Laura and I used to do cooking classes at our store, then later on when we opened a second store in the Santa Barbara Public Market, we started doing cooking classes in their commercial kitchen. It was a nice setup. The kitchen was connected to a classroom which sat over 40 people. You can see the kitchen, Laura, myself, and another handsome bald guy, our employee Bill in the photo above. We would do a class 2 or 3 times a month. Always something different. Usually an appetizer, entree and dessert.
It was hard work. We always practiced at home first. Usually making everything at least once, usually twice before we actually did the class. So we were preparing a meal for 40 – 50 people, while explaining what we were doing along the way. Everything we made would have to be brought to the kitchen and prepared there in unfamiliar surroundings on unfamiliar equipment. If we forgot something we couldn’t just run to the fridge or the pantry. Stressful, but also a lot of fun.
We stopped giving the classes when the kitchen got taken over to make food for a new sports bar that was added to the Public Market. Can’t say we were too disappointed. We were getting a bit burned out and it made for a good excuse to stop giving the classes. I have to say our students were disappointed though.
Which brings me to the topic of this post. We have started watching a series called “Mega Food.” It is available on Netflix, also on YouTube. It is about preparing and serving food to large numbers of people and what that takes. A particular episode really struck home for us. Because it dealt with preparing and serving food, not from a restaurant kitchen, but on location as a catering company. The catering company is called Galateo Ricevimenti. This episode they cater to Pitti Uomo the largest men’s fashion event in the world in Florence Italy.
Here are some links: Netflix and YouTube
