Today we’d like to introduce you to Chuckie Hessong.
Hi Chuckie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in Southwest Missouri, where “helping with supper” was not optional and where I realized early on, that creating delicious food brought people together.
I studied Family & Consumer Science at Pittsburg State University because I loved the practical stuff, teaching life skills that actually matter to my high school students when they grew up.
Long before the recipe website or the cooking school, there was Laughing Rooster Farm. I started with chickens, then added cows, goats, a Jersey milk cow named Lady Mae, and sheep. Add in five poodles and you get a pretty accurate picture of my life: organized chaos with good food at the center.
Creating good food was part of the rhythm of my home life from the beginning—growing it, cooking it, sharing it with my 3 “babies”.
I spent a decade working for SNAP-Ed across 27 counties, trying to make healthy eating something all people in our communities could actually *do”, not just hear about. While raising 3 fantastic humans.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, I started Laughing Rooster Eats—mostly to share recipes with my own kids as they launched into adulthood and partly because everyone kept asking, “Do you have a recipe for…?”
It snowballed from there: the blog grew and the kids grew.
Recently, I opened Andiamo & Co., a community event space where I teach cooking classes, host pop-ups, and somehow convince adults to attempt homemade pie on a weeknight. It’s become the place where my worlds meet—good food, teaching, and community.
So that’s the gist: I didn’t follow a straight path. I followed the things I cared about—feeding people, teaching, building community—and somehow ended up running a food website, a cooking school, and a small farm. And honestly? It all makes perfect sense in hindsight.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
LOL! In the Summer of 2025, a Federal Bill eliminated my SNAP-Ed position (along with 1000s of others across the US) and it forced me into full-time Food Creator where I’m focusing on diversifying my Laughing Rooster Eats brand by growing my recipe website, working with brands for recipe development, and other brand work.
Additionally, I’ve had the opportunity to launch Andiamo & Co as a connection hub — a place where people who wouldn’t normally cross paths end up cooking, learning, and laughing together. I host hands-on classes for youth and adults, and community events and pop-ups.
I’m also working to provide a sense of storytelling by adding Pittsburg City Tours where I get the chance to share the interesting history of our little community highlighting the region’s layered history—the Amazon Army, the area’s outsized influence on national labor unions, prohibition and bootlegging (with a few lingering Mafia rumors), and the community’s deep-rooted resilience. I work to pair that history with a candid look at Pittsburg today: its growth, its grit, and the people who continue to shape it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a full-time food creator for Laughing Rooster Eats, who partners with brands to tell their stories. I develop recipes for organizations like the Kansas Pork Association and Kansas Sorghum, along with other regional and national brands.
Beyond the online work, I teach hands-on cooking classes for youth and adults at Andiamo & Co — a downtown Pittsburg building we recently revitalized into a micro event center, a studio apartment, and a commercial space that’s now being developed as a spa.
My work bridges digital content and real-life community experiences, making food approachable, engaging, and connected to everyday life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://laughingroostereats.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laughingroostereats/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaughingRoosterEats
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581645241163
