Food As Medicine Session #3 Food of So Cal

If the class is sold out, please join the waitlist! If there is enough interest, we will offer another class.

Join us for a culinary medicine experience at Apples to Zucchini Cooking School. Our program will teach you to consider food as medicine, how a poor diet contributes to chronic illness and disease, and how food can be the cure. 

 Session 3 meets Tuesdays beginning May 9th, from 6-8:30pm. Dates are May 9th, May 23rd, May 30th, and June 6th. 

Medical oversight and nutrition insights will be led by Dr. Ryan Arnold, MD, of CLAVA Health, and menu planning and instruction by our professionally trained chefs at AtoZ. Participants will learn a wide variety of culinary preparation skills that will build mastery and confidence in the kitchen, improve participants’ nutritional knowledge, eating habits and overall health, and create a community of people who want to make lasting changes to their diet and lifestyle.

Classes will focus on menus from the world’s “Blue Zones,” populations known for their healthspan and longevity. Participants will learn how and why these regional diets and lifestyles contribute to disease resolution and create health and longevity. 

Session Three will include: 

• Farmer's Market Grain bowls
• Handmade tortillas, Walnut chorizo and fish tacos, Guacamole, Salsa 
• The healthy burger + fries
• Chef/Owner of The Blue Owl Nadia Ajlouni will teach a healthful, So-Cal menu.

Each class begins with a short discussion of that night’s menu, its nutritional values, and cultural relevance. Then Doctor Arnold puts on an apron and along with our chefs and participants begin mise-en-place and meal preparation. When the meal has been prepared, the class will sit down and share it in a communal setting, then take home the recipes and raw ingredients for them to make for their families (enough for two full meals.)

In addition to cooking instruction, through his practice at Clava Health, Dr. Arnold will offer optional (and for an additional cost which may be covered by your insurance) individualized health assessments including blood tests and imaging studies to establish baseline measurements and to track progress.  

Included in the four-week course are the following:

• A shopping tour of the Tuesday Farmers’ market where we will buy most of our food for that night’s meal.
• Four 90-minute hands-on cooking classes led by AtoZ chefs and Dr. Arnold.
• Weekly sit-down dinner prepared by the class with topical round-table discussion with Dr. Arnold.
• Recipes and raw ingredients for participants to take home and prepare with their family (enough for 2 full meals.)
• Optional (for an additional fee) medical consultation and testing for baseline measurements and to track progress.
• Discounted price for participants who also enroll in Session Three.

Who are the classes designed for?

• Anyone who wants to learn cooking skills and nutritional knowledge so they can make healthy food at home for themselves and their family.

• For people seeking to improve heart health, lose weight, are prediabetic or want to reduce diabetes symptoms, suffer autoimmune disease, improve brain or gut health.

• For those who want to join a community of people who will support each other in their journey to a healthier lifestyle.

Thanks to the generous support of the Ardmore Institutes of Health, we are able to offer this introductory, four-week session for $350. A limited number of scholarships are available.

Apples to Zucchini is a member of the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative. 

Please wear closed-toed shoes, as we will be in a commercial kitchen.

Total Number of Participants - 12