What Qualifications And Experience Do You Have To Teach Cooking?

I think this is a really good question.  Now I am not for a moment suggesting that you need to be a Michelin starred chef to teach people to cook but I do think it is helpful to have an understanding of your tutor's background and what you can learn from them. This is me ...

The Short Version

- In 2009 I quit my city job to train as a chef at Leiths School of Food of Wine where I graduated the professional diploma with distinction and won the Louis Latour Wine Student of the Year Award

- I started out making fancy wedding cakes and iced biscuits for product launches in London for brands such as MaxFactor and L'Oreal whilst also building my experience as a cookery teacher, freelance teaching at various cookery schools in London.

- I have written 2 cookbooks and the food chapter for a third book:

- Supercute Cookies (a cookie baking and decorating book)

- The Vegetarian Pantry (a vegetarian cookbook which I wrote with one of my friend's from Leiths)

- I also co-wrote the food chapter for Lost in London: Adventures In The Wild City

- I am a member of the Guild of Food Writers

- My work was featured in lots of national publications including The Times, Times 2, Fabulous, Brides Magazine, Best and Crafts & Sugarcraft Magazine.

- I spent time working as a private chef and cookery teacher in Sussex and London for private clients and with brands such as GoodHouseKeeping UK, Canon Uk, Divertimenti and Squires Sugarcraft.

- I became interested in nutrition and free-from cooking after my son was born and struggled with allergies. I spent a number of years private cheffing at vegan ayurvedic yoga retreat weekends.

- I ran my own cookery school on a farm in Sussex from 2017 - 2023 and started teaching online during the Covid pandemic.

- I am also involved with community cookery projects in Sussex and spent as year as the UK Programme Co-Ordinator at IMPACT UK, a local food charity.

- I have a lots of experience teaching cookery to teenagers in both Home-Educaton and for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. In the academic year 24/25 we had around 500 students complete the skills section for the DofE with us from over 100 different schools.

The Long Story

I have been cooking since I could climb on a chair and reach the kitchen worktop. I grew up in a house of cooks - my mum is vegetarian and my dad makes a mean roast dinner so I grew up with a real mix of cooking influences.  My granny was an amazing cook - she always had piles of BBCGoodFood magazines lying around and I still have her box of handwritten recipes on the shelf in my kitchen.

I didn't get into professional cooking until 2010, when I quite my job as a lawyer and went to Leiths School of Food and Wine.  I spent an amazing year there on the Professional Diploma course, which I absolutely loved, graduating with distinction and winning the Louis Latour Wine Student of the Year Award. 

I started out as a baker making fancy wedding cakes and iced biscuits for product launches for make up brands such as Max Factor and L'Oreal, which were really fashionable at the time.  I was also building my experience as a cookery teacher, freelance teaching at various cookery schools in London.

My biscuit classes were noticed by a publisher, RPS, who asked if I wanted to write a book about biscuit making. I obviously said yes and ending up publishing two cookbooks and writing the food chapter for a third:

- Supercute Cookies (a cookie baking and decorating book)

- The Vegetarian Pantry (a vegetarian cookbook which I wrote with one of the my best friends that I had met at Leiths)

- I also co-wrote the food chapter for Lost in London: Adventures In The Wild City

My work was featured in lots of national publications including The Times, Times 2, Fabulous, Brides Magazine, Best and Crafts & Sugarcraft Magazine.

I moved home to Sussex when I started a family and spent a few years freelance cheffing and cookery teaching in London and Sussex, working for private clients and with brands such as GoodHouseKeeping UK, Canon Uk, Divertimenti and Squires Sugarcraft.

My son struggled with food allergies when he was little which got me really interested in nutrition and free-from cooking.  I spent a number of years cheffing at vegan yoga retreat weekends and have a love of vegetarian cooking having grown up with a half veggie household.

In 2017 I decided to open my own cookery school on an organic farm in West Sussex.  We taught classes for all age groups, across a huge range of styles and cuisines, as well as getting involved in local community projects. We had lots of visiting tutors come to teach everything from Thai & Indian cookery to sourdough to specialist sugarcraft.

I started to specialise in teaching families and teenagers.  I ran a weekly class for home educated teenagers for 3 years.  Those teenagers are now grown up but the course structures and recipes that I wrote for them form the basis of the online courses today - I worked really hard to combine practical cheffing skills with all of the core elements of the GCSE food and nutrition syllabus.

In 2020 the Covid pandemic forced the cookery school to close.  I packed up some kit and went home and started running live classes online.  One of my teenage students asked if I would run a birthday cooking session for her online.  That turned into some classes for her friends, which then turned into hundreds of live classes for young people across the UK throughout the lockdowns and beyond.

The cookery school reopened after the pandemic but my focus was now on the online school so in Spring 2023 I decided to sell the kitchen. While I built up the online school I worked part time as the UK Programme Co-Ordinator for IMPACT UK, a charity running community cookery projects across Sussex.  I eventually had to step away from that role in order to give the online school all of my time and attention but I am still involved with community cookery projects locally.

The Round Table online school has grown over the last couple of years to where it is today. We are really proud to be an Approved Activity Provider for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. We focus on really high quality cookery teaching for young people and a really personal, supportive experience for our students. In the academic year 24/25 we had around 500 students complete the skills section for their DofE Bronze, Silver or Gold Award with us from over 100 different schools.

And that's me! Looking back at all the photos it has been quite a journey.  If you want to check out one of my classes you can sign up for the free sample classes here - hopefully see you there.