PLAY
All in good taste
By Lauren Hendrick editor@kansan.com
It's a Wednesday afternoon and sweet, sour, salty and spicy aromas fill the new kitchen at The Bay Leaf, a culinary store at 717 Massachusetts St.
How the age-old pastime is receiving new street cred from the youth
"Who wants to try some pad kee mao?" chef Dawn Haverkate-Ens asks a group of shoppers standing near her steaming wok. Garlic pops in a glaze of hot peanut oil and Haverkate-Ens adds bok choy, basil and rice noodles to create pad kee mao, a Thai dish known in English as "drunken noodles."
"It's fun to get other people excited about what I love," says Haverkate-Ens, who teaches Thai cooking classes and considers Thai food her favorite. Cooking classes at The Bay Leaf, which began in June 2007, are held throughout the week to help people learn new cooking techniques and dishes.
For owner Geri Riekhof, the addition of cooking classes is not only about getting people excited to try food from different cultures, but also getting people in the door.
"We are doing significantly better because of people's interests in creating new menus, new kinds of food, ethnic food and baking at home." Riekhof says.
Riekhof isn't the only one who has noticed an increased interest in cooking.The culinary market seems to be on the rise both locally and nationally.
Lisa Bakke, manager at Border's Books and Music, 700 New Hampshire St., has noticed an increase in the production of both culinary magazines and cookbooks.
"The reality TV trend has prompted people's interest," Bakke says. Not only are more people making their way to the cookbook section, but they're also buying culinary magazines. Bakke says Border's sells out of magazine issues every month, particularly a magazine called Clean Eating.
Cision, a media research firm, reports that established culinary magazines like Bon Appetit and Gourmet have seen their circulations increase more than 120,000 readers each since 2002. Cision also reported that during this same time period the magazine business has welcomed 50 new cooking and food publications.
The rise of culinary interest is also noticeable in other culinary classrooms near Lawrence and Kansas City. The Merc, 901 Iowa St., a community grocery and cooperative in Lawrence, has offered cooking classes for 20 years, but lately staff members have never seen classes fill so quickly.
"We are completely filling classes," says
Nancy O'Connor, director of education and outreach for The Merc. Cooking classes at The Merc cost $15 for two hours and are taught in a variety of areas including cake making, diabetic cooking, vegetarian cooking, preparing different cultural dishes and cooking for children.
"On a practical level, classes get people in the door;" O'Connor said, adding that the mission of The Merc is to make education accessible and affordable. "Attending a cooking class is the same price as going to a movie."
The Culinary Center of Kansas City has also seen its classes fill to capacity.The center, located at 7917 Foster St., Shawnee Mission, offers classes every day geared toward an assortment of interests and age groups.
"People in grade school, high school college and other careers take classes as a stress release," says Renee Lais, who makes class reservations at the Culinary Center of Kansas City."We are here to help the average person acquire skills." Classes are taught by the center's chefs and guest chefs from the Kansas City area.
While many people are interested in cooking classes for their own leisure, others are considering cooking as a career path.
"Without a hesitation, we have had to add classes because of the influx of applications." says Ona Ashley, associate professor of the hospitality and management department at Johnson County Community College.
The college has added more professional cooking classes and now teaches classes on Thursdays and Fridays, which has never happened in the department's history.
Ashley is glad to see people interested in the culinary field because jobs are available. Restaurants are always looking for skilled chefs and new restaurants are opening every day. Ashley also said fewer people eat at home these days.
"The food channel helps and hurts us," Ashley says. She says the channel has helped increase interest in cooking for a living, but does not show the entire job description of professional cooking."People are excited about what they see on TV,but they don't understand that people in the culinary business work evenings and weekends."
For people who are just interested in learning new cooking skills and recipes. The Food Network has sparked the right attention.
As cooking classes are filling up around the community, program coordinators are thanking The Food Network.
"I noticed that a lot of parents are saying
all their children watch is The Food Network," says Ashley.
HaverkateEns is interested in teaching as much as she can at The Bay Leaf. Cooking is therapeutic for HaverkateEns, and she hopes she can effectively share her passion
for food with everyone who attends her classes.
"Making and eating good food adds so much to the quality of life."
Photos by Jerry Wang Dawn Haverkae-Ens leads a cooking class at The Bay Leaf, a culinary store on Massachusetts St. Local businesses have seen an increased interest in cooking classes since the popularity of The Food Network has been on the rise.
4
October 30,2008