Chef Teacher - Mia Banducci
Hello everyone,
I'm Chef Mia Banducci, and I love nothing more than getting kids excited about healthy, delicious food. I am always in the kitchen and my friends and roommates are very grateful guinea pigs for all my culinary experiments. I come from a big Italian family from Lucca, so food has always been a passion of mine, and I love sharing with eager young minds how easy it is to make meals that are good for you and taste just as good. Showing our Cooking Italiano students how to feed themselves & their families is the best part of my day!
I'm Chef Mia Banducci, and I love nothing more than getting kids excited about healthy, delicious food. I am always in the kitchen and my friends and roommates are very grateful guinea pigs for all my culinary experiments. I come from a big Italian family from Lucca, so food has always been a passion of mine, and I love sharing with eager young minds how easy it is to make meals that are good for you and taste just as good. Showing our Cooking Italiano students how to feed themselves & their families is the best part of my day!
Chef Teacher - Emily Francis
Ciao! I'm Chef Emily Francis and I'm really excited to bring my passions for teaching kids and cooking to Cooking Italiano! I'm from Nashville, Tennessee and besides Italian cooking, I enjoy Southern cuisine. Since living in Los Angeles, I was a summer camp counselor at Fitness by the Sea and had a blast. My goal is to inspire kids to eat well, as I have always believed in the restorative powers of nutrition, exercise and a healthy lifestyle. I look forward to meeting your kids in class!
Chef Teacher - Eric Horwitz (aka Chef Eric)
I've enjoyed working with and teaching kids since my high school days as a counselor at my local summer camp in Ventura, CA. Later I attended UCLA studying English Lit and Italian Studies and volunteered each summer with Unicamp, an amazing non-profit that connects teenagers from low-income families with college students who create a one-week summer camp experience for them. I spent my senior year abroad living in Northern Italy, specifically the cities of Trento and Padova, where I lived and breathed Italian food, language and culture. After college I was the director of after-school programs for an enrichment company where I specialized in Lego Robotics. Since Italy, I've spent years cooking Italian food for friends and family, using recipes I gained from living in Italy as well as learning from Italian friends. In early 2010, I created Cooking Italiano for Kids, which fuses my passion for cooking, working with kids and everything Italian. Come to our cooking class and get read to live "la dolce vita" and cook foods that are "delizioso!"
Chef Mean E
Hey everybody, I'm Chef Mean E and I don't know about those other chefs but I ONLY like to make desserts. I'm not eating it unless it's covered with chocolate, sugar or butter...sometimes all at the same time. Those other guys can make healthy foods, but if there's a lesson involving desserts, like Tiramisu, Chocolate Souffle, Gelato Sundaes, Chocolate Salami or French Crepes with Melted Nutella I'LL BE THERE. (cue evil laughter)