Our Teachers
We are so fortunate to work with such a diverse and talented group of teachers. They have years of experience spanning different cuisines and techniques and they are ready to help you become a better home cook.
Meghna Agarwal
Through her company, Crimson Kitchen, Meghna teaches Indian cooking classes, caters parties, runs her private chef business, and occasionally feeds the hungry souls of San Francisco’s numerous ... READ MORE
Kausar Ahmed
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Kausar Ahmed is a writer, food stylist and chef with over 20 years of experience in culinary arts. She has been a culinary instructor and cooking show producer and host in ... READ MORE
Jackie Apple
As a youngster, Jackie Apple loved hanging out in the family kitchen, sitting on the counter while watching her mother prepare classic Argentine food. Throughout her youth, Jackie traveled often to ... READ MORE
Cathy Barrow
Cathy Barrow is a freelance food writer, cooking teacher, and food preservation expert. She writes the “BRING IT” column in the Washington Post’s food section. Her first cookbook, ... READ MORE
Marti Buckley
Marti Buckley is an American journalist and cook from Alabama who has lived in San Sebastián, Spain for seven years. Her blog is travelcookeat.com, where she writes about food and the Basque Country. ... READ MORE
Viola Buitoni
Viola Buitoni, a direct descendant of the famed pasta and chocolate family, hails from Perugia, in the heart of Umbria. She came to the US in 1985 for a business degree, but soon found herself drawn ... READ MORE
Jennifer Clair
Jennifer Clair is a culinary instructor and the founder of Home Cooking New York, a cooking school in New York City. She is a former Food Editor at Martha Stewart Living and the former ... READ MORE
Sasha Crehan
Sasha attended the Professional Pastry program at Tante Marie’s Cooking School. After years of working as a pastry chef at Bay Area restaurants and bakeries such as Bay Wolf, Garibaldi’s, Café ... READ MORE
Amanda Cushman
Amanda Cushman is a culinary educator, cookbook author and recipe developer who has cooked professionally for over thirty years. She has taught students in their homes, as well as at Sur La Table, The ... READ MORE
Marge Perry and David Bonom
Marge Perry and David Bonom share a passion for creating great food—for magazines, cookbooks, websites, corporations and family and friends. They have developed thousands of recipes, traveled the ... READ MORE
Deirdre Davis
Deirdre Davis has worked as a culinary instructor and pastry chef for over 20 years in the Bay Area. Originally from the east coast, she moved to California to attend the California Culinary Academy. ... READ MORE
Karen Diggs
Karen is a classically-trained chef, certified nutritionist, culinary instructor, and author of Happy Foods: Over 100 Mood-Boosting Recipes. She studied at the California Culinary Academy ... READ MORE
Greg Dunmore
Greg is an accomplished San Francisco chef with more than twenty years of experience. Throughout his career he has run critically acclaimed restaurants and earned Michelin Stars. Greg’s passion for ... READ MORE
Linda Tay Esposito
Linda Tay Esposito is a teaching chef whose food represents a tribute and commitment to the authenticity of the cuisines of the Pacific Rim. For the last 15 years, Linda has shared her passion and ... READ MORE
Janet Fletcher
Janet Fletcher is a food writer, publisher of the weekly Planet Cheese blog and the cheese columnist for Specialty Food and The SOMM Journal. She has authored or co-authored ... READ MORE
Agustín Gaytán
Agustín Gaytán is a chef, teacher, consultant and culinary researcher. Born in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, in central Mexico, he learned to cook at an early age in his mother's kitchen, and ... READ MORE
Marlene Sorosky Gray
Chef Marlene Sorosky Gray loves to teach cooking and she’s been doing it successfully for over 40 years. She has taught in 46 of the 50 states and for many years owned a cooking school and cookware ... READ MORE
Michael Harlan Turkell
Michael Harlan Turkell is an award-winning food photographer and cookbook author of ACID TRIP: Travels in the World of Vinegar. He has photographed and co-authored many prominent chefs’ ... READ MORE
