Yes Chef!
Do you find you’ve lost your way in the kitchen? You want to change some bad habits but don’t know where to start? Well, help is at hand. Chef Aran is using the backdrop of the Algarve and the assistance of his four-year-old son to give you a re-set and get you back to basics.
While so many of us would love to be cooking with fresh ingredients and preparing healthy food from scratch, the reality is often different. Kids, busy work schedules, time pressures or just lethargy may be holding you back. Under the mantra of ‘cook and live with chef Aran’ his work gives all kinds of encouraging calls to action like, “learn to cook incredibly delicious, nutrient-rich food from around the world” or “learn alongside your kids and get inspired to cook and try new foods.” I instantly subscribed to his newsletter!
My hour with the chef, aka Aran Goldstein, felt slightly like a food counselling session! I more than anyone feel the pain of not cooking what I would choose due to fussy kids, time constraints and lack of knowledge. Aran is certainly not dogmatic or judgemental. He is merely inviting people to engage with him to make small changes that make a big difference in our food prep routines. Better knife skills, knowing how to cut an onion faster or just organising your fridge better could change your cooking habits. “I just want to create sparks in people's lives.”
To help people like me, Aran is offering one-on-one coaching for individuals and families to help you start your journey towards a healthy relationship with food. The instruction is not just for parents but for anyone who wishes to transform their cooking and develop a repertoire of tasty, nutritious dishes. It is not just cooking but can be seen as health-coaching and support in your journey with food and cooking. “The instructions start with showing your kids how to cut up a pineapple to creating vinaigrettes or mouth-watering sauces. None of it is complicated.”
Aran’s obsession with food and cooking came from his childhood in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the USA. “ I was a chubby, overweight kid that struggled mightily with my body image. We ate a lot of food in our daily rituals, but we also ate a lot of processed pseudo-food. Sugar cereals, soda, Gatorade and fast food were part of our normal. Something clicked around the age of 14. I wanted better – I wanted to be strong and healthy – I knew food was a big part of it.”
He often dreamed of becoming a chef, but when he found a culinary school in Vermont, it felt like he had come home. He first discovered the Algarve after answering an online advert for a summer job in a kitchen at the Casa Grande in Burgau, where he worked for Sally Vincent.
The universe brought Aran and his family to Piemonte, Italy in the autumn of 2020 to cook for a new forest school on a biodynamic winery. "Cooking for those kids gave me such insight as to the potential we have to shift the paradigm of what we see as normal to feed kids. It was a huge spark in my career."
As much as they loved Italy, more warmth and sun was calling them. As Karolina´s routes are in Poland, the couple decided they wished to continue their European adventure. After initially spending some time in Lisbon, they decided they wanted Raffa to spend his formative years living and growing in a more laid back atmosphere where he could spend time on the beach every day. In 2021, they settled in Luz.
Aran´s extremely personable manner, relaxed style and charisma definitely make me want to engage with his culinary wisdom! “As a Dad, I see it as a responsibility to create a nourishing environment for my son. It should be a birthright; humans used to receive knowledge from their elders on sourcing, preserving, and preparing food. I want to create a new generation who have that intuition.”
Aran quite literally subscribes to the notion that in order to make an omelette, you should break an egg. His youtube channel contains various cooking lessons starting with how to boil an egg. I am also engrossed in his lesson on cooking a delicious butternut squash soup with just three ingredients and he even details how to peel and cut the vegetable. In many of the lessons, he is joined by his secret weapon, Raffa, who is adorable and demonstrates that cooking really is child’s play.
“I’m here to transfer my skills and knowledge to you so you can take it and run with it. Though I have my personal approach to specifics, which I share in my work with you, my approach helps you regardless of your specific needs. It’s about building a foundation. I am not trying to teach people the ‘correct’ way, just open up possibilities.”
What I find fascinating is that for him cooking becomes almost like a yoga practice; it's just as much about finding peace as creating food, “In the end, there is one key ingredient that I insist on adding more and more of, and that is breath. Let’s breathe through this together and let’s have fun while doing it.”
While so many TV shows are now focusing on refining and elevating your culinary skills, it is refreshing to talk to someone trying to strip things back in the kitchen. So I´m going to breathe before making dinner tonight and channel my inner Chef Aran!
Cooking videos here!
Instagram: @chefarangoldstein
Website: cookandlive.co
