Maribel Linfield's Online Cooking
Web-cooking school creator and educator extraordinnaire!
PART II to Maribel's Interview- how she came up with her Online Cooking School and why you want to sit up and get your measuring cups out! Missed Part I? Click HERE to read all about it!
FT: Where do you hold your classes and what kind of themes are they centered around?
ML: Some are from my home, some are in other homes, I’ve gone to workplaces as well. I’ve recently turned my website into an ONLINE video library so people can learn in their own home without me by their side. I’m all over the board as far as themes. I have about 1000 printed recipes in my class listings. Everything from the basics to foo foo (Food Trend Note: this is a West African dish- known in Nigeria for example as pounded yam- it can also be made with plantain or cassava).
FT: For those that can't get to Waterloo, tell us about your OnLine Cooking Classes and how you came up with this idea?
ML: Provided they really wanted to learn to cook in the first place, but didn’t come, I learned the main reasons for clients not coming to my cooking class are:
- lack of time, or inconvenient personal circumstances
- lack of funds
- too shy
- location was not wheelchair friendly
So I tried to eliminate those barriers. Inexpensive, convenient, easy, personal and accurate!
I came up with this idea also in part because I realized many TV gigs were more about selling or impressing instead of truly teaching. So this way, I can take my sweet time telling you EVERYTHING I think you’ll need to know about the steps of the food preparation. (Without worrying about going to commercial break). I hated being told, “OK, you have 4 minutes, hurry up!!!”
FT: Why is cooking as a life skill so important to you?
ML: As a society we are so hung up on medical and scientific advances to cure all our ills that we don’t realize many of our problems come from our own dependence of processed foods, our abuse of preservatives, fats and sugar. The cure is in our own kitchens, by our own hands. I think that’s just amazing. Simple, profound yet somehow this concept is oblivious to many people. They want a stupid pill to cure all their woes. Yet they often spend more time and money going out to get fed, than to make some of it themselves with so much more nutrition and without any preservatives. We’re pickling ourselves! This generation will be outlived by their parents. That’s just unacceptable to me.
FT: What's your favourite thing to make for family and friends?
ML: I tend to go with the seasons, so whatever is fresh from the garden is great. I grill a lot. This fall, I’ve really taken a liking to stews.
FT: Top three favourite foods?
ML: My mother’s Colombian Empanadas, Foie Gras and Dark chocolate.
FT: Number one food or restaurant dining pet peeve?
ML: Snobbery. Get over it people, it’s not a contest.
FT: If you could change people's eating habits overnight- what would you change first?
ML: Spend at least one meal per day, together as a family! No TV - just family and good conversation. Build your love of food and each other.
FT: When you feel like eating out- where do you go in your neck of the woods?
ML: Anything fresh and ethnic! Thai, Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Colombian. I’m a little sick of French classics right now.
There you have it folks- from the chef's keyboard to your eyes. For more information about Maribel Linfield's online cooking school, to all of her latest endeavours, click here and get cooking!
