The crab poboi was under dressed and under seasoned. With a little extra dressing would have…read morehelped emennsly. The Cajun sweet potato fries were very tasty and crunchy.

As a nutritionist, I thought I knew all there was to know about food. I started the Cooking Habit…read morewith the main goal of learning how to make cooking time with my husband enjoyable and fun. I wasn't expecting to change the way we eat at home entirely. Emily's perspective on food and her ability to simplify the art of cooking is unique and tremendously helpful. Her meal planning formula was without a doubt, what changed our relationship to food the most. It has made a world of a difference in the way we eat throughout the busy week (cooking more often than eating out) and in shortening our weekly grocery store trip. Best of all, my husband and I look forward to cooking together!

What a creative team building exercise! She can accommodate up to 10 people. We made 4 dishes with…read more6 people and tag teamed the dishes. Traci gets all the stations prepared ahead of time and some items are even sourced from her own personal garden. She also gave a lovely appetizer before we started cooking (don't cook hungry!). She did a great job helping us all get cook the dishes, I was impressed how attentive she was with all of us and also gave great tips! The food we made (Moroccan) was phenomenal! I will definitely attempt to make these dishes on my own in the future.

I had such a fantastic time at chef Traci's Sauces and Condiments class! It was a lot of fun…read morecooking alongside the group and learning how to make a variety of sauces, most I never would've thought to make before. Every single one turned out delicious -- and we even got to take home small jars of each sauce, which made it super easy to flavor-up meals all week long. I also loved that Traci emailed us the recipes afterwards so we can recreate them at home. Highly recommend this class to anyone who wants to elevate their meals with amazing homemade sauces!

Over the years, I've been lucky enough to take several of Rosetta's classes. In fact, I attended…read moreher first class at Paulding & Company's kitchen several years ago when her article in the Chronicle was published. Several years passed, and I was still thinking about the two classes I took when she first started, so I decided to see what classes she offers now. We attended several last year, and plan to continue as long as she introduces new recipes/techniques to learn. Her menus always sound delicious, and her classes are casual, informative, and fun. Keep in mind her menus reflect what is in season, and much of the produce she uses in class comes directly from her own home garden. Awesome! I cannot wait until we take another class! The following have been a few of my favorites: (Check out her website for class and menu descriptions. I wouldn't be able to do them justice.) -A Taste of Calabria -A Night in a Neapolitan Pizzeria -Risotto -Making and Using Ricotta - From Appetizer to Dessert

I love Rosetta's cooking classes. They focus on Southern Italian cuisine, particularly from her…read morenative region of Calabria, but also from nearby regions such as Sicily, where her husband is from. So far I've been to two of the classes: Taste of Sicily and Night in a Neapolitan Pizzeria, both at Paulding and Company. I really enjoyed them and hope to go to more next year. In particular, the pizza class really improved my pizza technique, and I have been reproducing the delicious, super thin crust pizzas at home ever since. Rosetta usually starts the class by giving a relaxed 20 minute summary of her background (she is a former chemical engineer who now writes cookbooks and gives cooking classes to share her native cuisine). Then she goes around to all the tables and explains in detail what to do at each station. Once the cooking starts, it's up to you whether you want to focus on one dish or move around to try different things. Each station has a few people, so you work together. Rosetta is very friendly and you can ask her any kind of question. She also gives very useful tips, such as using quarry stones for pizza instead of expensive pizza stones. Her recommendations are very reasonable and economical, but she doesn't cut corners where it matters, for example in quality ingredients many of which she makes herself (red wine vinegar, ricotta cheese, candied orange peels, etc.) or grows in her own garden. After the mad rush of cooking is done, everyone sits down to nicely set tables to socialize while being served the fruit of their labors. As I mentioned, the ingredients are top quality, so the food is delicious. There is also always an ambitious and varied menu with everything from appetizer/salad to dessert (we even had dessert pizzas... and the ice cream made from her homemade ricotta cheese was amazing!). Many people bring their own wine to drink. There is no rush to finish at the end, and you can enjoy a leisurely dinner with plenty of chance to meet the other participants.

I highly recommend taking a sourdough class at Saffron Studio! Athena is incredibly knowledgeable…read moreand a wonderful teacher for all experience levels. I walked into the artistic scoring class with zero experience and left with an adorable (and delicious) Miffy bunny loaf! I also love that you get to take home something you've created at the end of class. Their weekly preorder loaves are fantastic as well, so many imaginative and delicious flavor combinations. Always a treat!

Picked up my first bread order the other week. I ordered the Saffron Pistachio Barberry Bread. I…read moreabsolutely loved it! Athena is the sweetest and I can't wait to order more bread from her!

My friend celebrated her birthday with a class with many friends. We all had a great time creating…read moreall different fused glass projects. Several of us want to go back to do more fused glass and or mosaic and stained glass projects. Ja Ing is a very kind and encouraging instructor!

I took the 4-hour stepping stone mosaic class with my 10-year old niece and we both had a lot of…read morefun. First time, taking any class at the Alameda Art Lab but not a newbie to mosaics or the arts. I used to be quite artsy and crafty back in the day and now, it seems like a luxury to find time to do something creative and take a break from adulting! All supplies of cutters, nippers, stepping stone and glass provided with a quick introduction to using the tools with some guidance and instruction to start your art piece. JaYing, the friendly and patient owner/instructor will walk around to assist if needed, check your progress and guide you to ensure you get your item complete. Item is left for grouting and student called when ready. A great class to bond with a friend(s) or family and make a day to get in creative mode and have fun. Personally, it allowed me to take time to enjoy something I really love as I find art very therapeutic along with spending time with my niece. The time flies by... :) The Alameda Art Lab offers a variety of classes from stained glass, mosaics, glass fusing and jewelry making and other fun things. Items are available for purchase for yourself or as a gift. Highly recommend trying out a class!

