How virtual cooking classes inspire and connect: Guest post from Chef Leticia
How virtual cooking classes inspire and connect: Guest post from Chef Leticia
BoomPop Team · 8/19/2022
In this guest post, Chef Leticia shares how virtual cooking classes can open new opportunities for your team to learn, grow, and get healthier.
One month after the pandemic hit, I got an email that said:
“We are two Brazilians who live in Seattle. We have your cookbooks, but we don’t know how to cook. We work for Google, and we’re locked at home. Do you teach virtual cooking classes?”
Little did I know that email would change the course of my work. I taught my first virtual cooking class for them, still using my phone. They recommended me to another friend and then another.
As the entire world went virtual, companies developed a necessity to connect and engage their teams in a virtual fashion. While there are certainly challenges that come with the virtual world, there are also incredible benefits. One is that people feel at ease when cooking in the comfort of their own kitchens. There’s no pressure whatsoever. Over these two pandemic years and many virtual cooking classes, I have transformed my kitchen into a studio with lights, multiple cameras and computers.
Many people associate healthy cooking with boring tastes and flavorless foods. I’m on a mission to prove that healthy eating can be not only delicious, but also that food can help you take control of your health. Through virtual cooking classes, my goal is to connect teams through a fun activity and help individuals take full responsibility of their own wellbeing, eat better, and cook frequently. This way, you can generate health, energy, and vigor for yourself and your family.
“When people cook, they open their hearts and minds to anything that follows.”
— CHEF LETICIA
But to cook, we need time. And nobody has time. We make time. Time is a gift, like cooking is a gift. These are some of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself: taking time to be responsible for your own wellbeing. When you cook, you have control of what goes into your body—therefore you have control of your health. What could be more important than that?
Whether your team never had a cooking class before or everyone enjoys a feast, virtual cooking classes have an incredible impact on every participant. It’s a clean, good hearted, and fun cooking event. It’s extremely engaging—teams bond, connect, and feel like they know a side of each other that they didn’t know before. When people cook, they open their hearts and minds to anything that follows.
My favorite part of the class is receiving many photos from the delicious recipes that we prepare together, not only the night of the class, but many days later, as people repeat the recipes. I feel really lucky to connect employees around the world through virtual cooking classes and inspire everyone to live a healthy lifestyle.
At the end of the day, we all want to be happy, healthy, and productive. It’s something I aspire to and inspire others along the way, through my cookbooks, website, and cooking classes.
Leticia graduated from the Culinary Arts at the International Culinary Center (former French Culinary Inst.) and worked at Le Cirque, La Caravelle, & La Grenouille in NYC. She is the author of three cookbooks, and a nationally recognized food personality in the U.S, making frequent appearances on major network programs such as The Today Show, Fox News, and CBS The Couch. She was an NBC correspondent for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and worked with Merck as the spokesperson for a healthy living campaign. Visit www.chefleticia.com
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