Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely thrilled to see these concepts being shared, and yet acutely aware that if you want to master the art of converting any traditional cuisine to healthy living foods it will take a far deeper dive than ordering a few simple ebooks.
Living food-as-medicine is indeed a powerful and effective tool, but must be taught with a complete understanding of the nutritional science and techniques or it can be very unbalanced.
The original raw/vegan gourmet culinary institute was started in 1998 by Cherie Soria. She incorporated advanced nutritional studies to ensure the curriculum would reflect the best of current nutritional science, and brought onboard internationally renowned nutritionists to create the raw and vegan nutrition programs.
I had the privilege of being both Lead Chef Instructor and Culinary Director in this award winning Raw/Vegan Chef Certification Program from 2012 to 2020. Since 2020 I went on to launch Plant Food Culinary Arts which now has over 3000 students enrolled worldwide!
The experience and knowledge I gained in graduating 100's of living foods chefs from over 60 countries, brings a depth of knowledge unsurpassed in the living foods culinary training.
"Chef James’ course has totally changed my husband’s and my life for the better! His buckwheat mango granola, sun dried tomato crackers, buckwheat oat chia cereal, his almond cheese that tastes just like cream cheese, his cashew mayonnaise that my husband can make cole slaw with, his walnut brownies, are just a few of the wonderful recipes he provides. The culinary guidance he provides in the course is top notch! How to make sprouts. Making and eating foods that are alive. I have had rheumatoid arthritis 25 years and I feel better now. My inflammation is normal. I’m close to being half way through the course. It was money well spent, an investment in our future. My husband has liked everything I have made in the course. I have so much more confidence now, my knife skills have improved greatly, I use a dehydrator with confidence now. I don’t eat salt or oil, as I’m salt sensitive, re my blood pressure, and chef James has given me options to make recipes without those two ingredients. It is just so worth it to take Chef James’ courses! Plus he is a wonderful, kind, patient human being. He has made our lives so much better. Thank you Chef James." Ellen
CULINARY COURSES FOR CERTIFICATION
Knife and Equipment Mastery for the Plant-Based Kitchen
The most comprehensive course you will find in mastering all the most cutting edge techniques in plant-based knife and equipment skills.
Living Foods Mastery
A comprehensive culinary training covering all aspects of healing through living foods
(Leads to a Living Foods Mastery Certificate).
(Bonus) Vibrant Vegan For Every Season
A seasonal workshop filmed live through all 4 seasons of the year. This course is included for all those signing up for the Living Foods Mastery or Living Foods bundle.
STARTER COURSES
Transform Your Kitchen, Transform Your Life
This mini-workshop is designed to re-structure any standard kitchen into a creative, efficient plant-based studio.
Living Foods 101
An affordable tour (teaser) covering the methods and techniques of the program. A few lessons from each course are presented.
Make the commitment to take control of your personal health this year. It's the best investment ever.
Whether for your personal transformation, or the pathway to becoming a plant-based chef and consultant, the amazing Living Foods Mastery course will get you there!
Exclusively designed to customize for your busy lifestyle. Finish within 1 year, or spread your studies out further. Whether you finish earlier, or spread out the experience, you will always be welcome to take part in the live, seasonal Zoom sessions ongoing.
For the ultimate culinary experience, you may want to consider bundling the Mastery course with 3 other courses in The Culinary Bundle package (see the link at the top of the page).
This program is built upon the experience of teaching and coaching (many times six days a week) for over 13 years with aspiring chefs from around the globe. We take on every conceivable culinary challenge and actualized new ground-breaking methods in living foods.
I have instructed chefs representing diverse traditions from Africa to Iceland (over 60 countries) and all ideas merged in an amazing fusion of techniques and flavors.
There were occasional missteps, and spectacular new discoveries, many of which have now become common place in the vegan movement worldwide. Our program was the birthplace of everything from elegant raw vegan desserts to the entire fermented vegan cheese movement! My goal has always been a commitment for prioritizing local, seasonal ingredients first, and avoiding processed commercial "foods".
I study the best of the original methods (predating the industrial revolution), balance it with innovative peer-reviewed nutritional science, and fuse in new modern techniques to create an entirely new living cuisine.
I rely upon traditional techniques of fermentation, sprouting grains, nuts and seeds and sourcing the shortest distance between soil and plate.
As we continue to experiencing this global awakening, I am determined to carry the torch forward in training new generations of home-based and career driven, plant-based chefs in the power of living foods as preventative medicine.
There is definitely a place for 100% raw foods in healing, and believe me you, I am acutely aware of it's power (see the about me page for my healing journey).
However, I found that over 80% of the thousands of graduates that learned the complexity and beauty of gourmet raw foods in our cutting-edge program, turned to a blend of gently-cooked and raw preparation upon returning to their lives.
It just made more sense and broadened the possibilities, while still embracing the power of the life-force energy in our foods.
I have taught gourmet raw foods at the most challenging levels with spectacular results, but the truth is, at an advanced level, it can be very time consuming to create a gourmet raw meal (involving planning days ahead, dehydrating, sprouting, fermenting etc.). There is definitely a place for this in fine dining, but in our day-to-day lives there is an outcry for something more practical so we can all reap the benefits of living foods.
About 8 years ago I started crafting a new approach which fused the best of raw with gently cooked techniques. The results are just as healthy and include a wider range in the full spectrum of plant-based sources from which a balanced living foods diet can evolve.
The Transform Your Kitchen, Transform Your Life course is suggested for creating the culinary studio needed for this program. It is completely optional but recommended.
The first step is the Knife & Equipment Mastery for the Plant-based Kitchen. This course covers the techniques we will be using throughout the Living Foods culinary series. Those seeking a certificate must include this course in their journey. If you have previously taken culinary level knife skills, contact Chef James to evaluate your path.
Yes. There is a discounted bundle price which includes:
Living Foods Mastery
Transform Your Kitchen
Knife and Equipment Mastery
Vibrant Vegan for Every Season
The courses are designed to be self-paced. Each is designed with a certain timeframe in the release of modules, but you can take each module at your own pace for up-to 1 year. For example, the 60-90 day Living Foods course can be stretched anywhere from 60 days to a year.
Each is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate. You can pause at anytime, and upon logging back in the site will return you to where you left off.