Meet Kayla Lammy , our guest chef for Urbana Park District's first-ever Oktoberfest cooking workshop and feast. Kayla is currently a second-year master’s student in the Food Science and Human Nutrition department at the University of Illinois who also grew up in rural Illinois. For Kayla's family, hunting was a way they sustained themselves, and she grew up eating ground deer meat, or venison, as a substitute for ground beef in most recipes. On Saturday, October 4 , Kayla will share her family's special bratwurst recipe along with all the other traditional German festival favorites that you expect at an authentic Oktoberfest banquet. Here's what's on the menu: Homemade Soft Pretzels with Obatzda (beer cheese dip) Kayla's Venison Bratwurst with Sauerkraut (traditional home recipe) Spaetzle (German egg dumplings with caramelized onions) Rotkohl (red cabbage with apples) Bayrischer Kartoffelsalat (Bavarian warm potato salad) Apfelk...

These pictures were taken by Jennifer Ashley, one of the students who attended last week's hands-on Georgian cooking class. On September 11, a small group of foodies gathered at Urbana Park District's Phillips Recreation Center for a "cooking party," and we made a Georgian feast featuring a beef stew, three minced vegetable appetizers, an herbal lemonade soda, and meat dumplings from scratch. This event was part of our long-running series of cooking classes called PRINCIPLES OF ETHNIC COOKING ( see more pictures ).  Since its inception in 2022, we have traveled the world, enjoying the best that each country has to offer. So far, we have explored 24 different cuisines, including some that are hard to find in Champaign-Urbana. Last week's class featured popular dishes from Georgia, a former Soviet state nestled between Europe and Asia. Coming up next is a taste of some unusual dishes from Oaxaca, the southernmost state in Mexico, to be followed by guest chef K...

Last December, we spent the Christmas holiday season in Oaxaca City and thoroughly enjoyed all their local holiday traditions of fiestas, parades, marching bands, and even a  radish carving festival . Oaxaca is the southernmost state in Mexico, and their cuisine is celebrated worldwide and heavily promoted by celebrity chefs like  Rick Bayless . Moles (sauces made with peppers, nuts, and chocolate) are often featured in Oaxacan cuisine. While I was there, I was lucky to be able to take a private cooking class with  Roxana Hernandez , a local artist and home cook extraordinaire who taught me how to make an authentic Oaxacan chicken stew with a red mole as a key ingredient. The cooking lesson took place in her upstairs outdoor home kitchen with traditional wood-fired stoves and clay pots. The stew itself is pretty standard, except for the broth. The combination of exotic spices and the addition of a homemade mole made this dish special and uniquely Oaxacan. Her...

On Saturday, October 4 , we will be hosting our first-ever cooking workshop and feast to celebrate Oktoberfest. We invented the "workshop" format because a 2.5-hour evening class is simply not enough time to celebrate an event like Oktoberfest. So we're planning a 4-hour "cooking party" on a Saturday afternoon where we get to make all the traditional festival dishes you expect from a real German Oktoberfest celebration. Featured on the menu will be guest chef Kayla Lammy's venison bratwurst recipe. Growing up in rural Illinois, hunting was a way Kayla's family sustained themselves. She grew up eating ground deer meat, or venison, as a substitute for ground beef in most recipes. "Hunting, when done respectfully, is a great way to connect with the land and have a deeper appreciation for where our food comes from," says Kayla. Join us and learn how Kayla's family makes their own special bratwurst. Here's what ...