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.
Can I take The Natural Chef – if my goals are to be a good cook for the health of myself and family?
Many students like to earn the credentials from The School of Natural Cookery even if they have no clear professional goals upon entering the training.
The advantage to The Natural Chef training is the support from the platform, staff and the accountability a student has to move through a massive amount of experience and information.
The most powerful tool you will have from this training is the ability to adapt to all situations.
The goal is to use this training as a jumping off place to find the industry format that brings most of you and your interests together.
As an expert in plant-based ingredients from the “whole food ” the source, you will understand enough on how to :
- set up a kitchen
- design recipes and troubleshoot for product development
- plan menues
- invent dishes for recipe blog or book or magazine
- food product development, writing – blogs and books
- work in or create your own food service: restaurant, cafe, food – truck
- private chef
- teaching
Make sure you have your questions answered either through email or private meeting.
Schedule interview
Receive acceptance letter
Block out your study time and dates on your personal calendar
Complete enrollment agreement
Prepare your kitchen – receive workbook, textbook, knife and miscellaneous materials
——————————————————————-
If you have technical issues, please send a detailed message to support@naturalcookery.com. The support team will review your issue in get back to you within 24 hours. For urgent issues connecting to one of the web meetings, please notify the instructor facilitating the class. The instructor will do some basic troubleshooting of the issue and contact the support team directly if help is required.
There is additional technical information located in the resource library: Preparing for the Course e-book located in the online classroom.
We are teaching a thought process with which to observe good cooking and not good cooking. The language we use to format the process of building dishes without a recipe, fixing dishes that are “off”, inventing dishes that have never been experienced before, becomes the structure for interaction with teachers, other students sharing, and with one’s self during the creative process.
The training classroom has over 250 videos for students to be in an up-close classroom. Each video is one or two single points of information technically important for each lesson. It is recommended to store notes from these presentations in the workbook, and then take the workbook with detailed notes into the kitchen to practice. From your notes you will invent a dish and learn to observe the transformation of the ingredients.
Students study with following interactive tools embedded into our university level online classroom:
- textbook
- workbook
- videos
- pre-recorded live-virtual group meetings
- interactive forums
- grades and comments from teachers on each assignment
- shared folders of classmate’s homework submissions
- quiz
- learn to take high level photos of your work
- submit photos of your homework with an interactive template that trains you to think in a language without relying on recipes
The live connection at SNC is through our weekly virtual meetings and live labs. These are organized as a mentorship one on one with a teacher or in a group of up to 6-7 students that meet weekly.
The language we use in the training is an opportunity to share not just communication but a unique way to unravel problems and curiosities in cooking in addition to sharing sketches of dishes you have made. Classmates can evolve to business partners because you get to know them and what they can really do. Classmates become life-long friends. It’s really up to you.
Technology will allow us all to share our kitchens and dishes we make during workshop/labs. It is a unique bonding.
The Natural Chef graduates with an 85% or higher GPA, participate in the lab sessions, and who have successfully passed the final exam will earn a Diploma.
The Natural Cook graduates of The Core Essentials Certificate – Immersion who participate in the live labs, forums, and quizzes will receive a Certificate of Completion.
Currently all of our programs that are credentialed do not require a student to study on-site.
The time for live class is published in Mountain Time. Make sure you are aware of the time zone for your live, virtual classroom.
The School of Natural Cookery does not offer a formal placement service.
However, we often receive requests for graduates and provide information about opportunities. If you are interested in hearing about them, you will know about the opportunities in our Alumni Forum.
We also try to match graduates with opportunities as they come into the school.
♦ THE NATURAL CHEF
If your goal is to have The School of Natural Cookery – diploma to begin or enhance a profession with plant-based expertise, then the Natural Chef is for you. The Natural Chef training is approved by the State of Colorado Department of Higher Education as a Private Vocational School program. The training is experiential, highly accountable, requiring a commitment with mentor/teachers over 9 months.
♦ THE NATURAL COOK
Independent Study
If you like to take your time and have no pressure to accomplish this training in any kind of time restriction, the Core Essentials and Complete Training options all you to mosey through the self guided curriculum. Or you might like to meander through the topics while learning techniques and slowly integrate concepts of The Language of Intuitive Cooking™.
Immersions
For students who like to participate in learning content in The Natural Cook training within a structure of practicing with a teacher/mentor in a group relying on weekly live, labs / lessons; requiring the intention to study before 2.5 hours are lab sessions are in your kitchen with virtual cameras set up. Teachers watch and guide each step of the way after you have practiced the weekly lesson content. This is the most efficient and affirmative way to study The Language of Intuitive Cooking.
We are not offering on-site workshops at this time.
Yes, you will receive some follow up videos if you also download our catalogs. If you need more details, just let us know.
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.
♦ THE NATURAL CHEF
If your goal is to have The School of Natural Cookery – diploma to begin or enhance a profession with plant-based expertise, then the Natural Chef is for you. The Natural Chef training is approved by the State of Colorado Department of Higher Education as a Private Vocational School program. The training is experiential, highly accountable, requiring a commitment with mentor/teachers over 9 months.
♦ THE NATURAL COOK
Independent Study
If you like to take your time and have no pressure to accomplish this training in any kind of time restriction, the Core Essentials and Complete Training options all you to mosey through the self guided curriculum. Or you might like to meander through the topics while learning techniques and slowly integrate concepts of The Language of Intuitive Cooking™.
Immersions
For students who like to participate in learning content in The Natural Cook training within a structure of practicing with a teacher/mentor in a group relying on weekly live, labs / lessons; requiring the intention to study before 2.5 hours are lab sessions are in your kitchen with virtual cameras set up. Teachers watch and guide each step of the way after you have practiced the weekly lesson content. This is the most efficient and affirmative way to study The Language of Intuitive Cooking.
$2,240.00 — or $398.00 / month for 6 months
Independent Study – Start anytime
18 months access
All 14 Natural Cook Topics
Support Available
$890.00 — or $260.00 / month for 4 months
Independent Study – Start anytime
9 months access
9 Essential Natural Cook Topics
Support Available
$3,950.00 — or $1,025.00 / month for 4 months
Immersion – Scheduled Dates
12 weeks mentored training
9 months access
9 Essential Natural Cook Topics
$10,520.00
Immersion – Scheduled Dates
9 months mentored training
18 months access
All Natural Cook Topics + Chef Skills