A little write-in help, please
I am experiencing a small problem with the cooking school/lessons for which I need advice. I will so appreciate comments expressing your genuine opinion.
We do not set up the subject of a lesson until someone has signed up for it. That person then gets to say what he/she would like to learn, based on seasonal availability of course, and excluding things that must cook longer than class time. Maybe it’s just one thing, and we build the rest of the menu around that, or sometimes someone says, “Anything but that!” when they have food hates or sensitivities. Lately, however, we have had more people want us to say what they should learn. (Of course, if they are the second or the third to sign up, that’s already been done for them, probably.) With some discussion that may seem like social work, I can probably suggest things. It makes no sense to teach people to cook things they’ll never find where they live. Some dishes are unique, and so learning to make them will not open the doors to many other parts of Italian cuisine. I like to teach things that lead to other things, in essence you should leave class prepared to make judgments about so-called Italian recipes you run across, or be able to remove ingredients that just shouldn’t be in a real Italian recipe. It is meant to be the most durable souvenir ever– the ability to choose, to cook and to judge Italian cookery forever (plus some printed recipes that you made, etc.)
This means that I feel like I have designed the policy and whatever you want you can have within that policy. That’s why lessons at the school start with shopping, because shopping right is very important in Italian cookery. So we could teach you to make genuine Italian dishes from whatever you found in the pantry and the fridge– after all, 50% of Italians are going to do that at lunch today– but we think figuring out what ought to be in that pantry and fridge is important.
So the question is this: is it better to offer an unformed and customizable class? Or is it better to design classes and then let the people who want that class sign up for it? Since almost all the students are travelers, should that be instead: “This is what we can teach any day, you choose which one.” Which would mean dividing the information up into a few offerings.
Although my pleasure at teaching is certainly key for me, suiting just me is not what I want to do. I like being able to teach food of the north one day, food of the south another, food from the center on a third. I like being able to do one meat Wednesday, a different one Saturday and vegetarian Friday. But it might be easier for travelers to know that, for example, every Friday was vegetarian, or every Thursday was southern food.
In trying to be as flexible as we can be, we may have made ourselves too formless so that those with little experience don’t know where to start?
What would you prefer and why? What would make your experience of a day or two in an Umbrian kitchen just perfect?
I\’d prefer that the instructor (you!) choose the subject, based on what\’s in season. I wouldn\’t mind being offered a few options, for example I personally don\’t need to know how to make egg pasta. Others may enjoy a lesson. I owuldn\’t mine learning how to make (form) tortelloni, but for me that might take more than one class.
I can\’t imagine anyone who\’s interested in taking a cooking class losing interest because you\’ve chosen the menu.
i just wrote a huge LONG comment and your id generator ate it. i hate your id generator by the way. I can NEVER read it the first time and it always makes me do it two or three times and then i lose part of my comment. I shall write it all out again. damn, it was long.
I\’m an Italian Teacher of English. Italians hate to learn Foreigner languages because often they feel themselves unable. Teaching means give information to make the others know and learn. The way and means are free. You have to propose your subjects and make the students understand that you are an American teacher of Italian seasonal cooking…It\’s useless otherwise.
Do what you like it\’s the better advice.
Overall, I would prefer to choose. BUT, if I were eyeballing your classes, it would help to read what classes you’ve offered recently, to have examples that give a feel for your style, as well as the possibilities of the local cuisine. Does that make sense? As far as stuff I’d want to learn? How to make a really good torta al testo.
This is quite tricky because if you run classes with set dishes, then someone who for some reason doesn\’t fancy those particular things might not sign up and you risk losing students.
We have been talking about the same kind of thing with the wording on our website for art classes, we were thinking of running 2 or 3 different courses with different subject matter but realised we would be better off pushing all the would be students towards one more generic course and then finding out their particular interests.
Maybe you could have a list of possible menus and then discuss it with the students according to season etc.
PS I totally agree that one of the keys to good cooking is good shopping and that is an art in itself. From a possible future student :)
As a general rule I am attracted to a class by its particularity. Cooks are creative, and I would think having a set class with open options would attract a lot of people. You can try it and if it doesn’t work, then you can go back to your previous system of leaving all the choices to the student.
I think there are some compromises possible. One is what I experienced in Thailand, where i went to a one day cooking class. It had a number of fixed dishes, but there aas one course/dish where one could choose one of two or three options. I was on holiday, I felt lazy and I was happy not to have too much thinking and deciding to do. I figured watching techniques (heat, cooking times, chopping skills) wouls be the most valuable anyway. And that was possible with any number of recipes. The dayy started at the market. That was great fun, I oit to ask questions about all the strange foods I had seen around – such as ant eggs…
Another options would be to offer, say, 3 fixed courses/programs, let the customer choose from those and thus have a somtehing from both worlds. In that case, it is still possible to offer room for negotiation/customizing (if none of the fixed programs are 100% right). But you then the customer will not feel overwhelmed by the endless possibilities that there are in cooking. And still feel they are getting exactly what they want.
So, that’s some suggetsions.Maybe acutal customers vcan give you some feedback on them.
I like the idea of the student being given the chance to choose what to prepare, but I can see how someone with little experience may not know where to begin. So, maybe like Meg said, giving a list of some of the recent classes you’ve done might give the prospective student some ideas and get the ball rolling.
Travelers might like knowing that, for instance, \’Fridays are vegetarian night,\’ simply because that kind of routine can build word-of-mouth momentum for your school.
Also, having that bit of structure could help people who are feeling intimidated or overwhelmed by too many choices, or choices that are too vague to make up their minds. I say this, because I sometimes get intimidated and overwhelmed when planning a trip by looking up info on the net!
Of course, you can then be as flexible as you want within the context of whatever structure you come up with. Good luck! Your school looks and sounds like a blast to me. :)
Thank you all so much. I also got a couple of email responses, and every response has helped. I think by tomorrow we’ll have a somewhat altered format with more structure than before.
Seasonality of course must stay since it is key to this cuisine, a future necessity as transport gets more costly and because classes start in the market on market days.