How I Started to Produce Virtual Cooking Classes

Creating my virtual cooking classes has been a total labor of love. I'm a lifelong learner and love exploring how to make things happen, but it doesn't always come easy.

The Years of Contemplation

Ever since I ran bakeries, apprenticed with a celebrated local baker, and got informal chef training from an opera-singing chef, I wanted to learn, and I wanted to teach.

Then I got in my own way.

You know those thoughts. "It will be too hard." "You don't know what you are doing." "Who will want to come." These limiting beliefs held me back for years making feeble attempts but never committing.

Magic Three Questions

In 2022 I set a goal to make cooking videos. I read everything I could. I had a friend (thank you, Bettsie) spend the day with me and mark out where cameras could go for the perfect shot.

Still no progress. My limiting beliefs continued to hold me back.

With the help of another friend, I recognized I spent a lot of time thinking, worrying, and planning, which was consuming, but unproductive.

Completely opposite, whenever I face a problem, I focus my thinking. I set a timeframe and focus on that one thing, and every time, the perfect answer arises. So, I decided to apply that approach to my cooking videos.

One afternoon, I sat down for 30 minutes and focused on how I could make cooking videos. Within moments I came up with three vital questions.

What did I already know how to do?
What did I love to do?
What could I do to simplify the process?

I call these my magic questions because the answers were so clear.

What did I already know how to do? Use Zoom with the computer equipment I already have. What I didn't know how to do was produce a cooking video. This ah-ha helped me decide to use Zoom somehow to record my cooking video.
What did I love to do? Teach! Creating a video would be fun, but the ah-ha moments and the live questions from a class make it much more fun for me. This revelation gave rise to developing a live cooking class.
What could I do to simplify the process? This is where the magic started to happen. I looked at the equipment I already had and how I could use it. I looked at how I could set up my kitchen with things I already had. I figured out what recipe I could share that would fit into a comfortable timeframe.

And my virtual cooking class pilot was born. 😄

Virtual Pasta Making Class | Appetite for Life — My first pasta-making class!

Action and Innovation

I also learned through this process that I could iterate by taking action. Without taking action, it was all in my head.

It was only when I started to take action that

New ideas arose to solve problems
I knew what I could do and what I could not do
I learned what I needed to make things happen
I was inspired to explore new functionalities not even thought about before (stay tuned for new ideas on how to organize your cooking, shopping, and meal planning - so cool)

The key takeaway here was to focus my thinking and take action. It doesn't have to be perfect. I just have to give it a try.

I'm totally looking forward to the next adventure!