Welcome to cookwise

Luca and Meredith met in 2019 and have spent the past 5 years working together to help Portlanders become more confident and thoughtful cooks. More recently, they have bonded over a shared frustration: the never-ending challenge of deciding what to cook for dinner. Tired of the hassle of meal kit services, and overwhelmed by the endless sea of recipe sites and blogs, they set out to simplify the process. Their goal was clear—to create a solution that helps busy people plan, shop for, and cook delicious weeknight meals with ease. That’s how CookWise was born: a streamlined approach to getting dinner on the table without the stress.

Meet cookwise

Meredith Mortensen
Founder

Meredith grew up spending time at her Grandparents’ home in rural New Jersey, where most days were spent hunting for crayfish, climbing trees, and foraging for berries. She developed a love for desserts, despite being an extremely picky eater as a child. Meredith started making chocolates as gifts for friends at 13, had a subscription to Gourmet Magazine at 15, and was voted “most likely to replace Julia Child” in her high school newspaper.

After a dozen years working as a pastry chef and educator, Meredith founded a cooking school and event space called Cookshop in 2018. She has since grown the cooking school and event space into a thriving business. With a passion for bringing people together through food and education, she is most proud to have fostered a vibrant community of cooks and food enthusiasts.

From a young age, Luca was drawn to the relationship between food & culture. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, he spent his youth devouring Mission-style burritos, exploring Boba bars & his own ancestral heritage. Luca graduated from the University of Oregon in 2014 with degrees in Political Science & Business. His studies focused on political philosophy, business & environmental sustainability, which have been the catalyst for his culinary curiosity.

After honing his craft at Portland’s finest restaurants, Luca brought his expertise to Cookshop. Beginning with sourdough baking classes, his teachings have since evolved into the Kitchen Essentials series, which has since become the cornerstone of the CookWise framework.

Luca Ponti
Creator & Chef

FAQs

  • Most weeks, there will be 1 vegetarian recipe, 1 animal protein recipe, and 1 “flex” recipe that can be vegetarian with an optional animal protein. Recipes should take about 20-60 minutes, with the option to prep components ahead of time to make finishing the dish even faster and more efficient.

  • We are technique driven chefs. We believe that by learning key techniques and methods, you’ll be able to streamline the cooking process and adapt to meet your tastes, local and seasonal availability.

  • Each week, you’ll get 3 new recipes with an organized weekly shopping list, plus access to our Kitchen Academy of technique videos and tips. As our library of recipes grows, you’ll be able to search through all past recipes too.

  • We know not every household eats 7 home cooked meals each week. Providing 3 recipes planned in advance, you gain the flexibility to stick to your own go-to dishes, order take-out, or even head to a friend's house for dinner on a whim. You can also go back to favorite recipes from past weeks and add those to your weekly plan.

  • Recipes are designed to feed 2 people with some leftovers. Feeding a family of 4 hungry eaters? Double the quantities. We hope you will learn to adjust as needed to suit your preferences. If you prefer a lot of veggies, double those amojunts! If you like to get a lot of protein, add more!

  • Each week we’ll include 1 vegetarian recipe, one recipe with animal protein, and one “flex” recipe (a vegetarian recipe with optional animal protein). We will also note which recipes are gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, etc so that you can search easily for past recipes that suit your dietary needs.

  • Our monthly plan can be cancelled at any time. If you register for our annual plan and decide the service is not for you within the first 2 weeks, we will gladly offer a full refund.

  • Yes! As our site evolves and grows, the library of recipes will too and you’ll have access to all past recipes as long as you are a member!

  • Yes! Just purchase a gift card for a monthly or yearly subscription and we’ll take care of the rest!

  • Instead of being distracted by ads on blogs and recipe sites, we are going with a subscription model. This is a different service from a recipe blog. Most blogs are filled with paragraphs of wordy intros and stories, pop-up ads and confusing navigation hurdles. At CookWise, you’ll just see recipes, written in as concise a format as possible, with no long-winded fluff.

  • Depending on whether you signed up for a monthly or annual billing, you will either be billed for the whole year (12 months) up front, or billed every 28 days. Subscriptions renew automatically and are charged in advance unless you cancel.