Quick Pickling & Knife Skills 101 Workshop with the Spicy Grasshopper

Join The Spicy Grasshopper, a zero waste, food upcycling chef, to learn basic knife skills and make your own quick pickles!
About this Event

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Join The Spicy Grasshopper, a zero-waste and food upcycling chef, in a workshop guiding you in basic knife skills and making your own quick pickles!

You will learn how to slice and dice veggies and aromatics while using the ingredients in your very own creation of quick pickles. Blend your favorite spices, herbs and aromatics with veggies of your choice and go home with your own jar of pickles!

No experience is necessary, and all materials are included.

About the Instructor:

Sophia Lin Kanno, also known as The Spicy Grasshopper, a zero waste and food upcycling private chef, focusing upon food waste reduction and budget maximization in home cooked meals.

As a daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Sophia was taught the basic foundation of not wasting food in her mother’s kitchen, planting the seed that would lead to a lifetime of food efficiency and waste awareness. With a degree in hospitality management and a concentration in hospitality design from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Sophia has over 20 years of hospitality experience in restaurants, catering, and planning and executing special events. 

Observing the vast food waste culture within our country, Sophia’s zero-waste mindset has driven her to create a guide to help people realize the full potential of the average household’s refrigerator and pantry of ingredients. Sophia showcases grocery budgeting and food reincarnation by creating delicious meals made from scratch, how to maximize leftovers, how to create secondary uses for traditionally thrown away food and how to judiciously use ingredients to minimize food waste while also building culinary confidence. She offers culinary classes, private events and speaking engagements.

Sophia has competed in Culinary Fight Club competitions, benefitting Fight2Feed and scored a tie for first place in the Mac and Cheese competition with NACE Atlanta in 2016. Sophia was featured in 2022 on the Food Network on the show, Big Bad Budget Battle, hosted by Ree Drummond, also known as the Pioneer Woman. Three home chefs were selected to compete to create various meals for family and friends but on limited budgets and of course specific rules of each round.  Featured in “Planning Parties on a Budget”, the competitors were  challenged with making 2 separate meals for 8-10 guests with a total of $60.  Round 1, making a one pot meal and Round 2, creating a summer party platter with 3 items.  Maximizing pantry ingredients and the weekly circular specials at the Flavortown grocery store, delectable winning summer dishes were created for the discerning judges. Spoiler alert: The winner - Sophia!