Take your pandemic food hobby to the next level

From banana bread to baked feta pasta, the extra time spent at home these days has awakened our inner foodie or deepened our interest in making delicious things to eat. But when it comes to exploring the breadth of food and drink, internet trends are fleeting. Instead, look to George Brown College Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts’ Continuing Education to help you elevate your gastronomic know-how from the comforts of home. 

Whether you’re a curious cook interested in learning about new techniques, an avid food enthusiast or a culinary professional looking to upskill, the range of 90-plus virtual classes is guaranteed to take your passion to another level. 

“No matter how much you cook at home unless you’re cooking more than 40 hours a week for 30 years, there’s no way you will know as much as our chef [instructors],” says Stephanie Bourgeois, continuing education coordinator for the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, of the flexible open access courses. “You get that incredible access to your instructor and classroom interactions; they have so much to give and share especially with the live video conferencing element every week.”

Taught by field experts in the college’s state-of-the-art facilities, the blend of asynchronous and synchronous learning can be accessed through your student portal. 

Spending a few hours a week developing your knowledge and skills, you can delve into niche fields like healthy eating or specific topics such as Preserving: Canning and Fermenting, learning to make nutritious and flavourful foodstuffs including kimchi, yogurt and kombucha. You could also beef up your foodie knowledge of cheeses exploring the likes of those from Australasia, Africa and Asia, or gaining an appreciation for the science behind bean-to-bar chocolates.

Designed to accommodate your schedule, evening and weekend online classes are available throughout the year. You’ll be able to work through the on-demand lesson and supplied material list (with tailored substitutions provided by the instructor) and engage with fellow classmates and industry professionals who share their knowledge and experience on the platform. Those keen on completing hospitality and event management, professional fromager, chocolatier or artisan baker programs have the freedom to pursue it comfortably at their own pace. 

Lockdown measures might have spurred sourdough bread making, but why limit yourself to the single, repetitive boule when you can expand your baked goods horizon with Baking Arts? Through this course, you’ll be able to turn your average home oven into a mini-bake shop that churns out soft rolls, éclairs, pies and more. To take it one step further, make breakfast breads like croissants and Chelsea buns and roll up those sleeves to explore the world of vegan baking or get Instagram-fancy with sculpted and specialty cakes.

Forget Dalgona coffee and learn the art of crafting the perfect cocktail for your next virtual gathering. Become a wine connoisseur, beer specialist, or appreciate their nuances through sommelier and chef-guided food and wine pairing seminars.

Brush up on basics from 4-hour workshops on knife skills to making sauces from scratch and everything in between in 12-week long Culinary Arts 1, then learn how to creatively present those plates the way they would look in restaurants when we were able to dine in. Feel confident in your newfound skills, using your understanding of cooking techniques without recipes or even developing some of your own. 

Besides equipping your culinary arsenal, travel with your taste buds by exploring cultures through their flavours from Indian to Mexican and their variety of spices, bold and colourful Mediterranean or Thai cuisines and even – new this spring – lively dishes from the Caribbean.  

Registering online is easy with no application procedure. Check out the complete list of distance learning courses for the Spring/Summer 2021 term (May through August) here. Keep an eye on their website to see the varying online schedules developed throughout this academic year and discover what master chef lurks within.