Tara Anderson is a mom, a wife, a chef and the owner and founder of Half Pint Palates, a fresh-frozen food delivery company that caters to infants, toddlers and aging adults in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Her recipes and menus are globally influenced and flavor forward while also focused on nutrition and wellness. Tara had the idea to start her company after an unfortunate experience with traditional processed, jarred baby food while on vacation with her husband and their 14-month-old daughter, Vivian. Without access to a kitchen to make her own food like Vivian usually enjoyed, she was forced to buy a few jars of food that Vivian refused to eat.
After tasting what Vivian would not eat, Tara decided to make great tasting healthy baby food accessible to all!
Tara launched Half Pint Palates to give families a solution to the modern dilemma we face: guilt about not having enough time or ability to make flavorful, nourishing, and fresh food for our loved ones. Half Pint Palates offers flavor forward, globally inspired food that encourages a lifetime of culinary exploration. Do away with the picky eater “syndrome” and give your loved ones what we all want…delicious food that nourishes the body and soul. Our menu thoughtfully introduces spices, herbs, a variety of grains, local meats, and legumes. We freeze all your meals immediately to lock in flavor and nutrients and we rotate the menu with the seasons so you are getting product at the peak of ripeness.
Half Pint Palates supports local, sustainable and organic producers, handcrafting delicious meals for your tender palates delivered to your doorstep weekly.
Tara grew up on a conventional family livestock and row crop farm in Kentucky where she found she had passion for hard work and local food and its origin, which was usually right out the back door. She tended her family’s large garden, which she aspires to one-day recreate in her own back yard, along with numerous other chores that one has on a family farm. Her mother and father both inspired her to set goals and always achieve them, eat well, work hard, play hard and to lead, not follow.
All of this led her to pursue and obtain a degree from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York. Since starting her career path in hometown restaurants and a catering company while in high school and graduating from CIA more than 10 years ago, Tara has worked in fine dining, high-end catering and corporate dining around the country. Her work has taken her to St Louis, Miami, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York City, and now Dallas while working for some of the best in the business. Most recently, Tara consulted exclusively for PepsiCo as the executive chef for their food service division. For almost three years, she successfully brought innovative ideas through integrating their brands into America's favorite restaurant menus.
Tara has assisted Wolfgang Puck Catering with numerous events including the Academy Awards, Five Star Sensation benefiting University Hospital in Cleveland, as well as the L.A. Food and Wine Festival. While working for PepsiCo, Tara contributed menus and recipes to the CIA Greystone’s annual Worlds of Flavor Conference in Napa Valley. In addition to being a wife, a mother, a chef and a business owner, Tara enjoys gardening, visiting the Oregon wine country and its “juice”, spending time on her porch swing with her daughter Vivian and entertaining close friends. She is an active member of the Lakewood Service League and a recent member of The Lakewood Women in Business.
Half Pint Palates: real food, global flavor for infants, toddlers and aging adults.
