Reviews

Please let me tell you about the Gaia Gourmet experience. You don’t need to be an experienced cook, or a yoga practioner – what I recommend you bring is an open mind and a willingness to throw yourself into meeting great people and learning. The course I attended was in the Villa Dei Cipressi near Verona in northern Italy. This was an ideal location to enjoy the tranquility needed but not be isolated from the nearby village amenities. Although the gourmet training is separate from the yoga training, you have lots of opportunity to participate in the morning meditation and yoga sessions, as well as several options to join in lessons during your afternoon break.

The cooking is a masterclass on optimising plant based recipes, ensuring each meal is unique and packed with both flavour and nutrition. If there are two students in the kitchen then you will alternate between preparing the main meal one day, and the salad and dessert the next. All your recipes are in Naga’s cookbook ‘Gaia Gourmet, vegetarian & vegan cuisine’ which you will be given, though on a daily basis you use the versions in the kitchen which are upscaled for the numbers required. Chef Naga, or a sous chef, will ensure you are guided through what is required with demonstrations if needed, and their presence and advice on hand ensuring the meals come together at exactly the right time. You will undertake the bulk of the cooking on the course so this is a great chance for real hands on learning. Thankfully vegetable preparation and dish washing are undertaken by other great staff, so your focus is on preparing great meals. I am neither vegan or vegetarian but I was blown away by the variety of tastes I experienced and already my diet post course has changed.

Chef Naga is passionate about food and a great font of knowledge so do ask. For lunchtime we cooked a main meal accompanied by a different salad each day, and a dessert for 30 people. In the evening we produced a single main course for 25 people. After that, cooking for 4 or 6 at home is easy. You learn on the job about working in a tight kitchen with others, protocols and safety, attention to detail, cooperation and often celebrating with a glass of wine just before serving. There are not many breaks as you bounce from one part of the menu to another coordinated by Chef Naga and the master time plan, but this is pure cooking and not a course diluted with market visits, and sightseeing. The attention to detail for dietary needs is key and you will adjust parts of your production to cater for vegan, gluten free, and whatever allergies are reported. At the end of the 3 weeks you will feel confident to prepare a delicious meal for any group.

Liz is equally as experienced and passionate in the meditation and yoga as Naga is in the kitchen. Participating in both morning sessions sets you up with the relaxed mind and body energy needed in the kitchen. You are not an outsider when on the cuisine path, but part of the wider yoga group so do enjoy this part of the day. Importantly it is your chance to share time with your fellow students and form deep bonds with them. My meditation and yoga improved immensely and that was down to the environment that Liz created and the openness in her teaching. This is a busy course but you do get time most afternoons to relax if you are not joining a voluntary lesson, and we had three days off where we enjoyed sightseeing in Verona, cycling beautiful riverside routes, or relaxing in a spa or lake complex. And don’t forget some wine tasting. All of these were with fantastic friends each on their own journey from around the world. In summary, if you want to spend real hands on time in a kitchen under the eye of the chef, preparing fantastic food that everyone compliments you on then this is the course for you. If you add on the meditation and yoga under Liz which sets you up mentally and physically, and the great friendships that you will forge, then this is a no brainer. Live life to the full, enjoy every day, and my very best to you if you decide to take this path.

★★★★★

I have long loved being in my kitchen. And yet, I’ve never felt terribly competent at creating beautiful and delicious meals. My focus has often been nutrition over taste. I longed to find an immersive cooking class that focused on delicious, vegetarian, healthy food; a class or experience that would help me feel more at home in my skills and in my kitchen. The more I looked the less I found. A two hour vegetarian class here or there. A weekend class, but not vegetarian. We were delighted when my beloved stumbled across Gaia Gourmet; it looked like precisely what we had been searching for.

Mandy and I set out for Italy, hopeful that we’d acquire some new skills. Gaia Gourmet’s Culinary course did not disappoint. From day one, we were working on beautifully crafted, delicious, plated meals. Chef Naga and his team mentored us every step of the way. Often we had one on one instruction, helping us refine techniques, all while tasting, blending, baking, and mixing. The food was some of the best food I’ve ever eaten—it was certainly the most delicious I’ve ever made. But more than than that, the community that Gaia Gourmet creates, in partnership with Lakshmi Rising, created a space, not only of learning, but of growth, discovery, fun and love. Being in the kitchen was like a dance, like yoga (and we got to practice on our mats everyday too!). We learned how to listen not only with ears, but through smell, with our eyes and by taste. Our mistakes were met with kindness and compassion and often a healthy dose of creativity and laughter as chef helped us find a way forward.

It was a cooking class, yes. But it was more than the end product—it invited us to bring the best of ourselves to our food, to our work. And that work, that love, was tangible in the food.

We left feeling more confident in our skills in the kitchen. We’ve been cooking up a storm since we returned home, with a renewed sense of joy and delight. But more than skill, we left with a deeper understanding of the healing power of food: food as medicine, food as community, food as love. We are indebted to and grateful for Gaia Gourmet and hope to return!

★★★★★

I cannot forget to mention the amazing food that is prepared by Naga – an amazing veggie chef – I could eat his meals every day!

★★★★★

Paired with the incredible food from Gaia Gourmet, it’s a holistic and nourishing experience!

★★★★★

Naga’s kitchen is unmatched.

★★★★★

Also the food is amazing! I’ve never had deserts that are so delicious and healthy. Thank you Liz and Naga! 💖

★★★★★