Take your cooking and baking skills to the next level
With the huge surge in popularity of “foodie” TV shows like MasterChef and the Great South African Bake Off, it’s no coincidence that cooking classes in South Africa are more in demand than ever. Started by chef Angela Dike in 2010, the Taste Buds Cook Club offers everything from “social cooking” like birthday party and date night evenings, to classes where you learn to cook everything from Thai to Mexican food and everything in between. We chatted to co-owner Geordie Brown to find out more.
How did Taste Buds start?
Our founder chef Angela Dike wanted to get out of the corporate world, and when she attended a cooking demonstration several years ago, she wanted to start something similar. As a team, our biggest passion is sharing our love for cooking with others, and demonstrating that preparing a beautiful and tasty dish isn’t really such hard work. I always say that anyone can learn to cook as long as they can read and follow basic recipe instructions.
How has the club evolved over time?
We started in 2010 in a small kitchen in Randpark Ridge that could hold about 24 people. Today, we’re based in our Sundowner premises, which is a converted home that can host up to 50 people at any one time. It has a lovely garden and eating area that makes our events relaxed and comfortable. In total, we have seven permanent staff and six students who help us with our various events.
What are your most popular courses?
Definitely our “Romantic Couples” class, which is rated as one of Joburg’s top date night destinations. It’s all about having fun with your partner and it’s completely different from the normal couple’s dinner out. Our other very popular class is the Italian and homemade pasta class, which meets the increasing desire people have to learn to make their own pasta.
Tell us more about your “Domestic Divas” class.
This is a wonderful class that helps teach “not-so-accomplished” cooks how to feed their family with healthy, tasty and nutritious meals. We teach fundamentals like how to read a recipe, how to weigh and measure, as well as basic home safety and hygiene. Our students learn to make a variety of delicious meals in the four lessons, and we have everyone from housekeepers, au pairs, newly divorced men and students attending. We’ve produced some great new cooks too – including one young man who now works as an assistant chef.
What’s in the pipeline for Taste Buds?
We’re looking at offering a cake decorating course that covers how to work with fondant icing to make basic figures and flowers, and how to make proper butter icing. We’re also exploring holiday cooking classes for kids aimed at budding junior chefs, and we want to look at running singles evenings with a difference.
Taste Buds Cook Club
Angela, 083 600 9096
Words: Catherine Black | Images: Supplied
