I taught 5 online Mexican cooking classes at the beginning of 2022. I really loved carrying out this project. I have always thought that food is not only for nourishing our bodies, but also for getting people together. This is exactly what this project did, it brought people together.
The participants were really engaged. The majority of them kept coming back class after class. Some of them cooked along with me and even shared some of their pics of what they cooked (see attached).
One of the most rewarding things of this project for me was to see how people went from believing they could not do it to actually cooking up a great dish.
Regarding the challenges faced, one of the most challenging things of teaching online could be the technical part… setting up the cameras, the audio, the online platform. In my case, I already had a previous experience teaching online so I was able to overcome the challenges.
A good piece of advise for those who are teaching online is to always test your equipment, your set up beforehand to avoid unexpected surprises. If something happens during the class, try to solve it the best that you can, do your best always and if it still doesn’t work, learn from the experience and do it better next time.
Overall, the best reward from carrying out this project was meeting new people, seeing them coming back to take the classes, getting to know them and forming a link with them.
I really appreciate these grants that allow people to carry out their projects. Hope to be part of another cooking class project soon.
