Plant Academy is a now-online cookery school, here to inspire passion through plants. Our in-depth classes include ‘Plant one’ – the course in plant food fundamentals, ‘Plant Two’ – the class in advanced Plant Food, ‘Plant Three’ – the course in plant-based business and making an impact on the food system and focused fermentation. Each one showcases teachers who are pioneers in the food world to teach the most innovative, delicious and sustainable plant-based food and techniques always with a focus on the power of the visual and communicating your message through the plate.
Tell us about how you came to set up Plant Academy? What was the inspiration behind it?
I started it in early 2019 as an onsite experience with the vision to bring people from around the words together to learn about plant-based food and connect them with the leading minds in the industry to teach exciting food ideas and techniques. We welcomed students from every continent to our signature Plant 123 classes and it blew my mind that at the time with only organic marketing we were always sold out and met the most incredible people.
I had really been dreaming of this kind of experience coming to London as about 4 years previously I had been trying to find the right course to learn about food and potentially become a chef and it had been so difficult to find anything at all. At the time there were just the traditional culinary courses but having grown up really learning about soufflés, filleting fish, butchery and beyond I was so passionate about health that I wanted to learn about food that went beyond good cooking and ultimately made us feel good but didn’t sacrifice on aesthetics. I eventually found Deborah Durrant who has started her own Raw school and started to take her courses, which I loved, and she has been to LA to take the Matthew kennel course so that became something I always aspired to do.
Very early on in my food career, whilst I was taking these classes, I was also given the opportunity to get involved with opening a new vegan restaurant in the Cotswolds, ‘Asparagasm’, this opportunity was a gateway to the food world for me and within weeks of us opening the exec chef left and I became the head chef overnight too. During this time I continued to take courses and learn but there was nothing out there that I could find that connected me to others passionate about the same things, taught about plating and also offered a bit of business knowledge. So, two years in, I finally put things in place to go to LA and take the course I had dreamed of and subsequently went on to close the restaurant and work for the school I had trained at. I had the lovely experience of meeting people with shared goals and couldn’t believe we didn’t have something like this in London! So the idea for Plant Academy was born!
How is your approach different to other cookery schools in the city and beyond?
Plant Academy is unique in that we work with incredible chefs who share their expertise in their own subjects and the story behind why they do what they do. Our chefs include people like Richard Buckley, Douglas McMaster, Kirk Haworth and Dr Johnny Drain who are all pioneers in their fields. I also lead on all of the courses and am very grateful my friend Sara, the woman behind Shiso Delicious and incredible food photographer, is also the photography and styling teacher in our classes and helps with visual direction for Plant Academy.
Each person involved is hugely knowledgable about sustainability and is conscious about waste, this is the core focus of plant Academy, not only raising the focus of plant-based food internationally but making sure every student leaves with a deep awareness on how to create earth-conscious plates and businesses as where we are now there is no point opening a business if it isn’t doing something good for the planet.
Congratulations on recently releasing your debut book Mind Food. What was the inspiration behind the book? Can you tell us more about what’s inside?
Thank you so much! Mind food has always been my passion project, Mental health was why I got into food and this was the book I had always dreamed of writing.
Having always been passionate about food, I never saw it as a career, so I went off to university to study are and during that time I fell in love and my boyfriend at the time was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. I was very fortunate to have never experienced mental health issues myself and this diagnosis to both of us was very new and hard to understand. Very long story short, after a year of trying and failing to get the right help and understand how to manage this illness we moved to different cities for the next part of our studies and unfortunately, he took his life.
My world collapsed and I spiralled going on to develop depression, experience PTSD and eventually a whole myriad of eating disorders, and without a very good support system, I wouldn’t be here today. Years into the eating disorders I was forced to move home, had a great counsellor at the time and had just started acupuncture and something suddenly clicked inside me and I wanted to get better. At this time I was just finishing a five-year degree in fashion so I decided to write a tell-all book about rebranding mental health with a gold towards wellness which became my handbook for life ever since. From then I was ready to use the knowledge I had for food and what I had learnt for health to bring myself back to life. So I jumped into the food world and mental health was always the reason behind what I did having seen first-hand the positive and negative effects food and lifestyle can have on our mental health.
Eight years down the line I was so happy to have the opportunity to write ‘Mind Food’ and create the handbook I wish I had had back then when I was struggling to find all of the information I needed not just to get well but to thrive.
The idea behind Mind food is to make this information accessible in the most delicious way so inside you will find recipes split into four seasons; each one prefaced with lifestyle practices to try during that season. You will find a large section on desserts, drinks, batch cooking and pantry. Each one is laced with adaptogens and more powerful plants that I believe are the key to really supporting and transforming our mental health. It also features my story and ingredients guides as well as each recipe being coded with a different mood; lift, soothe, balance, focus or chill.
Between travels, you also cook at various events and festivals. With an exciting summer ahead, what are you most looking forward to?
I really can’t wait to be back in the festival fields, it’s been far too long! this year I am especially excited to be part of some festivals I haven’t been to before including ‘Rock Oyster festival’ and the ‘Big Retreat festival’. I can’t wait to be covered in glitter and share the mind food magic in the sunshine!
See more at: plantacademy.co.uk
