WHO...
Next to each post or recipe the author of the content is clearly shown.
We’re sorry if there’s something you’re not happy about on our website. Please email us at info@chefsmandala.com with “COMPLAINT” in the subject title. Please note that if your complain is constructive in nature we will try to at least reply to your request.
WHAT...
We are a company that imports Western-style gourmet food and spends way too much time posting stuff on our website.
Please check out our monthly magazine articles to read about what it’s like to work as a gourmet food importer.
Please go to our About Us section where our Privacy Policy is explained in detail.
Our magazine articles are long-form posts ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 words in length. Our other posts tend to be much shorter in length and focus on just one specific topic (recipe, ingredient, comparing 2 items, etc).
Much of our content includes topics or references that are written for a more mature consumer. For this reason we recommend against anyone under the age of 14 from reading our posts. Having said that, we will not accept content that is offensive or overly political in nature. There are many other sites that provide forums for this kind of material.
Importers are the ones who travel overseas, negotiate in various languages and take the risk to bring new and unproven foods into the U.S.A. Distributors are usually locally (through large ones will be nationally) based and focus on aggressively supplying whatever products are in demand to their regional customers.
It is a section we created to examine and explore various gourmet items. The posts are usually around 300 words in length, contain a picture of the item in question, and links to other sites that might be of interest as well.
Our site will send you to another website were in most cases we have an Affiliate relationship. That means we in some, not all cases, may get a small percentage back from that website (for ex. Amazon) if you make a purchase. Chef’s Mandala is not the vendor in that case and any purchase that you make is directly and solely from that website. Translation – this is one of the ways that we can try to cover the costs of publishing all this gourmet material on our free site.
WHERE...
Our focus is on European-style or Western foods. So we import from any country that makes high quality foods which are a good fit for Western cuisine.
We do not sell directly to consumers. However our products are sold to companies throughout the United States as well as being sold in retail stores on the East and West coast.
The author of each recipe is listed under the recipe title next to “Recipe Courtesy of”.
The garden state of New Jersey in the U.S.A.
WHEN...
Hopefully soon but not from us! We don’t sell any products directly on this site. However Chef’s Mandala does have links to other websites that sell products that we recommend.
Please note that we are not some big website that has a bunch of full-time employees dedicated to it. Chef’s Mandala is a gourmet food import company and that is our core focus. However not wanting to annoy consumers with just saying “please buy my stuff” over and over, we created chefsmandala.com. It is filled with opinionated content that (hopefully) some people will find educational and amusing. Creating this content on the side while running a full time business takes a lot of time. So you might not receive an answer for quite a while. It’s nothing personal, we are sorry, and please accept our apologies in advance.
Probably never.
HOW...
Currently our site will post content on a daily basis. While some themes will be posted weekly (Archaeology posts for example), others are only bi-weekly or even once a month.
Our content is focused on gourmet concepts, themes and the ingredients that support them. Content should entertain, educate and enable site visitors to improve the quality of their culinary lives.
Our site focuses on a level of gourmet detail that we hope is of interest to foodies. However Chef’s Mandala is currently not open to the public, access is by invitation only. Also our content is at times opinionated and possibly even humorous.
As an importer, our company focuses on finding high quality gourmet foods that offer good value for money. We are not the cheapest or the most expensive, but hope to be a high quality brand that offers you the most value for your hard-earned money.
If you’re reading this prior to the site launch, then you’ve already created a user name and password to our site. And that means you already are! If you’d like to invite someone else (so they can get emails as well), we occasionally send out to our members invitations (by email or social media) that you can forward to a select group of your family and friends. These invitations have an expiration date and are only open to a limited number of people. And that number is on a first come (registered on the site) first serve basis.
Post-launch, please go to either the bottom of any page and enter your information there, or click on the My Account page to create a user account.
Please check our F.A.Q. section first to see if your question is already answered there. Otherwise please email your question to info@chefsmandala.com.
Next to each recipe is a star with a circle which indicates its popularity score. Click on this star if you “like” a recipe, and then go to your “My Account” select “Recipes” to see any recipe that you’ve saved!
Our website does accept independent submissions. However they must meet both our quality standards and follow the same format as other posts already on the site. And we do reserve the right to refuse any submissions.
