You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business on the internet. Today’s email was written to a bad station Alexa chose, again.
Good morning,
Kitchen knife skills are life skills in an elemental way. Archaeologists hold that humans used chips of lava rock to cut food in our early existence, to survive. Since then our tools have changed, drastically. Yet, our deep connection to food and preparation has not.
Until recently, I allocated little effort to learning and practicing knife skills as life skills. Maybe your neighbors, friends and even yourself have taken a similar approach. The majority of us do. After all, where can you experience a welcoming space to learn knife skills, free of judgment and full of encouragement after you “leave the house?”
I’ve taken courses and some of them knife courses, handled thousands of knives and have been cooking with a camera nearby (to capture the magic) with a specific interest in knife work for a few months. It’s been fantastic. Maybe you’ve been following along on Insta or TikTok?
A few weeks back it was finally time to consolidate some learning and share some tips I’ve collected. I thought running a class would be just the way to do that.
My hunch is that very few folks know their preference for knife styles, things like 3 ways to hold a knife or even the 2 dominant style of knives much less have the built the muscle memory for these things. So, let’s build a class and test how it goes.
Here are some notes on how the first kitchen knife course went.
Bit #1 • Let’s cut
“Experience is the teacher of all things.” —Caesar
Few persons have a recent memory of a sharp knife. Our memories and knife habits are for the 95% of knives in America - dull knives. Yet, when people talk about recently cutting with a sharp knife their eyes light up, their posture turns engaged and they share with enthusiasm.
“Cutting with a sharp knife is sensual, like eating dark chocolate.” —Vivront Customer
So, we set out to provide a sharp knife experience in a communal learning setting. We prepared cutting boards, paired off knives of different styles and went grocery shopping for things to cut in a group.
The whole thing was a success. There were happy accidents like… “OK, now, pass your knives clockwise so you can try another style.” That part was not planned. Yet, it, along with many other exchanges, made the evening a success and the next course better.
Bit #2 • Key Quote
One of the attendees summed what I hope we’ll be able to reliably deliver for future students when she shared the following.
“I feel like I could just go to the store now and buy things for dinner, go home and make it.” —Vivront Cooking Class Student
She said that with a matter of fact confidence that did not seem to be present before the class. That’s a win. It also reminds me of this quote from Albert.
“The only source of knowledge is experience.” —Einstein
Bit #3 • Alterations
There are a few things we’ll alter for the next time.
Add in “turn and talk.” We’ll incorporate teach backs at key points in the experience. Learn it… teach it.
Slow onions. We’ll take a different approach to the onion section. I went too fast and lost people on the horizontal cut.
More puns and jokes, per Greg. :). A funny class is a better class.
Add “favorite things” at the end. Let students share to each other what they learned.
Find a way to use the food we cut productively. Pico de gallo? Salad specific classes? TBD.
Sum
Vivront now had a cooking class curriculum. It’s been proven. It’s also been made better!
CTA • Call to Action
Pick one of the following to do next.
Live in the MPLS area and want to take a class? If you rally a total of 6 people, I’ll run a 90 min course free of charge around my kitchen counter. My interest is in repetitions on this class and learning. Reply for details. :)
Hit reply and share the kitchen knife tips have you picked up along the way that you’d recommend having in a course.
On Your Way
May your kitchen work be full of joy and confidence.
Onward!
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