Who We are

Shabana Shaikh, founder of ‘The Rustic Cooking’ (TRC), is a holistic nutritionist based in Milton, Ontario. Originally from Mumbai, Shabana holds a post-graduation in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics and runs The Rustic Cooking with her son, Arslaan. With over seven years of experience in the field of nutrition, Shabana’s worldview promotes sustainable eating and non-diet nutrition — a modern approach that sustains both the body and the environment. Shabana’s journey with cooking and cuisine began at the age of 12, when her three siblings devoured her first ever dish, fried fish (even though it was burnt!). Since then, her passion for food has taken her all over the world. As a flight attendant, she was able to meet locals and explore their cuisine, traditions and beliefs, which would later reflect in creating globally inspired meals.

After experiencing health issues and challenges, Shabana realized it was essential to take charge of her own health in order to take care of others.Soon Shabana decided to take matters into her own hands and develop a unique approach to nutrition that would empower others who loved food too. She discovered that healthy eating starts with how you feel from within — not how you look externally. Thus, The Rustic Cooking was born.  

What we do

Through The Rustic Cooking (TRC), Shabana provides meal preparation services and nutrition consultation for women in pre-conception, pregnancy and breast-feeding phases. TRC helps to educate women to prioritize their health and coach them to become torch bearers of a better future. As a holistic nutrition practitioner, Shabana’s non-diet approach helps support the health of her clients by treating the body as a whole and working on overall wellbeing - including spiritual, emotional and physical. Her intentions as a holistic nutritionist are to help her clients reclaim their bodies, their environment, and take back control of their lives and health. This modern, conscious approach to nutrition also incorporates sustainable living and eating, a lifestyle that protects and respects biodiversities, ecosystems, cultures, economic differences and contributes to a healthy life for present and future generations.

Shabana’s attitude towards growing and cooking her own food — and TRC’s mission as a whole — is part of a bigger intention to take power back from giant manufacturers of processed foods, in order to reclaim our strength as individual consumers and to lower our carbon footprint so that we can help the environment heal. 

It is this passionate belief that fuel’s Shabana’s desire to equip women with the tools they need to feel well so they live well and create wellness around them. The Rustic Cooking was created with this unique approach to nutrition to empower you from within, to change how you feel from within and bring about a transformation in your life.