The Fairfax Girl Team 
For busy families, professionals, and anyone trying to eat healthier without spending hours in the kitchen, Sungold Kitchen makes chef-prepared meals that are nourishing, convenient, and actually enjoyable to eat. The Arlington-based meal service and catering business specializes in small-batch, anti-inflammatory meals made with high-quality ingredients and plenty of flexibility for different dietary needs. While Chef Victoria Cortes is classically trained in the traditional, butter-forward methods of cooking, what she whips up at Sungold is a draw for NFL athletes and local families alike. Read on for more about Chef Victoria Cortes of Sungold Kitchen.
Image credit: Marisa Glaser Creative
About Chef Victoria
A study-abroad trip to France lit the spark in what would become a calling for Falls Church-based chef Victoria Cortes. Victoria, who lives in Falls Church, is the chef behind Sungold Kitchen, a meal service + catering business that specializes in better-for-you meals. Victoria majored in International Studies + French at Allegheny College. “When I studied abroad in France, it’s what brought me to being surrounded by all the markets, and the beautiful food, and the vegetables, and the produce,” she said. “I took my first cooking class there. And all that French language became useful in culinary school as well.”
She came to the DC area after college to work at the National Geographic Channel as a documentary film researcher, and has been in Northern Virginia since 2004. “The whole time I was really drawn to food,” she said. One of the perks of the job was international travel, which exposed her to more cuisines and cultures. Eventually, she left NatGeo to pursue cooking school.
Image credit: Marisa Glaser Creative
Victoria studied at the now-closed L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Maryland. “It was a lot of classic French cooking,” she said. “Rich, buttery, very gourmet.” After graduating in 2006, she started working with clients as a private chef, catering events and working with individual clients. “I thought I was going to be cooking gourmet meals for people every day,” Victoria said. Instead, clients began asking for meals that were gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, Paleo, AIP, or otherwise tailored to very specific dietary needs.
As Victoria looked for resources on cooking like this, she was inspired by Cooking Light magazine. “It was a lot of taking familiar flavors and dishes and just making them healthier and lighter,” she said. “For example, making lasagna with butternut squash slices in place of traditional noodles.” “After losing both of her parents relatively young, Victoria began thinking more seriously about the role food and lifestyle could play in her own health. “My dad died at 66, and my mom died when she was in her early 70s, so I really started thinking about environmental factors,” she said. “For a lot of people, healthy eating is overwhelming, so we can start small with just a few meals a week.” In 2014, Victoria completed the Whole30 program, which further deepened her commitment to healthy cooking.
As time passed, the healthy meal offerings became more of a focus for Victoria and her business. There were still private events, weddings, and elegant dinners, but clients took notice of the delicious everyday meals. Victoria started working with professional athletes, TV anchors, and others with busy schedules and high-profile jobs.
Image credit: Abby Grace Photography
Like nearly every business owner, Victoria had to make several significant changes to her business in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a funny way, several of those changes set the stage for what is now Sungold Kitchen. “I went from cooking in people’s kitchens to doing meal drop-offs,” Victoria said. “A light-bulb went off for me; I knew I could do this for more people.”
In 2022, Victoria moved into Kitchen of Purpose in South Arlington. It’s a non-profit organization with a bilingual culinary program that also rents out its space to other chefs and small businesses. Being in the commercial kitchen has other advantages, in particular for the catering side of the business. “We can do so much more, since we can make it all here and then just drop it off,” she said.
Sungold Kitchen
Even though Victoria has been a private chef since 2010, the winter 2026 rebrand into Sungold Kitchen feels like where things have been headed all along. “I’m able to provide these healthy meals to people effortlessly,” she said. Victoria and her team make the meals in small batches at Kitchen of Purpose and then deliver the meals throughout Northern Virginia and DC.
The menu changes weekly, with dishes like grain-free enchiladas, butternut squash lasagna, seasonal vegetable-forward meals, and customizable family-friendly options. Clients make their selections online. Chef Victoria prioritizes high-quality ingredients, including organic chicken, wild seafood, organic pork, and grass-fed beef when available. Clients have the option to customize dishes in different ways to accommodate allergies, she said. “For example, we’re making enchiladas. Clients can choose to have cheese or not, and they can pick whether to use a grain-free tortilla,” Victoria said.
Victoria says that the meals are a great solution for families where there are different dietary needs. “Sometimes I have a client who is a mom, and she’s getting these meals for herself,” she said. “She can enjoy these meals but still feed the kids what they want.” Clients can order the meals week-to-week, which Victoria says is a popular option. “There are some seasons when you’re just so, so busy and you still want to eat healthfully,” she said. “You can see your calendar filling up and order the meals, and know that it’s done.”
Image credit: Marisa Glaser Creative
The meals are delivered in a cooler bag to the client’s location, and each of the meals is packaged with preparation instructions printed on the labels. “We re-use all of our containers, and I’m really proud of that,” Victoria said. “Clients wash and return them, and then we sanitize them at our kitchen and get them ready for the next use.”
A service particularly close to Victoria’s heart is the care packages. “When my parents were aging, this is something I wish I had for them,” she said. “It’s really special to me.” The care packages are tailored for the recipient and/or the circumstances. “It’s so much easier than coordinating a meal train,” she said. “And the recipient gets these really healthy and nourishing meals. I will work with them to put together the right package; for example, if someone is having chemo and their mouth feels tender, we’ll come up with something that will still be appealing but mindful of that.”
Looking Ahead
Chef Victoria said she is most excited about sharing information about Sungold Kitchen with more people. “People think having prepared meals like this is really complicated, but it’s not,” she said. “We want to make it easy to order, and of course for the food to be delicious.”
While the core offerings of the business will remain the same, including the weekly meal prep service, Chef Victoria shared that Sungold Kitchen is launching a Summer Anti-Inflammatory Meal Program. “It’s seven non-consecutive weeks, and clients get breakfast, lunch and dinner to last from Thursday dinner to Sunday dinner,” she said. “It’s a great way to try out this style of eating.”
To get in touch with Chef Victoria or to place an order for Sungold Kitchen meals, visit the Sungold Kitchen website and social media.
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