Mother’s Day is a time for sons and daughters to celebrate that special person who gave birth and nurtured them from infancy to adulthood. For some children, it is also a time to celebrate their mom’s inspiration for a love of food, which led them to pursue a career in the culinary field.

Today we honor three moms who influenced their offspring’s culinary paths to become chefs.

Becky Dunlap has owned Summit Catering with her son, Barry, for 10 years. The two have been providing food for events at the Norris-Penrose Event Center for most of that time, as well as serving other clients. But ask Becky if she knew that Barry would become a chef, and she’ll look at you as if you were from another planet.

“Barry was the pickiest eater growing up,” she said. “I would lie to him to get him to eat things. My tuna casserole was ‘chicken casserole’ as far as Barry knew.”

Becky was the opposite. She had a flair for entertaining and party planning, and she liked preparing upscale foods.

“I fancied myself a gourmet,” she said.

When she finally could coax Barry to try new flavors, his palate blossomed. He started appreciating sophisticated foods and even started cooking with his mom. Eventually he was critiquing her dishes.

“Once he got into cooking, he had to inform me that the Lipton Soup mix I used on my roasts was not ‘gourmet,'” she said.

As soon as he was old enough, Barry began working in restaurants. He started in the kitchen of the once very popular Bell’s Deli, which closed long ago.

“I started as a dishwasher but quickly worked up to other positions,” Barry said. “I worked at Luigi’s, but the most influential chef-teacher, besides my mom, was Vincenzo Giglia, executive chef at the (now-closed) Antonio’s.”

Giglia was a rare chef breed in Colorado Springs at that time. He was a graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.

“Vince had hired a sous chef from the CIA, too,” Barry said. “I bought the CIA books to study cooking and did everything Vince told me how to do.”

He continued teaching himself and eventually took a chef position at a catering company where his mom worked. When that business changed hands, mother and son decided to start their own. Summit Catering became the caterer for the Penrose Center, which gave them access to the substantial commercial kitchen space there. That was in 2008, and the Dunlaps have not looked back.

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The bond between Stephanie Van Wuffen and her mother, Amy, grew from their relationship with food from Stephanie’s childhood.

“I come from a line of entrepreneurs, with my grandmother owning a restaurant and my mother owning a chocolate factory,” said Stephanie. “I always knew I wanted to follow in their footsteps. I always love cooking with my mom. She has such a creative mind in the kitchen when it comes to food.

“She inspires me to challenge myself with new recipes and new ingredients that I may have never used before. Of course she expected only the best from me, and often she got it because I wanted to make her proud.”

Stephanie attended Johnson and Wales Culinary School in Denver, earning a degree in pastry. She hit the road with The Heavenly Dessert Truck in 2013, parking it at local fairs and festivals and selling the baked goods she made at her bakery, which was next door to her mother’s chocolate factory. After several years of being mostly mobile, she opened a small retail shop at the bakery, which morphed into a small cafe.

“I loved owning the truck as well as the bakery and cafe,” she said.

On Feb. 25, Stephanie closed the cafe to experience new cuisine around the world. And she’s doing it as an employed chef.

“I am the pastry chef for American Cruise Lines on the America paddleboat that sails the Mississippi River,” she said. “I’m enjoying every minute of it. I’m getting to see and learn so much about the South while making Southern desserts for our guests.”

Stephanie’s bottom line: “My mom is such a big part of my life. I am where I am today because she has believed in everything I do. My mom was the one who always knew what I was thinking before I could even say it. She was the one who always had my back.”

Said Amy, “There are so many things about Stephanie that just amaze me. Her passion for baking, to follow her dreams, dedication and hard work. I so have enjoyed her journey from the time she was a child baking to Heavenly (Dessert Truck), and watching her travel and share her love of desserts. I look forward to more great things from her.”

When they reunite for Mother’s Day weekend, Amy has one of Stephanie’s desserts in mind.

“My favorite dessert is her Pavlova with fresh fruit,” she said. “Maybe she will have time to make one.”

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Kathy Anderson said her mom, who is deceased, was a high school lunch lady “before the title ‘chef’ was ever used in a school cafeteria environment.” And Kathy was paying attention – not only to her mother, but also to her aunts and “lady neighbors” who inspired her to become a professional chef.

“My childhood eating and cooking was influenced by these women and their nationalities – French Canadian, Polish and Italian – when we had family or neighborhood gatherings. Now I try to create these tastes and more to pass along to my kids. When I do get together with my kids, we make foods that take many hands to create and include many international favorites – Filipino lumpia, pot stickers, pierogi, rouladen and tamales, to name a few.”

Anderson’s travels while serving in the Air Force exposed her to many foods, which she learned to prepare and served her family. Now one of her pleasures as a personal chef is bringing the food experiences from those travels to others.

She said she’s continually grateful for her mom’s interest in food traditions and for having the opportunity to learn from her.

Barry Dunlap has co-owned Summit Catering with his mom, Becky for 10 years, which they operate out of the Norris Penrose Event Center commercial kitchen. Photo by Teresa Farney

Pavlova, made by pastry chef Stephanie Van Wuffen, is her mother’s favorite dessert for Mother’s Day. Photo by Stephanie Van Wuffen

Amy Van Wuffen (left) and her dautghter, Stephanie Van Wuffen, share a deep love for each other and passion for the food business. Courtesy photo