Setting the Standard
More and more people are gravitating towards a plant-based path for reasons across the board, which means more than ever the demand of plant focused culinary education is in high demand as well. Over the years, I’ve received a lot of questions about what resources are out there to dive deeper into the ‘how to’ of plant gastronomy.
Yes, there are a few excellent brick and mortar culinary schools focused on raw and/or vegan culinary across the US, but not many choices for those that are too busy to travel or take at thier leisure. I’ve finally found something to write an entire blog post about. If you want that base foundation knowledge of getting started in the kitchen, or to improve the way you cook plant-based foods, read on!
What Is It? World – Meet Rouxbe (pronounced “ROO-bee”) Online Cooking School’s newest course: Plant-Based Cooking (Level 1). *They offer many culinary courses, but for the purpose of this blog, I am reviewing the plant based course*
How much does it cost? $99.95 for Level 1 course, including instructor support and lifetime access to the content. Crazy cheap huh!
What did I think? I’ve taken this course myself, testing it to see if it was up to par and I have to say, I’m blown away. I wish I had this resource when I was starting out on the path of healthy cooking. Level 1 will help you create an amazing foundation of knowledge and comfortability in the kitchen.. Trust me you will not be disappointed!
The fact that it’s all online and you can take classes whenever fits within your schedule from your kitchen. I can’t get over the amount of content and value, for real. It’s crazy, especially when you think most evening cooking classes take 2-3 hours, you only learn 3-4 recipes and still often pay $60 or more. This course has dozens of instructional videos, most of which are actually comprised of many little videos, and almost 50 recipes. And did I mention that everything is PLANT-BASED! Woot woot! Power to the plants!
I pulled the image below from Rouxbe’s blog of recipes from this course, and they’ve got it right: Plant-based cooking opens up a whole new world of eating opportunities. It is what I have always said, the world of endless possibilities of creativity opens when you take the dive into the world of healthy cooking.
Ok, so let’s get deeper into my review of these courses.
The three greatest challenges I think anyone faces when diving deeper into plant-based cooking are accessibility, value and sustainability. I also hear a lot of concerns (and excuses) that there’s nothing comprehensive available.
All of these concerns, and so much more, are addressed in these courses. It doesn’t give you any room to make excuses! It’s online, you can take it at your own pace, it’s affordable and community supported, and can help you reach the masses to cook with compassion, be it personally or professionally.
Plant Based Challenge #1: Accessibility
“There are so many changes for me to make and so much confusion out there, so it becomes very intimidating and I get lost in all the details.”
Rouxbe uses a “framework” called the “Map of Cooking” to help you stay focused and give you an understanding of the big picture of plant-based cooking. It clearly lays out and breaks down the way chefs think about food into to a systematic approach to understanding all the nuts and bolts cooking really takes, from conceptualizing to executing a meal. I was most impressed with how accurate the Map of Cooking was when I thought about how I approach a menu, from the initial thought process to the meal execution.
The course technology also made it so easy to learn. It tracks everything you do and how well you did it. What’s really cool is that it is not all automated and computer graded, for many of the mini quizzes and tests you are graded by real people which really adds a nice personalization about it.
Plant Based Challenge #2: Value
“Plant-based foods and cooking courses are expensive and never teach me enough – and everything feels piece meal.”
Trust me, being in the culinary education field for about 15 years, the amount of info in just the Plant-Based Cooking Level 1 course is worth well over 5-10 classes alone (normally $75 for each ), and you still get instructor support. The course covers all the basics and sets the foundation for a sustainable approach to invaluable learning. As you can agree once you check it out, taking control of your health, starts in the kitchen, and Rouxbe is one of the greatest tools out there today to fit within a busy schedule.
Plant Based Challenge #3: Sustainability
“What happens if I can’t cook for myself all the time? Eating out is hard enough, but I don’t have anyone who gets me or understands my desire to actually eat vegetables.”
Cooking in general tends to challenge people not used to being in the kitchen on a daily basis, let alone cooking with only plants.
Rouxbe teaches the tools to tackle not only plant-based cooking, but also the lifestyle aspects of a plant-based diet, both inside and outside of the kitchen, to help anyone get started or sustain their path on a plant-based diet. It’s all laid out in an approachable, usable, non-intimating way, putting all the facts on the table and arming you with the support and foundation to dive into furthering your skills in the kitchen.
They also cover one of my favorite techniques (see my recent blog post), cashew cheese. See this photo I pulled from their blog where they use it with beet burgers..
Check it out for yourself, I am sure you will be equally impressed with these courses and the way they are put together. Here is a great quick and really informative tour video.
Happy cookin!
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Rouxbe (pronounced “ROO-bee”) is the leading online cooking school. Offering certification cooking courses for cooks of all levels (home or professional) using intuitive learning technology with instructor support. Each course can be taken at your own pace, on your own schedule. Rouxbe can be found in the kitchens of homes, schools of all ages, restaurants and professional culinary academies around the world.