Finding Local Cooking Classes

How to Find a Local Cooking Class

I get many emails from home cooks interested in taking cooking classes in their town or city. I also hear from those interested in going to culinary arts school or a restaurant management college to earn a culinary degree and start a career in the restaurant industry. My responses are much different, and today, I'd like to talk about finding local cooking classes.

However, if you are interested in culinary arts education, I wrote an informative article called Back to School - Cooking School That Is that focuses on choosing the right culinary arts school. You'll also find a detailed listing of top culinary schools listed by city and state here at culinary, baking & restaurant management schools.

On those listings, you'll find one of the biggest named culinary establishments with schools in several states.  The International Culinary School at The Arts Institutes. I will write more about these organizations in future blogs and hopefully get some comments from students who have graduated from them.

There is an interesting article by Chef Alan Bickel called To Cook or Not To Cook - Who's To Say. The article speaks on life in a professional kitchen from a professional cook's point of view and describes in everyday terms what you are getting yourself into.

Cooking Classes

Now, for those of you who are not interested in becoming a professional cook and would like to take a few classes to learn some tricks and new techniques to help you navigate the kitchen, there are plenty of resources right in your own backyard that you might not even know existed.

You would think that the #1 resource for finding anything, including local cooking classes, would be a search engine on the Internet. Still, unfortunately, you are more likely to find many sites offering culinary arts education rather than cooking classes for the weekend warrior. If you spend some time and dig deep, you may be lucky to find what you want in your area.

If you are looking for cooking classes in a big city like New York or San Francisco, you're more likely to find some decent choices, but what if you live in a small town in the middle of nowhere? Can you find affordable cooking classes nearby?  The answer is probably yes!

Local Schools

I would first look at any of the local schools in your area. The best possibility would be a community college. They often offer cooking, baking, or nutrition classes as part of their curriculum but also have adult education classes at night that include individual cooking courses. You may be limited by what courses they offer, but it's a great start.

Next, I would look at the local high school. Most high schools offer home economics to their students, or at least they did when I went to school (not that I even thought about taking cooking classes back then). They have all the right equipment to offer night or adult education classes. Give the school a call and see what they offer.

Local Churches and Synagogues

Here's another good resource for local cooking classes. Whether run by the religious organization themselves or provided by an outside group borrowing their facilities,  you don't usually have to be a practicing member to participate.

Often, a charity, men's group, or women's organization sponsors cooking classes at one of these institutions. Call your local church or synagogue and ask if any classes are available.

Local Restaurants and Gourmet Stores

More and more local restaurants and gourmet stores are offering cooking schools. Why? It's a great way to attract locals to their establishments. Restaurants want people to know who they are, try their food, and meet their chefs. What better way than to offer cooking classes?

They may offer actual hands-on cooking classes or demonstration classes in which you watch the chef prep and prepare a meal and then sit down with your classmates to enjoy the entire teaching menu.

When we lived in Park City, Utah, one restaurant offered these cooking classes. They usually worked with a local wine distributor offering their company's free wine to introduce it to us. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

The same applies to local gourmet stores, whether they are big-name outfits like Williams and Sonoma or your local mom-and-pop kitchenware shop. These guys' goal is to get you into their stores, and often, they will offer free classes or classes for a nominal fee.

Call around to your favorite restaurants and gourmet shops and ask if they offer classes. If they don't, maybe you should recommend they start some.

Local Newspapers, Publications and Yellow Pages

You'd be surprised how many cooking classes you'll find if you pay attention to your local newspaper and town publications. Most newspapers have a weekly food section discussing local restaurants and food purveyors. Here is an excellent source for those offering cooking classes in the vicinity.

Frequently, you'll find that your area has a magazine or some other type of publication with a "What To Do In Town" section that lists cooking programs for residents. Many publications were around when we lived in Park City, Utah, a typical tourist town.

And don't forget to let your "fingers do the walking" when it comes to the Yellow Pages. Even with the Internet being so prevalent for finding just about everything and anything, the Yellow Pages is still a great resource for locating what's available locally.

Word of Mouth

Word of mouth is one of the best resources for finding out about anything in a small town or large city. Ask your friends if they have ever taken any cooking classes, what they were like, and whether they enjoyed them.

When shopping at your local markets, ask the shopkeepers if they know of any available classes. If anyone is likely to know what's happening locally in the culinary world, it will most likely be those people involved in the industry every day.