about chowbaby

Like you, chowbaby believes our children deserve the most wholesome and flavorful possible foods to nurture their developing bodies and palates. In these busy times, we know how challenging it can be to research, plan, purchase, peel, steam, roast, bake, strain, puree, and store each meal. chowbaby can make your life easier by offering fresh, frozen, and flavorful organic foods for babies, toddlers, and big kids — so you can feel confident about the quality foods you feed your little ones.

chowbaby understands your commitment to giving your child the best possible start. After all, the foods our kids eat in the first years shape their eating habits for life. That's why we offer unique foods, exciting flavors, and the freshest organic ingredients for children 6 months and beyond. chowbaby is so unlike foods we generally associate with kids that even adults relish our fare! Every meal is prepared with the same care, attention, and love we give our own little ones, flash frozen in single servings, and packaged in resealable (and reusable) pouches.

chowbaby is the brainchild of Maplewood, New Jersey resident Michelle Christman. Her background in health care and her passion for delicious, nutritious fare made fresh organic baby food the obvious choice for her new son Atticus. But when the time came to introduce solids, she couldn't find a fresh and yummy alternative to the processed and bland baby food from her local grocer. Michelle soon learned that other busy moms and dads were facing the same challenge. chowbaby was born to bring the most nourishing, exciting, and natural foods to her community — so that every parent can feel great about each spoonful they offer their child.

When calls for chowbaby started coming in from across the country, Michelle realized that parents everywhere were addressing the same feeding issues. So she joined with partner (and Isaac's mama) Stacie Billis to take chowbaby to the next level. Stacie's love of cooking, her background in children's educational media, and her degree in human development all make her eager for dialogue with children and families about what it means to eat well. And together, they're offering unique organic foods with innovative flavor combinations for babies, toddlers, and big kids, links to the latest research, fast and easy recipes, and a vibrant blog for the online chowbaby community.

chowmamas Michelle and Stacie thank you in advance for letting chowbaby be part of your little one's eating adventure.

about the founder

chowbaby is the brainchild of Maplewood resident Michelle Christman. Her joyful and intimate relationship with food stems from a childhood in Pennsylvania farm country. And food continued to inspire her life when she fell in love with and married a chef. In fact, her entire suburban front yard is a herb, fruit, and vegetable garden. Michelle's background in health care and her passion for delicious, nutritious fare made fresh organic baby food the obvious choice for her new son Atticus.

But when the time came to introduce solids, she couldn't find a fresh and yummy alternative to the processed and bland baby food from her local grocer. Michelle soon learned that other busy moms and dads were facing the same challenge. Eager to become more involved in her community and to contribute in a meaningful way, Michelle jumped at the opportunity to bring the most nourishing and natural foods to market. chowbaby was born so that every parent could feel great about each spoonful they offer their child.

about the chef

Chris Wei is Michelle's husband and the chowbaby Executive Chef. His 15 years of cooking experience in both New York and Berkley, alongside the likes of Alice Waters, inspires the unique flavor combinations that are turning their own son, Atticus, into a future foodie.

our inspiration

Atticus Huckleberry Wei is the original chowbaby. So far, he hasn't met a vegetable, fruit, bean, spice, or grain he doesn't like.

our nutritionist

Amy Gordon is a registered dietician, nutritionist, holistic healthcare practitioner, owner of South Mountain Wellness Integrative Nutrition Therapy Center, and our chowbaby nutritional advisor.

Here's what she has to say:

With more than 20 years of nutritional counseling experience, I see many children and adults for health issues associated with excessive refined carbohydrates, trans fatty acids, fats, sugar, dairy, food additives, and contaminants--like pesticides, antibiotics, chemicals, industrial waste, hormones, and heavy metals. Much of my practice involves detoxification and digestive tract rebuilding. Fortunately, there is growing awareness of these toxins on our health.

There is also growing awareness of the importance of starting from the beginning with a healthy diet of clean, fresh, whole, organic foods for our babies and children. chowbaby makes this easy by:  

• Utilizing ingredients that are nutrient-rich and as free of toxins as possible.
• Introducing whole grains and a variety of fruits and vegetables at an early age to help ensure greater acceptance of these foods later on.
• Offering exciting flavor combinations to entice our children's palates.
• Making unsweetened and naturally sweetened foods to keep our kids from getting hooked on addictive sugars like the pervasive high fructose corn syrup.
• Offering home delivery and convenient freezer pouches.
• Providing important information about feeding our children that every parent should know.

It says a lot about our community that chowbaby exists here. I only wish it had been around when my kids were little.

Amy Gordon can be reached at

about the partner

Stacie Billis is passionate about children and about food. Her background is in children's educational media: after earning a masters degree in human development at Columbia Graduate School of Education, Stacie worked on educational content development at Sesame Workshop, which produces Sesame Street, and as a Director of Creative Development for BabyFirst TV.

Stacie's work on a television project designed to excite preschoolers about healthy eating and physical activity first opened her eyes to the possibility of combining her two passions in a socially relevant way. After her son Isaac was born, Stacie found herself searching for a way to affect children's lives more directly than through educational media. When Michelle asked Stacie to partner in chowbaby — over a leisurely and delicious lunch in Rome with their husbands and babies — she knew right away it was what she'd been looking for.

Stacie's love of cooking, her background in children's educational media, and her degree in human development all make her eager for dialogue with children and families about what it means to eat well. To Stacie, Chow Baby is a line of nutritious and convenient products and the spark of that dialogue, inspiring families to embark on an eating adventure.