After the second lockdown I decided to take my passion for cooking delicious healthy food a little further and enrolled on a Natural Chef Diploma at the College of Naturopathic Medicine. The course consisted of 520 hours of life–changing education including the 100 hours internship in an external kitchen.
We were taught to prepare delicious gourmet meals that focus on nutritional value. Whole, organic, fresh, and minimally-processed foods are procured in season. As no single dietary regime is appropriate for everyone, we were taught how individualised foods can enhance health.
The diploma was a three-part course covering everything needed to know in order to become a successful Natural Chef. The first part included fundamentals such as food safety and sanitation, pantry essentials, kitchen techniques such as knife skills and kitchen equipment, various, ways of cooking ie steaming, grilling, baking and techniques such as fermenting, sprouting and juicing. We were taught various types of diets to include vegan, vegetarian, raw, cooked, paleo etc. We learnt about taste, flavour, preparation and presentation. We were also taught how to write recipes, how to calculate when cooking for large amounts, looked at the best sources of ingredients and the energetics of foods.
The second part of the course comprised of creating stocks, broths, sauces and stews. Working with various vegetables, grains, pastas, nuts, seeds, fruit. Using various herbs and spices to enhance flavours as well as using and discussing ‘superfoods’ to enhance flavour and to give that extra ‘health kick’.
The third part of the course involved therapeutic menu planning and writing and creating specific recipes in order to support various health systems. We also created a five course immune boosting menu for twenty people which was a great success.
As well as seeing clients for nutritional consultations i now offer bespoke menus for yoga and well being retreats and am absolutely loving creating beautiful delicious recipes and menus.