Cooking can be about more than putting dinner on the table. It can also help people stretch a grocery budget, build confidence in the kitchen and connect with their neighbors.
The Delaware Youth Center in Callicoon is hosting a series of free community cooking classes this summer, led by chef and instructor Dayna Halprin.
The seven-class series was made possible through a community development grant from Sullivan 180. Two classes remain: “Cooking From Your Pantry” on Aug. 23 and “Local and Seasonal Dishes” on Sept. 13. Both begin at 3 p.m.
Halprin says the classes are designed to make cooking feel less intimidating and more accessible.
“I really try to break it down and focus on foundational skills,” Halprin said.
That includes everything from stocking a pantry to making a grocery list, shopping for ingredients and preparing a meal from start to finish.
For the pantry class, Halprin plans to focus on ingredients that can serve as the foundation for affordable meals. They recommend staples such as rice, beans and pasta.
“If you are in an emergency situation and you need to eat cheap, stock your pantry with rice and beans and maybe like some pastas and stuff,” Halprin said. “Those things will keep forever and will go very long way.”
The classes are hands-on, with an emphasis on giving participants the skills and confidence to adapt recipes to what they already have at home.
Halprin says people sometimes make cooking harder than it needs to be by trying to follow recipes designed for professional kitchens.
“I really just want people to be comfortable cooking in the kitchen for themselves and their families,” they said.
The final class, focused on local and seasonal cooking, will cover shopping at farmers markets and understanding what foods are in season in New York. Halprin says the goal is to help participants develop a more comfortable relationship with food.
The social aspect is also an important part of the program. After cooking, participants sit down together and eat the meal they have prepared.
Halprin says that gives people an opportunity to meet neighbors and share ideas about cooking.
“It just creates more of a communal aspect to cooking, which I think is something that we’ve gotten away from as we’ve progressed as a society,” Halprin said.
They say learning a few foundational techniques can give people the tools to make a wide range of meals.
“If you’re somebody who’s discouraged from cooking, do not give up,” Halprin said. “It is something that you too can do with limited ingredients, limited tools and utensils at home.”
And for anyone who feels they are not a good cook, Halprin has a simple message: “In the words of Ratatouille, anyone can cook.”
Editor’s Note: Sullivan 180 is a financial supporter of Radio Catskill. Halprin uses they/them pronouns and this story was updated on August 13 with that change.
Image: The Delaware Youth Center in Callicoon, NY, where Chef Dayna Halprin leads the Community Cooking Sundays classes. (Delaware Youth Center)