Tom Herndon
Chef Tom has been a resident chef, personal chef, cooking instructor, and culinary tour director. As a member of the American Personal and Private Chefs Association, Chef Tom started Full Fridge, a ... READ MORE
Henry Hsu
Henry Hsu is what some would call a polymath, having worked as an architect, anthropologist, designer and public health advocate. Luckily for us he’s now in the food world. When Henry’s not ... READ MORE
Dianne Jacob
Dianne Jacob is the author of the multiple award-winning book, Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Memoir, Recipes and More. She also co-wrote two cookbooks ... READ MORE
Camila Loew
Camila Loew is the founder of Sobremesa and Sobremesa Culinary Tours. After receiving her Ph.D. in Humanities and an academic career, she shifted her focus to food, specializing in health-supportive ... READ MORE
James Lum III
James is a butcher, an entrepreneur, and an impassioned advocate for sustainable agriculture. Formerly at Brooklyn’s The Meat Hook, James founded his own whole-animal butchery in Charlottesville, ... READ MORE
Michelle McKenzie
Michelle McKenzie was the longtime Program Director and Chef at 18 Reasons, a community cooking school in San Francisco. She is the author of Dandelion & Quince: Exploring the Wide World of ... READ MORE
Valerie Ng
Valerie Ng is an account manager at Hodo Foods, the Bay Area’s organic tofu purveyor, and a teaching assistant at The Civic Kitchen. Eating her way through France and Spain during her student years ... READ MORE
Jen Nurse
As The Civic Kitchen’s co-founder and lead instructor, Chef Jen Nurse's passion is teaching home cooks the skills they need to gain confidence in their own kitchens. She relishes seeing the ... READ MORE
Nissa Pierson
Nissa Pierson is a noted herb expert and founder of Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center. A cooking instructor, food ... READ MORE
Jill Silverman Hough
Jill Silverman Hough is a cookbook author, food and wine writer, recipe developer, cooking teacher, and food photographer. She’s been published in magazines including Bon Appétit, Cooking ... READ MORE
Nancy Singleton Hachisu
Nancy Singleton Hachisu is a native Californian, Stanford graduate who moved to Japan in 1988. She lives with her Japanese farmer husband in an 85-year-old traditional farmhouse in rural Saitama. They ... READ MORE
Annette Sorensen
Annette Sorensen grew up in a Danish household and treasures all things Danish. She loves the sense of community that can surround cooking and sharing a meal together. This led her to create the ... READ MORE
Cameron Stauch
Cameron Stauch is a chef currently based in Bangkok, Thailand. He has cooked and lived in Vietnam, India, and China (Hong Kong) and has travelled extensively in other parts of Asia. He is the author ... READ MORE
Janine Waite
About the Nester: Janine is the creative force behind Happy Happy Nester, a lifestyle blog with a touch of entertaining for friends and family. Janine loves everything related to the home ... READ MORE
Lindsay West
Lindsay West is a professionally trained chef with over 15 years of San Francisco Bay Area restaurant experience. After getting her degree from Cal Poly in Nutritional Science she moved up to San ... READ MORE
Michael Westgate
Michael Westgate comes from a family passionate about wellness. His grandfather, born in 1898, grew up in Oakland, California, then a booming center for alternative health. With Dr. Bragg and Jack ... READ MORE
Frances Wilson
Chef Frances Wilson can’t remember a time when her life has not revolved around food, from an early age cooking with her mother and then professionally as a chef and teacher. There are some that ... READ MORE
Lorraine Witte
Lorraine “The Chinese Lady” Witte was born in Hawaii to Chinese immigrants and first became aware of her multicultural heritage through food. Her father showed her how to cook with his hands over ... READ MORE
Maria Zizka
Maria Zizka is a cookbook writer and recipe developer who was named by Forbes as one of the most influential people under 30 in the world of food and drink. She has collaborated with leading ... READ MORE
