My first public cooking demonstration

I did it! I survived my first public cooking demo! Folks, I am hooked! You already know that I love to talk about veganism through the written word – whether here on the blog, in my Small Bites column or in my upcoming book – and through individual coaching. Yesterday I found myself chatting up a storm, espousing the virtue of quinoa, kale and all good things vegan at a local farmers market and I can’t wait to do it again!

We set the table up with promo cards, provided by The Journal News

and technology to show my blog and to encourage folks to sign up to receive posts via email.

Oh! And the food!

I set up the prepared Cucumber and Onion Cucumber Salad and sliced and diced for the demo.

Then I spent three hours passing out samples and recipes and chatting up the friendly folks at the farmers market!

Here are the top three favorite things I heard yesterday:

“Do you do catering?” (No, but I might consider it!)
“Do you offer cooking classes?” (Yes!)
“I think it’s some kind of wonder food” (Dave, my husband, referring to quinoa while passing out samples when I was getting my photo taken. He’s right!)

I had a blast and want to thank Liz Johnson of The Journal News / LoHud.com for making it happen and Maria Reina for being my “throwdown” partner and – more importantly – a mentor who guided me on how to prep for a food demo. A special thanks to Jennifer, the farm market manager at John Jay Homestead, for being so willing to host us (and for inviting me back!) and to Marian and Larry of Amawalk Farm for the delicious cippolini and bunching onions.

Tagged as: cooking demonstration, go vegan with jl, i eat plants, small bites

http://twitter.com/carrieonvegan Carrie

This is so awesome, JL!!! Congrats on surviving your first food demo, although it sounds like you had a blast and it’s the type of thing that is so YOU! I saw your Tweet about how much work it took, though for no money. I didn’t realize you offer cooking classes, I hope you got some new clients.
- http://jlgoesvegan.com JL
  
  Thanks, Carrie! Most of the advance work was self-imposed. I decided to make quinoa four ways so that I could explain the various ways to cook it (over-achiever??? LOL) I also spent a lot of time buying and gathering supplies that what I would need – next time I’ll have what I need and know how to pack it up. Though no pay, cooking demos are a great way to promote delicious vegan eats and to promote my vegan lifestyle coaching and education services.
  
  Yes, I offer cooking classes and have so much fun doing them!
http://twitter.com/BarefootEssence Barefoot Essence

What a great story. I love how open people are at the farmers market. I am inspired to look into doing something similar at my local market, thank you!
- http://jlgoesvegan.com JL
  
  Oh, that’s great! I hope you do!
Pingback: Vegan news you can use (8/13/12)
Ricki

Whoo hoo! So glad it was such a hit and so much fun for you, JL!
- http://jlgoesvegan.com JL
  
  Thanks, Ricki!
http://www.betterwithveggies.com Heather Blackmon

Looks like a huge success – so glad it went so smoothly!!
- http://jlgoesvegan.com JL
  
  Thank you, Heather!
Pingback: This week on I Eat Plants