Food & Farming
Experance Community
Teaching Kitchen
The Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen opened in spring of 2023 to spread the cooking skills and nutrition knowledge needed to improve health and expand the use of locally grown food. Today the Teaching Kitchen bustles with a mix of Groundwork’s close partners and renters from the broader community—nonprofit organizations, private businesses, and individuals. All enjoy a comfortable and well-outfitted kitchen to share life-changing skills and knowledge about how nutritious whole foods can support lifelong health.
Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen?
A community space where people come together to learn from chefs and health educators. Our goal is to be mission-aligned in the health and wellness space, teaming with community partners such as health care providers and service organizations to create classes that teach how food and nutrition can improve physical and mental health.
What are examples of the programs?
Culinary Medicine classes are the most technical and are aimed at health professionals. The 2026 Culinary Medicine Series is a lecture plus hands-on cooking series, offered with Munson Healthcare and the Great Lakes Culinary Institute, and approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit. It’s meant for a wide range of health care professionals, including medical students, residents, physicians, nurses, dietitians and more. Topics include nutrition science, Medical Nutrition Therapy concepts, and plant-forward cooking techniques.
General nutrition and culinary education classes are for the wider community. The kitchen is a hub for local food-based community health, education, programming, events, and food-based classes. The staff role there includes facilitating general nutrition and culinary education classes. An overarching goal for the Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen is to get people eating more local foods.
Professional development classes are also part of the mix. The kitchen’s coordinator procures food and supplies for food-based community and professional development classes.
Stay tuned as we expand programming to include events and rentals, and worksite wellness programs, CSA-subscriber cooking classes, and live-streamed cooking demos.
Is the Teaching Kitchen able to broadcast classes?
The Teaching Kitchen video technology can currently display on screens in the kitchen itself what is happening live in the room. The video can stream close-ups of chef techniques being demonstrated or display slides, for example. The technology can also record class sessions and kitchen users can then post the recordings on their internet channels. In the near future the system will be able to perform live streaming on channels like Facebook and Instagram and two-way channels like Zoom.
What's included when I schedule the Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen?
- The Teaching Kitchen comes with a full pantry of small wares equipment—plates, silver, mixing bowls, measuring cups, cutting boards, hot plates, blenders and more!
- The space comfortably hosts 14 cooking stations.
- Access to the audio equipment and all of your recordings.
Whom do I talk to about reserving the Teaching Kitchen?
For mission-aligned health and wellness rentals or partnerships, please contact our Teaching Kitchen Coordinator at [email to come.]
Where do I park for a Teaching Kitchen event?
For parking options, check the Commongrounds "Visit" webpage.
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Resources
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ESPERANCE COMMUNITY TEACHING KITCHEN NEWS
What is culinary medicine, anyway?
Above: Lissa and Antonio, of Second Spring Farm, at farmers market. “Culinary Medicine” is becoming more relevant in conversations locally and across the United States. With rising chronic disease rates and persisting food insecurity, the 2022 National Strategy...
What’s on Tap for Our September Culinary Medicine Trainings
Since 2014, Groundwork has been hosting gatherings—roughly one every 18 months—to explore and promote the idea of deploying culinary medicine as a way to address some of the most challenging diet-related diseases facing our people as individuals and facing our nation...
Michigan’s school kids need farm-fresh food
This op-ed first published in The Detroit News. In Michigan, the importance of farm fresh food in schools cannot be overstated. This is a crucial time for the state when it comes to these issues because now more young people than ever are going hungry and need...