The Cooking Academy is an international cookery school and Wellness Academy that teaches people and organisations how to prepare and cook food for wellness and nutritional health. We are unique in our approach to cookery by putting ingredients and their beneficial health properties at the heart of everything we teach.
Our background and experience are steeped in science, nutrition, chemistry, wellbeing, as well as a general love of food and flavour, and it is from this perspective that we have grown our business from strength to strength.
Our work in the corporate sector lies in both wellness coaching, leadership and development, team building, and food innovation where we work with many food manufacturers and agencies in food development.
Our insight into the world and herbs, spices, and the alchemy of flavour comes from generations of spice blenders and chemists and its affiliated company – The Saffron House spice company is a multi-award-winning producer of high-quality pure spices and spice blends. Our spices are free of chemicals and available to purchase either at the end of a cooking class or from our online shop.
Our work is about understanding nutrition and helping others to incorporate healthy outcomes through careful recipe development and flavour creatives. Our team of food scientists, nutritionists, and chefs is experienced in both creating delicious nutritious meals and explaining the science behind the food choices. They are up-to-date with research and thinking on topics such as dairy-free, gluten-free diets, keto, paleo, and vegetable-based diets.
Kumud Gandhi is a Keynote speaker, food scientist, published author, food writer, broadcaster and founder of The Cooking Academy. The school was founded by Kumud Gandhi in 2010 and her inspiration for the school has its roots in both 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 led to her expertise in cooking with herbs and spices for nutritional and medicinal benefit and, what she calls, her ‘Alchemy of Food’.
Kumud graduated from the London School of Economic and started her career in the corporate world at The Bank of England as a fast track graduate – working in banking and international finance, yet 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 suits and city offices and took the opportunity to combine her love of cooking and tasty, healthy food by researching food science at The London Food Centre, putting her life’s passion into practice. Now, with over a decade of professional experience in food and nutrition under her belt, Kumud works daily to combine the benefits of great tasting food with high nutritional value through her public speaking, cookery classes at the Academy, corporate events and seminars with her team of chefs. Her aim is to educate others in the ways of creating vibrant, flavoursome, body-benefiting foods that both replenish our immune systems and keep the heart healthy.
Kumud built her reputation by catering for many well-known clients including The Prince of Wales, 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. Now Kumud’s expertise is not only shared with class attendees and radio listeners, her food and teachings can be found regularly on national television and press! Our teaching chefs’ background and understanding of food is a combination of professional training from world renowned culinary schools such as Leiths and Cordon Bleu. Most of all, like Kumud they have a passion for food and a desire to share their knowledge with others. They include, Pooja Nagendra, Sarah Leary, Xenia Murray, Becky Szczpka, Michelle Grancaric, Charlotte Vinken, Anna Pulaska , and of course Kumud Gandhi. We hope to share our love of food with you at The Cooking Academy sometime soon.
Find our tried and tested recipes
and cook something new
Corporate Virtual Team building & Wellness Events to keep your team connected
You really can cook something sophisticated and delicious; try something different and release the ‘creative you’
Head to our shop to stock your spice rack with wonderful, pure and organic spices.
