Author Bio

Michael Good, Cooking For Life

Early Life
I grew up in Detroit, a city shaped by the industrial revolution and enriched by the diverse food traditions of its immigrant communities. Polish, Greek, and Italian flavors were part of everyday life, and my own family’s story was rooted in that migration. My paternal grandfather was raised on a farm in County Cork, Ireland, and later moved to England, where he married my grandmother from Bolton. Together, they journeyed to Detroit with my father in tow, and both my grandfather and my father went on to spend nearly 70 years working in Henry Ford’s auto factories. While their path provided stability and a good life, I knew early on that my journey would take a different direction.

My Career
After a brief stint at a Chrysler truck plant, I pursued other ventures, first establishing and running a janitorial service in Portland, Oregon, and then building a 16-year career repairing vinyl and leather at car dealerships in Florida and Michigan. That work eventually led me into the specialized world of hail damage repair, where I mastered the art of paintless dent removal. Becoming a “hail chaser” meant traveling wherever storms struck, and over the next three decades, I lived and worked in cities across the United States and even spent two and half years in Europe. The seasonal nature of hail repair gave me winters free in Florida, where I began to nurture another passion: cooking.

Food had always fascinated me. In the early days of the Food Network, I watched Emeril Lagasse bring recipes to life with energy and flair, sparking an epiphany that I could do the same. I began collecting cookbooks wherever I traveled, building a library of nearly 500 volumes filled with regional specialties and timeless classics. My wife keeps me honest with a rule: for every new cookbook I bring home, one must go out — though I admit that’s not always easy. Over time, those books became my reference library, inspiring recipes and helping me refine my culinary skills.

Eventually, I felt compelled to combine my love of food with a higher purpose. God gave me the vision for *Cooking For Life* — a cookbook project that would not only share recipes but also serve as a fundraising mission to support faith-based pregnancy centers and present the message of Jesus Christ. What began as a personal idea quickly became a labor of love, with the name, mission, and outreach. Today, *Cooking For Life* is more than a cookbook; it is the beginning of a movement to nourish both body and spirit. I invite you to join me in this mission by helping promote *Cooking For Life Cookbooks* and supporting the women and centers that make a difference every day.