Calendar of cooking classes

Join them to pickle excess rescued food over a cuppa.

Organised by Greenhills Neighbourhood House.

Just turn up.

On Fridays, midday-2pm. For those aged 18-25.

Each week, you will cook and share a vegetarian meal with others using donated surplus food. In so doing, you will learn different recipes and cooking skills, including: cook healthy plant-based meals on a budget; grocery shop; plan meals; and gain knowledge on general nutrition, food safety, and storage. You will also get a bag of free, fresh groceries each week.

Organised by Open Table.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Thai cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: fish sauce dressing; green or red curry paste; fried corn fritters; green papaya salad; and green curry chicken or red curry duck.

Learn how to poach chicken. Make two different dipping sauces to accompany the dish: a spicy chilli sauce and a salty soy and ginger sauce. Use chicken broth and garlic to flavour your rice.

Presenter: Kelly Meredith from Under The Pickle Tree.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Mexican cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: tacos de guisado (stewed beef); tortillas; salsa rojo + salsa verde (roasted tomato and tomatillo sauces); ceviche con tostadas (lightly cured seasonal fish); and sopa de tortilla (tortilla soup).

You will learn how to prepare traditional dishes that you would expect to eat in the kitchen of a Greek family home. You will prepare all the meals together and then enjoy your feast.

Presenter: Kelly Michelakis.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Chinese cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: sichaun wontons; chilli and sesame oil sauce; sichaun eggplant; tofu with chilli bean paste; braised pork belly; and chilli oil.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Japanese cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu in odd numbered months: sushi rolls; miso soup; tempura (mixed fried vegetables, prawn and soba noodles); and seaweed salad).

The menu in even numbered months: fish with citrus soy sauce; ramen (noodles); seafood stock; fried chicken; and fried and marinated eggplant.

You will learn the basics of making your own sauerkraut, fermented seasonal vegetables and kombucha plus how to use fermented products in day-to-day life. You will take home your own jars of vegetables to ferment at home plus a kombucha SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).

Presenter: Lauren Mueller.

Italian food. See Rosa’s website for the menus.

Be guided through various recipes that showcase the different ways that you can cook with bean curd at home. Then take home the dishes that you created (take your own container).

Organised by Strathdon House.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Korean cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: kimchi, Korean style spicy chicken; haejanggguk (beef, cabbage and spice paste stew); and spicy dipping sauce.

On 8 consecutive Wednesdays from 1st May, 11.15am-12.45pm.

This course is for teenagers. Each week you will learn to make a main course. Take an apron and tea towel.

Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani. Run in partnership with Bulleen Heights School.

On Wednesdays, starting 1st May, 4-5.30pm. For children aged 8-13.

Each week will focus on different aspects of running a kitchen, like mise en place (French for “put in place”), safety and food hygiene, playing to our strengths (and the strengths of our team), how to work in a brigade, food storage, flavour profiles & ingredients and cleaning up. You will prep and cook a different meal each week, including lasagna, pie, cake and a roast dinner.

Presenter: Cook Murph from Suntop Plaza. Organised by NECCHi.

On Thursdays, starting 2nd May, 9.30am-1.30pm.

The objective is for you to develop skills, social connection, and self-confidence to seek further study or work in hospitality. You will prepare, eat and gain an overview of different styles and types of cooking. You will also learn how to cook for a large group.

Organised by Brunswick Neighbourhood House.

On 5 consecutive Thursdays, starting 2nd May, 11am-1pm.

Learn how to cook easily just for one person. Make the meals each week and eat together what you have made.

Organised by Lilydale Community House.

They will show you how to easily incorporate this little SCOBY into your daily routine. You will make some milk kefir and then move onto flavouring, making butter, labneh, catching the whey and then making a naturally fizzy and gut-loving soda. You’ll go home with: a milk kefir SCOBY in a jar and ready to feed when you get home; a whey soda flavoured with fresh fruit of your choice to finish fermenting at home; milk kefir cultured butter; and an illustrated recipe card.

Join them to pickle excess rescued food over a cuppa.

Organised by Greenhills Neighbourhood House.

Just turn up.

Italian food. See Rosa’s website for the menus.

On Fridays, midday-2pm. For those aged 18-25.

Each week, you will cook and share a vegetarian meal with others using donated surplus food. In so doing, you will learn different recipes and cooking skills, including: cook healthy plant-based meals on a budget; grocery shop; plan meals; and gain knowledge on general nutrition, food safety, and storage. You will also get a bag of free, fresh groceries each week.

Organised by Open Table.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about some bush foods, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: smoked kangaroo tenderloin or lamb racks; murray cod or barramundi steamed in banana leaf; damper ‘flatbread’ with mountain pepper; and bush pesto and goat’s cheese dip.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Japanese cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu in odd numbered months: sushi rolls; miso soup; tempura (mixed fried vegetables, prawn and soba noodles); and seaweed salad).