I find Mexican cuisine amazing. I mean really, how many delicious permutations of corn, cheese,…read moretomatoes, beans and peppers could you come up with?! Tacos, bureeetoes and quesahdilluhs don't count, folks. And yet the richness and diversity of the fare is astounding. Three hours with Edible Explorations unlocked the magic, we discovered it's all about the spices! Offering cooking classes in a welcoming Oakland home, private group lessons and catering, Edible Explorations will take you for a ride with fresh, organic ingredients, authentic Oaxacan recipes and colorful context/history. The tamale session gave us a solid foundation for whipping up these pockets of corn goodness, and I'm now inspired to host my own tamale fiesta! At $40-60 (sliding scale), the investment for two meals, fun times and tasty education is outstanding. I want seconds! Mole, you haven't seen the last of me...

Can you saw AUTHENTIC, Yummy, tasty and amazing all in one sentence?!....well, I just did and that…read moreis what Becca and Edible Explorations IS! It is an exploration into another world of Mexico that I had no idea was there until i started taking classes from Becca. The unique chicken tamales we did with amazing mole sauce were to die for. We made rice once with a sprig of mint in it! who would have thought that rice could be so flavorful?.... The most amazing thing I have eaten would have to be these things called MEMELAS They are fresh prepared masa (what you make for corn tortillas) hand flattened out, grilled on each side, then topped with her amazing refried black beans, home made verde (green) salsa and Queso fresca (fresh cheese) and topped with avocado....ok, i'm drooling now. oh! and we made fresh chile rellenos!!! with an amazing tomato sauce. She also teaches you about the culture (which she tends to specify to Oaxacan) which I knew nothing about until taking some of her classes. All organic food and local and great as a gift for someone (catering) or for a class to take and improve your friends and loved ones with tastes from Mexico that they have never tasted before!

I cannot recommend the Institute of Urban Homesteading's Cheese Making Intensive enough…read more This day and a half "intensive" is a combination of the cheese making 1, 2 and 3 classes, taught by IUH founder Ruby. It's fast-paced and she throws a lot of information at you, but the whole process is warm, interactive and accessible. I immediately felt like I could leave Ruby's home and make these cheeses (and other dairy products!) we had learned in my own. I especially love that she's found what seems like the perfect middle ground between science lesson and home-cook/homesteader understanding. She brings her personal experience in with just enough of the science and technical understanding to make home cheese making incredible accessible and attainable. I also love that IUH also has a sliding scale for fees because it demonstrates the value they put on what they teach in making these classes more widely accessible. I already have the summer farm tours on my calendar, and I can't wait to take my next class.

I recently took the Canning tomatoes class- and left with all of the skills I needed to do it on my…read moreown. Ruby does such a great job of detailing everything you need to know- as well as why it works. She dispels a lot of myths and fears about canning- it's really not so hard as people think! The class was really fun, part listening and part hands on. We all left with a jar of tasty marinara and the confidence to do it on our own. I would highly recommend any of the IUH classes. They are professional, informative, and give you everything you need to do it on your own without costing an arm and a leg!

I graduated from the NC program in 2009 and have indeed transitioned to a career in nutrition since…read morethen, but definitely not w/ the recommended business model. Reflecting on the experience 15 years later: It was very powerful to meet so many people with the same passion for food I have; I came away with a solid understanding of human digestion, supplements, how cooking and processing affect the nutrition of foods, and exposure to a world of unfamiliar dishes and ingredients. On the other hand I recall feeling skeptical about so many things ESPECIALLY the "professional development" pieces re: how to make a living in the field. They pointed us down a slippery slope of selling supplements on commission, weight loss for rich people, and promoting dubious food fads. It does not surprise me that Bauman grads have produced myriad "restrictive diet" cookbooks (Paleo! Keto! Vegan! ...name your trend). I went down this path for three years as a nutrition coach and finally decided I just hate putting people on diets, and having to combine health advice with some sort of sales pitch, and gave up. I have worked now for the past 10+ years in culinary education for people with limited resources, helping folks take the stress and pressure out of eating well. It's been a long road of low-paying nonprofit jobs for which my Bauman degree held no currency whatsoever. I'm definitely glad I did the course because of how much I learned about food; but for anyone expecting to build a career in nutrition, I'd recommend getting an MPH in Public Health Nutrition instead.

I attended Bauman College back in 2019 for the in-person holistic culinary program. It opened my…read moreeyes to a whole culinary world beyond flavors and techniques, feeding my love for food, igniting my passion for cooking, and teaching me concrete knowledge about how to use these culinary skills to support health and wellbeing. Holistic Chefs are needed so greatly now as more and more people need support with specialty diets to feel their best while living with various health conditions. After graduating, I had the skills I needed to start my own personal chef business and saw great demand for these services. If you're passionate about food and using it to support wellness, this is the place to up-level your knowledge and skills to reach your goals and make a positive impact in your communities. I enjoyed my time at Bauman so much that I returned to the program once it transitioned to be fully online, first as a Teaching Assistant and then as a Culinary Instructor to stay immersed in the culture and keep connecting with other people passionate about cooking for wellbeing. It's a diverse community of folks with a wide array of backgrounds and perspectives, that is inspiring to be a part of!