Do you want to learn how to cook, but don’t want to attend cooking classes in person?
The Internet is currently a hub for aspiring chefs — there are sites for recipes, how-to videos for creating various types of food, and forums for discussing culinary techniques. And now you can take online cooking classes, which mirror the in-person cooking classes available at colleges and culinary schools.
One of the major cooking-class sites is called “Feast,” which offers courses in which the instructor teaches through text descriptions, videos, and photos. The site, which is based in San Francisco, offers the same e-learning experience that one gets from other online-class sites such as Udemy and Coursera. Its intention is to create a learning “community,” where students are not only learning through the material, but also given a chance to interact with each other and with their instructor. Their classes range from vegetarian cooking classes to classes on how to make kimchi. In addition to months-long courses, there are also one-off classes that teach you a technique or show you how to create a type of dish within a one-hour/two-hour-long session.
Another popular online cooking-class site is “America’s Test Kitchen.” It offers hundreds of different courses, giving you a wide array of options to choose from when looking for a class. You’re given the chance to communicate with the instructors one-on-one, in addition to having access to videos, text, and image-heavy cooking instructions. They offer a free 14-day-trial; so you can sign up, and if you don’t like it you can cancel at any time.
The development of online cooking-classes is expanding: cooking shows such as America’s Test Kitchen and Top Chef have now developed their own online cooking class websites, and even the famous Escoffier School for Culinary Arts has their own fully online professional culinary school.
Though taken via your computer, these classes can be just as helpful as in-person cooking classes. You may lack the hands-on instruction that comes with an in-person class, but you will learn a lot without even having to leave your house. And you don’t have to take one without the other: on-line cooking classes are a great way to supplement in-person classes.