The menu in even numbered months: fish with citrus soy sauce; ramen (noodles); seafood stock; fried chicken; and fried and marinated eggplant.

Learn how to make the dough from scratch and how to shape the pasta. You will learn how to make balanzoni and ravioli di pesce. You will also learn how to make two sauces (alla norma and quattro formaggi).

Presenter: Piera Pagnoni. Organised by That’s Amore Cheese.

Take a tour of the grounds of CERES where you will learn how to identify bush foods. Then participate in hands on demonstration of how to incorporate bush foods into simple, tasty and nutritious meals, desserts and snacks.

Presenter: Belinda Kennedy.

Learn about many different types of pickling techniques, how to get the most out of your veggies and all the essential food safety information.

Take along a clean jar with your choice of cut up veggies so that you can pour your newly learned pickling liquid recipe into.

Presenter: Kaye Cramond, from Grow Cook Store. Organised by My Smart Garden.

Jo-Anne Grist will demonstrate how to make: raw pistachio slice; raw chocolate brownie with pistachios; raw mini mango cheesecakes; lemon and coconut bliss balls; and fresh summer berry rocky road, You will take home a box of raw treats.

Tish will pass on her techniques for making macarons. Take an apron.

A limit of 4 participants in total.

Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Thai cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: fish sauce dressing; green or red curry paste; fried corn fritters; green papaya salad; and green curry chicken or red curry duck.

Learn the basic techniques for bottling olives, drying herbs/fruits, jams and pickles, as well as ways to store food and use leftovers to minimise food waste.

Presenter: Maria Ciavarella. Organised by My Smart Garden.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Vietnamese cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: fish sauce; mango/papaya salad; rice noodles with aromatic chicken broth; fried fish with dill and turmeric; and Vietnamese spring rolls.

You will learn about foods that can help you to build and protect your gut microbiome and clear brain fog. You will also learn how to incorporate brain powering foods easily into your daily diet.

All the recipes centre on nutritionally dense vegetables and are both gluten- and dairy-free. The sample menu includes: vegan cream cheese; oat + mesquite crackers; beet sauerkraut; chickpea salad with orange tahini; coconut + turmeric pie; and miso puffed balls.

Presenter: Melanie Leeson, from Mettle + Grace.

Italian food. See Rosa’s website for the menus.

Cristina Chang will show you how to make the classic Taiwanese dish, soy braised pork belly bass (aka gua bao). Learn the basics of fermentation and preserve your own mustard greens to take home, how to make and steam buns from scratch and how to make gua bao and spring onion knots. At the end, enjoy the dishes made in class at a communal dining table and take the rest of your hard work home.

This is a hands-on cooking experience with an expert cooking instructor. Learn about Mexican cuisine, watch some cooking demonstrations, then enjoy eating the food with a complementary drink.

The menu: tacos de guisado (stewed beef); tortillas; salsa rojo + salsa verde (roasted tomato and tomatillo sauces); ceviche con tostadas (lightly cured seasonal fish); and sopa de tortilla (tortilla soup).

Experience the tastes, smells and sounds of Sri Lankan cooking. You will learn how to make a chicken curry dish, dhal with spinach and brinjal moju (eggplant) alongside Sri Lankan special yellow rice. Afterwards, you will sit down and enjoy a Sri Lankan feast.

Organised by Balwyn Community Centre.

oin Jane, dietician from CoHealth, to learn new tips and tricks for cooking healthy and delicious meals, even without all the bells and whistles of a full kitchen. This is a social, no cost session where all experience levels are welcome. Go and cook your lunch, and then eat it too.

On Fridays, 10th May and 14th June, each 9am-midday.

Learn how to prepare simple meals with other blokes under Shawn’s guidance. Enjoy a shared meal and conversation to finish the session.

Organised by Surrey Hills Neighbourhood Centre.

Join them to pickle excess rescued food over a cuppa.

Organised by Greenhills Neighbourhood House.

Just turn up.

What you will learn: ways to create and look after your own sourdough starter culture; the flour to use for the best nutrition and results; ways to knead sticky high hydration dough for a more authentic sourdough loaf; the equipment needed to produce a sourdough tin loaf at home; and ways to bake sourdough bread using a bread tin in a home oven.

What you will get: comprehensive workshop notes; sourdough starter culture; and a discount on a professional quality bread tin.

Join Rick Lavender of The Life We Want as he demonstrates this age old process and introduces you to the equipment and skills required to get started baking at home.

Participants will be limited to 8 to maintain an informal interactive format.

Learn how to make feta, halloumi, labneh and ricotta cheeses. You will taste test the ricotta and halloumi once it’s freshly made. A light lunch of spanakopita and baked camembert will be provided. You will take home three cheeses as well as some cheese mould to make your own at home.

Take along an apron, a glass jar and 3 or 4 containers to take your cheese home.

Organised by Kinglake Ranges Neighbourhood House.