Whole Foods Class: A Story In Photos

On October 10, one of my foodie dreams came true: I taught a cooking class! At the Whole Foods Culinary Center, no less. You know I have an overactive imagination, so in my mind, I was Julia Child incarnate. I was the star of my own TV show. I was the anti-Rachel Ray. I was the punk rock Martha Stewart.

In actuality, it was the attendees who were the stars. They asked great questions during the Paleo 101 segment, were kind and patient with me as I got used to cooking in front of a roomful of people (36 attendees! all looking at me expectantly and sipping wine!), and made appreciative oooh and aaaah sounds as they sampled recipes from Well Fed like Asian Slaw with Sunshine Sauce, Paleo Pad Thai, and Ginger-Lime Grilled Shrimp.

The extra magical part? I was merely demo-ing the food. Behind me, in the real kitchen where the real work gets done, real chefs were preparing the food. And just as the words Sunshine Sauce left my mouth and were still hanging in the air… voila! the badass crew would appear with food samples to place in front of each person in the audience — providing a welcome distraction from me fake-cooking at the front of the room.

Here are a few snaps that Dave took to capture my debut as the next Paleo Cooking Star.

This is me in front of the Culinary Center. I look a little nervous, no? I was! I also look like a pinhead with my hair like that, but it just won’t do to have long hair swinging around while cooking.

I still get a kick out of seeing Well Fed out in the wild. And our friendly little book is in very good company in the book section of the Culinary Center. My foodie heroes are on those shelves!

Me, trying to pretend to be cool, while waiting for all of those seats to be filled up. Cute room, right?!

The Whole Foods crew who made me look like I knew what I was doing. They did a beautiful job prepping the food for my demo, and according to Dave, the food they made to serve to the guests tasted awesome. I didn’t get to eat anything, thanks to (a) needing to talk and (b) the annoying autoimmune protocol. That’s right! I had to make Sunshine Sauce without taking a single bite. That is cruel and unusual punishment.

At the front of the house… the class! Thank you to everyone who came to class and asked questions and made it so much fun for me — really appreciate it!

And back stage… the real cooking getting done.
And really, really backstage: dish duty.

And totally stealing the show: cutest girl ever.

More Cooking Classes

My Paleo Thanksgiving class at Whole Foods is already sold out (!) but we have hands-on classes planned for the new year, one in January and one in February. I’ll let you know as soon as the Whole Foods class schedule is published so you can sign up. I think the hands-on classes are going to be a blast. We can chop together!

Beware.

I should also mention that I’m experimenting with private paleo cooking classes — my first victim cooking partner is later this month — so if that’s something you’re interested in trying, hit me up on email. I love to get out of my office-gym-home triangle and meet you beautiful people. Maybe we can… ahem… cook something up together.