R&DE Launches Teaching Kitchen @ Stanford with Jamie Oliver

The Teaching Kitchen @ Stanford is a groundbreaking cooking education program launched by Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) Stanford Dining. The program is based on the belief that food knowledge and cooking skills are the keys to improving health, promoting sustainability, and broadening worldviews. It was launched in January with a visit from renowned chef Jamie Oliver, who toured R&DE Stanford Dining’s gardens and kitchens, taught a cooking class to the “dining ambassadors,” and gave a keynote address to a packed audience.

Following the launch, R&DE’s Sustainable Food Program ran a sold-out Farm to Fork cooking series at the Teaching Kitchen. The classes kicked off in January with an organic lentil class featuring Timeless Foods’ organic lentil farmers from Montana and guest chef Claudia Krevat. A fair trade chocolate class on Valentine’s Day featured TCHO chocolates, and other classes featured representatives from Stanford Dining’s partners, including Pie Ranch (organic kale), Niman Ranch (humanely raised pork), Taku River Reds (wild-caught Alaskan salmon), and Real Good Fish (sustainably caught California fish). The class format included a candid discussion with the visiting expert before a hands-on cooking class to prepare a healthy dish with the ingredient of choice.