Go to the recipe section of our website, and under “Authors”on the right side choose the cook that you like!
Go to the “Video” section of our website and choose “How to Cook“
Our contests are announced both on our site under the “Contest” section as well as on our social media accounts. Each contest lasts for a limited period of time (which can vary from contest to contest) and results in 1 prize as specified under the contest rules.
Please email us at info@chefsmandala.com and include a copy of your resume and a letter explaining why you want to intern. In the subject title please include the word “INTERNSHIP.” Please detail what kind of training you’d expect, value that you’d provide, and what you would be doing after your temporary internship is complete. At this time we are not accepting applications for remote, off-site internships.
Go to your My Account Dashboard to reset any of your user details.
Go to your My Account Dashboard to reset any of your user details.
Email us at info@chefsmandala.com or opt out on the next email that you receive on the email itself.
Each of our recipes lists on the top right corner the number of people the recipe will service. However you can change that number to however many people you’re cooking for, and the ingredient quantities will scale accordingly.
Outside of our line of branded gourmet foods, we look for food equipment that is best in class for each product category.
Go to the main page of our Recipes section, and scroll down the right hand side until you see the “Allergens” filter. Select which allergen you are concerned about to see recipes that might be a good fit for you!
Please ask for permission first by email (info@chefsmandala.com). Include what the content is, when and how you would use it as well as a link to the site it would be used on.
Our shopping list does NOT allow you to buy products directly from your site. It is designed to work together with the recipes on chefsmandala.com. In the ingredients section of each recipe, next to each ingredient, is a faint grey circle with a check mark inside. If you click on the circle, the check becomes an opaque gold color. This allows you to select what ingredients you need to buy for a recipe and add to your shopping list. The quantity of the ingredient is determined by how many people you are cooking for. Change the “Yield” from “4” to “8” (people) for example, and your shopping list will list twice as much of the checked ingredient as before.
The list can be sorted by item or by recipe or by store department for an ingredient. The latter is designed to make it easier when you need to buy ingredients for multiple recipes. If you need 2 different types of cheese for example, you’ll want to buy both while you’re still in the cheese section of your local retailer.
WHY...
“How can you just leave me standing?
Alone in a world that’s so cold (so cold)
Maybe I’m just too demanding
Maybe I’m just like my father, too bold
Maybe you’re just like my mother
She’s never satisfied (she’s never satisfied)
Why do we scream at each other?
This is what it sounds like
When doves cry”
from When Doves Cry lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management
- The short answer is to lubricate their eyeballs. For a great longer answer, Vox has an article (click here) explaining this in detail.
The answer is a combination of wanting to be passionate about food, not wanting to be annoying about it when promoting our products, and not realizing when starting this project what a pain in the ass it would become.
We are a gourmet food importer who focuses on premium gourmet products that offer a high value for your money. Please compare any of our foods in a blind test taste against what you normally buy, and then compare how much you pay for each!
Because I keep not winning the lottery.
The Chef’s Mandala site is funded based on the sale of our gourmet foods. This is our core mission, not internet marketing. So in trying to convey our brand identity, this website is currently free.
If you like what you see, and would like to continue to see more, PLEASE buy some of our Chef’s Mandala gourmet foods! If you don’t, no worries and sorry that it wasn’t your cup of tea.
Pre-launch, our website is invitation only a.k.a. not open to the general public. Invitations were sent out sporadically either via our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram, as well as from a small group of influencers that are kind enough to work with us.
However post-launch this site is now open to the general public.
If you are using an older browser, you might have some issues. Our site is programmed for the more recent versions of popular web browsers. Please download / upgrade to the most recent version of Firefox or Google Chrome for a better viewing experience.
Our images come from a variety of sources. While we’ve tried to be consistent, food photography is a difficult medium to do well (especially if you’re not a professional). And different photographers will vary in style, technique, access to equipment (lighting) and skill.
This site has focused on (or at least really, really tried to) creating content that is worth your time. Our products are available for purchase online and from retail stores around the country. We also list on the site a number of food related products that, if you’re in need of such an item, we recommend. But we are a B2B, not a B2C company in terms of our sales.
We do! Click here to see, there are over 100 of them!