OUR COOKING CLASSES
Over the past months the number of our cooking classes have been accelerating. April has been a whirlwind! And we love it. An aspect of them that is different from the years we were operating out of a brick-and-mortar place in Wynwood named, “In the Kitchen with Norman Van Aken” is that the cooking classes now have been in various locations we have been invited to instruct at. Last week we were in a large, high-end Orlando hotel offering many amenities and an immense capacity for convention groups. The event management company that booked us had worked with us in the past and felt comfortable which was key more than usual in that the attendees were CEO’s from around the world. Folks who due to the nature of their profession utilize a security detail. From the outside one might have never known that. Which makes me happy as among other things we want our classes to be educational, memorable and fun. This was a ‘classroom style’ session which means, for those unfamiliar, where the guests sit, watch, ask questions at times and listen as my team (two in this case) guided them through the four-course dinner they enjoyed while we taught them how to make a few of the dishes. As usual our menu had its foundation in the “New World Cuisine” style I have become synonymous with over the decades. It is the identity of the fare of our restaurant and has been since I opened it in 1995 in Coral Gables, Florida while ever hewing to our passion for seasonality and local products. I have spoken and written a great deal about this in my six cookbooks and for magazines, in food conferences and more … all easily found online and on my website. The guests at last evening’s class all received a copy of my most recent cookbook, “Norman’s Florida Kitchen” which also is the name of our Orlando restaurant and my streaming series found on ‘Amazon Prime’ as well as the ‘Blackstone’ YouTube channel. I inscribed a dedication for each of them which is often a sweet opportunity to learn how food has touched their lives.
The month of April began with an epic gala in New York City celebrating the greatest cooking teacher America has, the France born chef/artist/television legend Jacques Pépin! While this was not a cooking class I must touch on how much Chef Jacques has and continues to teach. There will be more on the evolution of the Jacques Pépin Foundation and my involvement in this forum soon. A tease I know, but for a wonderful cause. https://jp.foundation
Grouper with Saffron, Oranges and Asparagus, Cooking Class
On April 15th I joined Miami Chef and growing supernova Michael Beltran on stage for a discussion moderated by New York City based book author and podcaster Andrew Friedman. The hosting entity is known as ‘Lengua’ which was founded by Nidal Barake. It was the third year of the two-day event which brings in other chefs and gastronomic thought leaders to discuss the state of the world of food today, the issues and hopefully some illumination on where we might take it in positive, delicious and inspirational ways. Check out their website for more. https://lenguaconference.com
The following day I was joined on another teaching stage by our son Justin Van Aken. Justin grew up in the restaurant world. He has taught with me from a young age. Our partnership in teaching has reached a new level in the last year with him also teaching with me in other venues. This show was titled, “F&B@Sea” an international convention for the cruise lines industry. For two days nearly 1,000 folks attended seminars, learned of new products and took in a few culinary demos ours among them. The ask by the people who put on the entirety of the convention was that we center our dishes around the foods of the Caribbean since so many (!) of their guests are Islands bound. Right up our alley! Our contact was from London, and it was great to communicate with her as we built our menu. Our stage was lavishly augmented with goods donated by the highly regarded supplier known as “Mr. Greens”. https://mrgreensproduce.com The founder of that company, Robert Arthur has become a loyal friend and supporter over the years. Justin and I taught ‘Mojo Shrimp and Sausage Satays on a Boniato Hash Cake’. The first 30 folks got the chance to have a sample taste. As you might imagine many photos were taken.
For the capstone of the month, we did another cooking class. This one was benefitted ‘The United Way’. https://unitedwaymiami.org . This class, (are you ready?) was for over 500 people … and here’s another kicker, the attendees cooked with us! Imagine the theatrics of such an event. There was a giant silent auction and an animated to the max live one. Imagine the logistics! And though it was a massive amount of planning and communication it was so well done by the coordinating teams it felt familiar and even joyful. All the guests cooking were guided not only by me but by the volunteer students from the FIU Hospitality program. https://hospitality.fiu.edu They were given a tremendous amount of guidance from Alexandra Saludes, a dynamo in her field. Another shout out to Mr. Lyn Farmer who sent me the invitation reminding me that I did the very first one of these wild west cooking classes for the charity over 25 years ago! I will conclude adding that one of the attendees who was noted for doing an amazing job cooking with the table she was at was our granddaughter Audrey Quinn Van Aken. Another chef in the family? Time will tell.
