ABOUT ME

Alison Very is the essence of my name Alison Bailey Vercruysse.

I came to AlisonVery through making food, products, spaces, and ultimately a "joie de vivre".

I believe food is one of the most powerful ways we participate in the world around us. It nourishes us, brings us together, and quietly shapes culture, community, and well-being. How we grow it, prepare it, and share it matters—not just to our health, but to how societies thrive.

My path into food began in my home kitchen where I started an organic food company that I built into a multi-million dollar business. Along the way, I learned how sourcing, design, and intention intersect—and how difficult it can be to bring something truly thoughtful into the world at scale. That experience continues to inform how I approach food today: with curiosity, discernment, and respect for both process and people.

While food remains a central lens, it isn’t the only one. I’m deeply interested in the natural world, the human world, and the space where they meet. Travel has been a long-time teacher—an invitation to step outside familiarity, encounter different perspectives, and cultivate empathy through experience.

Threaded through everything I do is a lifelong attention to beauty. Not only beauty as decoration, but as illumination—something that clarifies ideas, shapes environments, and invites care. Whether designing a space, a system, or a way of understanding food, I’m drawn to flow, balance, and meaning.

I live with my husband and son in Portland, Oregon, near the edge of Forest Park, where I often go forest bathing.

BAKE

Baking needs to be simple, or I won’t do it. I'll share how.
Switching up from AP flour to ancient grains/alt grain and/or nut flours in baking
Recipes with reduced sugar and no refined sugars
Upgrading your pantry with regenerative and/or organic ingredients
Sources for baking ingredients, supplies, and equipment

DESIGN has to do with space or systems, either physical, mental, or emotional

Advisor to regenerative and/or organic brands on cultivating the space to expand their vision while realizing self-actualization.
Design with the organic forms and landscapes of nature as inspiration
Help others bring a vision to life for their spaces.

Discover

My quest for the perfect pastry
Maker culture - artisans of craft, art, and food
Celebration of nature’s abundance around the world
Ways to reduce waste and the dependence on single-use plastic
Other ways to avoid or rid your household and everyday choices of PFAS