COOK! Programs

Emeryville
No longer in business
Ages:
School-Aged,
Preteens,
Teens
Capacity:
32 participants
Email:
info [at] cookprograms.com
Editors' Notes:
  • March 2023: Their website says they are not currently operating

Hands-on cooking classes for inspired young cooks (no experience necessary), held in a professional setting, with professional chef teachers. Super fun, extra delicious, highly educational. An experience you can share with friends and family for the rest of your life. 

"I attended Cook! as a camper more than any other summer camp in my life. The chefs, curriculum, and overall atmosphere of Paulding & Company nurture a dedication to the love of cooking that simply cannot be found anywhere else in the Bay Area. The more time you spend with the chefs in this kitchen, the more you realize how wonderful the process of cooking can be — regardless of the (usually) fantastic results. MH

Parent Reviews

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Archived Q&A and Reviews


Oct 2010

RE: Cooking class for 16yo boy

Check out Paulding and Company in Emeryville. Terry and her daughter are great cooks and great teachers. They have a lovely teaching kitchen, and I'm pretty sure they run a teen program. Plus they were involved in Pixar's Ratatouille, teaching the animators cooking, which is very cool. You can find them online. Hope he has fun; cooking is a great hobby. Anne


Paulding Summer Cooking Camp

March 2010

We are considering the Paulding cooking summer camp in Emeryville this summer. Any feedback about the quality versus the price would be greatly appreciated. anon


My daughter attended the first year of Paulding and Co.'s Cook! Creative Culinary Camp in Emeryville (http://www.cookprograms.com/cook_programs/Home.html) last summer. She had a wonderful time, and we are basically prioritizing all other summer activities around the sessions she wants to complete this summer. The camp is in a professional kitchen (the first season of Top Chef was filmed there), with a knowledgeable, caring staff. In addition to all the cooking the students did every day, the camp also brought in local chefs, including the executive chef at Oliveto and a chocolatier from Valrhona Chocolate, for special classes and demonstrations. While the camp was not inexpensive, I felt that we got a good value, based on the level of skills that my daughter was exposed to, the meals she was fed and the amount of fun that she had there. Claire


Feb 2010

RE: Summer cooking class for 16-year-old son

I think Paulding and Co. in Emeryville has a teen cooking class this summer. They have great instructors and a great kitchen - that has been used in Top Chef and to teach the animators of Ratatouille. Anne


Last summer, my daughter participated in the first year of Paulding and Co.'s Cook! Creative Culinary Camp in Emeryville (http://www.cookprograms.com/cook_programs/Home.html). She had a wonderful time, and we are basically prioritizing all other summer activities around the sessions she wants to complete this summer. The camp is in a professional kitchen (the first season of Top Chef was filmed there), with a knowledgeable, caring staff. In addition to all the cooking the students did every day, the camp also brought in local chefs, including the executive chef at Oliveto, for special classes and demonstrations. I am sure your son would be very happy at one of their summer 2010 sessions. Claire


Cooking camp for teen

August 2009

We feel privileged to have been a part of the first year of COOK! Creative Culinary Camp at Paulding & Co. My 13 year old daughter participated in the two week session (this year they offered two one-week specialty sessions and two two-week sessions), and every day she could not wait to leave the house to get there, and every day was sad to leave the kitchen. Tracy Paulding had a wonderful manner with the students, and I was astounded with the high level of cooking accomplished in this course. Far from the usual English muffin pizzas taught in kid's cooking classes, the students at COOK! made such things as duck confit, tuna tartare, strawberry shortcake with isomalt sugar, pavlova with passionfruit mango sauce, and the list continues. On top of the great things they made in class, the students met professional Bay Area chefs, and were taken on a back-stage kitchen tour of a major area restaurant. They learned to shop at the farmer's market and to appreciate quality ingredients, and also enjoyed the community service project they performed at the Emeryville Senior Center, serving a lunch of jambalaya to a group of appreciative seniors. Their two weeks culminated in a cooking demonstration and meal for friends and family. I feel the two weeks my daughter spent in the Paulding & Co. kitchen gave her a whole new set of kitchen skills, as well as interest in a possible career path. We are already looking forward to next year's program! Their web site and more information is at http://www.cookprograms.com/cook_programs/Home.html Claire