Teaching Kitchen

The Teaching Kitchen is used by campus and off-campus groups to offer opportunities for learning how to put food and nutrition knowledge into practice.

Goals of the Teaching Kitchen

  1. To engage UNC Asheville students, other campus community members and area adults and children in opportunities to learn about, cook, taste and share health-supporting, sustainably-produced food.
  2. To educate about the culinary and other skills needed for planning, preparing, serving, and evaluating customer response to healthy meals.
  3. To provide a laboratory for faculty-driven research, and opportunities for undergraduate research, engaged service-learning, and internships in nutrition, urban gardening, and health promotion.
  4. To use culinary education as a part of a strategy to improve food security, employment opportunities, and simultaneously improve health for at underserved individuals and communities.
  5. To (re-)connect a positive food experience with the growing of local, whole, and more sustainably produced food.
  6. To demonstrate viability of hands-on experience with healthy food preparation and tasting for improving eating habits and working towards a more just, sustainable food system.

Guidelines and Requirements for Use of the Teaching Kitchen

The primary purpose of the teaching kitchen is educating individuals on how to put knowledge of healthy eating into practice. Because of this, efforts should be made to only prepare healthy foods in the kitchen.

  • No foods can be cooked or processed for sale, as the kitchen has not been approved for commercial use.
  • The kitchen is designed for up to 12 students and two instructors.
  • The kitchen is set up to resemble what is found in a home kitchen and does not contain specialty equipment like a fryer or pizza oven.

Reserve the Teaching Kitchen

Members of the campus community and general public are invited to teach cooking classes in the teaching kitchen. If you are interested in teaching a class, please complete the request to use UNC Asheville Teaching Kitchen form. The Teaching Kitchen must be reserved at least three weeks in advance of the event(s) for Public Users. If the event(s) are for classes, or groups made up of University, or Invited Users, the kitchen must be reserved at least one week in advance. For questions, please contact Katie Cox at kcox1@unca.edu.

If you would like to learn more please review the Teaching Kitchen information sheet.

Pricing

  • Full-day Class: $50
  • Half-day Class: $25

These fees help us cover the cost of basic supplies for the kitchen and insure the sustainability of the cooking programs at UNC Asheville. We encourage uses that support the mission of the teaching kitchen; if these costs are prohibitive for your organization, please contact us.

Kitchen Procedures

Instructors are asked to follow the standard kitchen procedures of the teaching kitchen. These include the following care and use guidelines:

  • Teacher or event leader must undergo a brief training on the safe care and use of the teaching kitchen and its equipment. This can be scheduled with Katie Cox at kcox1@unca.edu.
  • Teacher or event leader needs to be adequately trained on food and kitchen safety and will sign a liability waiver before using the kitchen to be kept on file in the NCCHW.
  • Teacher or event leader is responsible for supplying and removing all ingredients and prepared food. Please bring containers to remove leftovers from the kitchen.
  • Refrigerators and freezers may be used prior to an event in the kitchen to store food, but all leftovers must be removed after the event. If a course is ongoing, arrangements can be made to use a specified storage area.
  • All equipment, surfaces, and floors must be left clean after each use.
  • All heat and water sources and hood fan must be turned off before leaving.
  • Any needed repairs, equipment damage or loss, must be reported to the kitchen manager.
  • Please review the kitchen checklist before leaving the site. Checklist is kept on a clipboard in the kitchen.