Demuths Cookery School is based in the centre of Bath in a wonderful Georgian building, with a modern purpose built kitchen, light and airy and with stunning views of Bath Abbey and Parade Gardens.
Demuths Cookery School is run by one of the UK’s leading vegetarian chefs Rachel Demuth, who owned award winning Demuths Restaurant for 26 years. She is joined by a team of experienced chef tutors who teach an exciting and varied selection of vegetarian courses for all abilities from beginner to accomplished cook. Choose from Diploma courses, weekend, day courses, master classes, half-day and evening sessions.
Rachel Demuth started teaching people to cook in her own kitchen in response to customers at her award winning Demuths Restaurant asking, “How can I learn to cook this?” and has grown to be one of the UK’s leading vegetarian cookery schools.
Meet the Chef : Rachel Demuth
Rachel Demuth is the founder, owner and head chef tutor at Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School.
Where did it all start?
My mother was a fantastic cook , very much in the style of Elizabeth David – meat with every meal and fish on a Friday. She had an amazing vegetable garden – it was at least an acre- and as children we would help with weeding, planting and harvesting. We even had our own little vegetable patches and would grow things ourselves.
I loved to cook for friends at university.. I was a pretty good cook and had learnt the basics and it was the late 70s so there was an emphasis on whole foods, everything was brown. I became a vegetarian in 1978 – so a long time ago. At the end of Uni I made a bet with a friend that we would go up to London and get a job in a day. I went to Neal’s Yard and asked around and there was a vacancy at a bakery and so I got the job. I spent four years learning to bake artisan bread and savoury pastries and vegetarian pies.
In 1984, I decided to start my own business and set up a bakery in Bath – Broad Street Bakery, selling organic artisan breads – at that time, very unusual. I ran the bakery for ten years and in 1986 I opened Demuths Restaurant to tun along side the bakery which I ran for 26 years. I then opened the cookery school in 2000, which started at my home and then I moved it to the centre of town, next to the Cathedral in 2010 and sold my restaurant to the head chef in 2012 which is now called ‘Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen.’ I now only work at the cookery school as head tutor.
What inspires you about Vegetarian food?
I think essentially it’s how beautiful vegetables are. Plates of vegetables are like a rainbow of colours.. Roasted red peppers- that deep red, blood oranges or beetroots-the colours are so vibrant and what you can do with them is endless. I love the flavours, the colours and the textures. The look and colour of meat just does not hold the same allure for me. Vegetarian cookery is very on trend right now, with the likes of lifestyle gurus such as Deliciously Ella’s Ella woodward and with growing environmental awareness of how we feed the planet. All this awareness raising I think is great.
What are you most proud of?
I just love the hands on , improving, imparting my skills and knowledge . I get a great sense of satisfaction when an ex- student emails to say they have gone on to open a restaurant or something – giving people to the confidence and skills to do something. I learn something on every course too. I often learn a new way of doing something from my students.
What does the future hold?
We run our one month diploma courses at the minute, and I think more longer courses and more of our holiday courses. We love doing those so much. We go to Apulia in Italy at the moment so perhaps to branch out to other destinations. (http://demuths.co.uk/cookery-holidays)
To find out more about Demuths courses please visit http://demuths.co.uk
