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About Kumud Gandhi

Keynote Speaker, Food Scientist, Author, and Founder of The Cooking Academy

Kumud Gandhi is a renowned food scientist, keynote speaker, published author, food writer, broadcaster, and founder of The Cooking Academy. Her unique approach to food, which blends science with the functionality of food, has made her an expert in cooking with herbs and spices for nutritional and medicinal benefits. Kumud’s passion for great tasting food with high nutritional value has led her to combine her expertise in food and nutrition with public speaking, cookery classes at The Cooking Academy, corporate events, and seminars.

A Blend of Science and Spices: The Inspiration Behind The Cooking Academy

Kumud’s inspiration for The Cooking Academy comes from her mother’s family, who are chemists in India, and her father’s, who are spice merchants. This blend of science and an appreciation of spices stimulated her unique approach to food, which she calls her “Alchemy of Food.” With over a decade of professional experience in food and nutrition, Kumud works daily to educate others in the ways of creating vibrant, flavoursome, body-benefiting foods that both replenish our immune systems and keep the heart healthy.

(Check our Organic Spice shop)

From Corporate World to Food Science

Kumud graduated from the London School of Economics and started her career in the corporate world at The Bank of England as a fast track graduate, working in banking and international finance. However, food was always at the forefront of her daily life and interests. In 2002, with two young children, Kumud decided to leave the world of grey suits and city offices and took the opportunity to combine her love of cooking and tasty, healthy food by studying food science at The London Food Centre.

Catering for the Stars: From Spice Queen to Founder of The Cooking Academy

Kumud built her reputation by catering for many well-known clients including The Prince of Wales (now King Charles 111), Nelson Mandela, Madonna, The Royal Academy, and Fashion TV. Her status as ‘The Spice Queen’ (a nickname coined by Nick Coffer at the BBC) and the fact that many of her clients asked about cookery lessons for themselves or for their personal chefs was the impetus to create The Cooking Academy.

Expert Teaching Chefs

At The Cooking Academy, Kumud is joined by a team of expert teaching chefs who have a passion for food and a desire to share their knowledge with others. Their background and understanding of food is a combination of professional training from world-renowned culinary schools such as Leiths and Le Cordon Bleu. They include:

Sarah Leary
Sophie Jarman
Becky Szczpka
Charlotte Vinken
Sally Codling
Kumud Gandhi

Join us at The Cooking Academy

With Kumud’s expertise and her team of expert teaching chefs, nutritionists, and food scientists at The Cooking Academy, you’ll learn how to create vibrant, flavoursome, and body-benefiting foods that both strengthen and replenish your immune system and keep your heart healthy. The Cooking Academy offers a range of wellness and team-building services in the corporate sector as well as classes and nutrition events. Come and share our love of food at The Cooking Academy!

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Blog

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Menopause & The Workplace

The female workforce makes up 52% of the working population and provides vital skills, commercial acumen, and creative energy in...

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Wellness In The Workplace

Nutritional eating and well-being are crucial for maintaining health and overall wellness, whether it is physical, mental, or emotional.

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Team Building

Cooking is a team building activity that builds camaraderie breaking down professional barriers for effective team collaboration. Discover!

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Private Classes For Friends & Family

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Indian Cooking Class

Welcome to the real India! Established in 2010, The Indian cooking class is where the story began here at The...

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Hospitality & Entertainment

ENTERTAINMENT & HOSPITALITY Our bespoke hospitality cookery events can help you impress even the most discerning guests. The challenge with...

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Food Innovation & Inspiration

There is a mixture of presentation and hands on exploration of the topic, in a relaxed environment

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Christmas Cookery Parties

With the help of our expert chefs, you could be cooking your own delicious Christmas banquet! The fun begins with...

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What people say.

What an amazing day we all had…it has been the topic of conversation today and the photos have been flying around the office! It has had the desired effect on the teams here so we are delighted with the outcome. Thank you all for your most professional help not only before we arrived but during our event too. (Dawn Lipman – Full Power Utilities)

Full Power Utilities – Corporate Athlete

“I have to say the team really enjoyed the day off and generally are of the opinion that it was the best retreat event we have had so far! It was perfect for us, very interactive with clear goals and timelines and of course the pay off of lovely food.” (Bren Vaughan - EBI)

EBI – Employee Wellbeing Programme

Our cookery event was designed to improve inter-team relationships and encourage colleagues to get to know each other outside of the workspace since happy employees mean happy customers - and growing revenues. Our objectives were met 100%, exceeding everyone’s expectations for the day, The teams had great fun and most importantly, took something away for themselves, and they have talked about the day since so we’ve created shared memories. There was good wine and plenty of banter and jokes, it was highly sociable. And for me, the best part of the day was “watching the whole team putting their effort into the cooking and enjoying themselves.” (Thomas Schneider - Concur Technologies)

Team Building – Concur Technologies

The event was a lot of fun and a great experience for the whole team, especially since most were out of their comfort zone and yet embraced the tasks. The motivational presentation on nutritional eating was very well received by all the teams and has inspired change here. They are highly charged and engaging with each other as we wanted and so we have achieved everything we had hoped and more. (Trevor Ballantyne - BMW)

BMW – Wellness in the Workplace

Just to say a big thanks for another successful event. I was delighted to see how the event really brought them all together to work to achieve the tasks and they really enjoyed themselves and have been buzzing about it in the office ever since. In fact it's generated a lot of interest in cooking and they are all keen to practice their recipes at home. (Liz Barber - DLL Financial Solutions)

DLL – Wellness in the Workplace

The objective of the day was a bit fun and raised everyone's confidence within the team, which I believe the event definitely did. There has been a great buzz in the office over the past few days, with everyone sharing their experiences" (Neil Mcgruer - BAM)

BAM – Leadership and Development Cookery Event

"This was a very novel experience that makes an interesting talking point with clients - very different to the usual team building events, highly informative, exciting and great differentiator" (Richard Parry - Barclays)

Barclays Team building – Cookery Event

“I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone involved in making our event such as success – the team absolutely loved the day, which was professionally hosted and presented. We had a lot of fun and learning. Thanks for the great photos, and the menus – I know some of the team have already re-practiced some of these at home!” (Dominic Fry, Director of Revenue, Hilton)

Hilton – Eating for Immunity Event