with her catering business, she has a cooking blog, a few commercially produced foods and is on a personal quest to spread the good word about the health and environmental benefits of lentils.

For the past 18 years Krevat has made her home in Bozeman, and she has worked to bring her fusion of culinary influences not just to Bozeman, but the rest of the state and beyond as well.

Her passion for sustainable foods and a good source for the lentils like those found in Colombia led Krevat to Timeless Natural Food based in Conrad. This connection fostered her involvement with promotion of "Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America," a book about organic farmers in Montana, written by Liz Carlisle, who grew up in Montana.

The book features Montana organic farmers, including Sen. Jon Tester, Jody and Crystal Manuel, and Doug Crabtree and Anna Jones-Crabtree, all from north-central Montana.

Krevat traveled to Southern California for the book's publishing launch, cooking the pulse crops, including lentils, for guests, promoting organic farming and educating audiences about cooking with pulse crops, including lentils, chickpeas and beans, and ancient grains.

This year, Krevat has been touring parts of Montana, the number one lentil producing state in the U.S., promoting lentils and working on a cookbook that will be a companion to "Lentil Underground." She talked about lentils, cooking and her home country at three venues during her stop in Havre in April.

(This story originally ran in the July Living Magazine publication.)