A Recipe for Health

Nourishing the Body & Soul through Cooking

Words by Jessi Devenyns  Photos by Mackenzie Smith Kelly

Amanda Darby is a nutritionist by education but a chef by necessity. Shortly following her entry into food education, Amanda discovered that the majority of people already possessed a basic instinct for healthy food. The problem was that they weren’t confident in transforming ingredients into meals.

“Most people don’t know how to make things taste good, and if it doesn’t taste good, they won’t eat it, and they’re just going to go back to their old habits,” explains Amanda, owner and teacher at East Austin Culinary Studio. To jolt her clients out of their culinary rut, Amanda began teaching basic kitchen skills, which included everything from olive oil selection to vegetable pairings. However simple, the changes that resulted from providing people with a kitchen tool box were astonishing. Amanda says that not only did their diet improve but mastering the kitchen also led to new communities and healthier networks with friends and family.

For Amanda, there came a point where it was no longer practical to drive between individual residences to provide lessons. To both improve efficiency and create a home base for her hands-on approach, Amanda landed in a live-work space in Mueller where she set up her studio to teach people how to cook.

East Austin Culinary Studio opened in 2018 while Amanda was juggling a toddler and a six month old baby. To get things off the ground while keeping balance in her own life, Amanda chose to focus on a different demographic and began catering to businesses and work teams by offering cooking classes as a way to build relationships outside of the workplace. Her success snowballed, and in early 2020, she debuted public classes that anyone can attend. With class options like Asian dumplings, sushi, and Mediterranean cuisine, Amanda shares that her courses were filled with eager learners from the inaugural launch.

The different types of classes

At the studio, public classes are taught by local guest instructors while Amanda continues to apply her energy to the professional team building classes where she coaches attendees on the intersection between food and nutrition. “I will hit on things like fat and oil quality… [and] ingredients that you shouldn’t use for your health.” She elaborates that nutritionally black and white areas exist, but much about healthy eating exists in a grey area that is unique to each individual’s constitution. “So it’s more about going back to get people to have a firm understanding of what’s healthy for them.” She believes that those black and white areas are low- and bad-quality ingredients that lack nutritional density as well as those that are toxic or inflammatory.

While currently only public and team building courses are offered, Amanda reveals that there is a third phase left to be incorporated into the studio. “The final phase is getting back to my roots, which would be the nutrition services. I would love to do more one-on-one consultations in that [realm],” says Amanda. However, much like constructing a balanced, nutritional plate takes time, so too does building out the full offering of classes at the studio. 

Contact:
2100 Robert Browning St.
info@eastaustinculinarystudio.com
eastaustinculinarystudio.com
@eastaustinculinarystudio

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