Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of work will the Natural Chef training prepare me for? 

This is a great question to reflect on whether a culinary artist’s skills and knowledge will be marketable.  

The Natural Cook training begins by organizing the student’s mind and kitchen. We then step carefully and consciously into learning techniques to access and implement the student’s intuition, and the nuances and subtleties of cooking without recipes.

A successful graduate will have a level of mastery cooking whole, plant-based ingredients.  Learning the structure in an artist’s training based on the creative process, you will be pushed to go deeper into how you organize and express dishes for any kind of diet. 

Can I work in a restaurant? 

We have been training people continuously for over 30 years.  Some choose to work in a restaurant and others choose to create their own style of business.  There are many styles of commercial food service venues from food truck to hospitals and schools.  You will be taught how to cook and design menus for intimate and large groups.  We usually recommend graduates identify and reach out to established businesses they admire to “learn” the rhythm of different kinds of “service.”  

Your diploma from The School of Natural Cookery along with a letter of recommendation offers valuable confirmation of your accomplishments.   

Private coaching from our successful graduates is also available. 

What are graduates doing? 

Graduates lean toward private/personal cheffing, teaching, designing recipes for magazines such as “Bon Appetite”, “Fine Cooking”, “VegNews”, “Dietitian’s Journal” and others; some gravitate to blogging, product development for the packaged food industry, and building their own business based on their passion. Other graduates are nutritional consultants and use their training to design menus for clients.  Another business opportunity is available in a leadership role as an advocate for healthcare.

The Natural Cook training becomes a thread in the tapestry of your life.  It will strengthen the courage in all aspects of who you are.  If you are an athlete, coach, artist, musician, or person healing an illness, it will merge your identity into a marketable skill or service. 

Is this the right time for me to commit to a 9 month training? 

If you are cooking for people at least three times a week, your assignments can easily be worked into your schedule. 

We recommend you find a rhythm in the week to study, shop, cook, upload assignments, and preview the topics in the upcoming lesson.

1- 2 hours to study and take notes on the topics of the week.  This should be done in a quiet place with access to high speed internet, but not a kitchen.  

2 – 4  hours to cook the assignments

1 – 2  hours to upload assignments

1 – 1.5 hours for weekly meetings with mentors and classmates online

Lab session preparation and workflow goes like this: 

You will need to arrange your life to fit the scheduled days and times for live meetings and lab sessions.  During the enrollment process you will know the exact schedule.

2 – six hour lab sessions: scheduled dates and time in the first month and the last month.   

4 – three hour lab sessions:  2.5 hours in the kitchen plus .5 hour in classroom

Chefs are managers.  They manage multiple experiences inside and out. The Natural Chef – diploma program includes physical, mental and emotional strategies to support student’s skills.  

If you prefer to train without these pressures, the Independent Study program is excellent way to study the material in The Natural Cook training.

Communication with the teacher is key, including about how you are managing your schedule.  Please review in the catalog options and policies for unforeseen circumstances that might interfere with you completing the training.