Guests of Holistic Holiday at Sea aren’t just vacationing on an elegant cruise ship in the Caribbean. They’re learning more about holistic approaches to nutrition, mindfulness, and fitness. They’re becoming more compassionate stewards of the earth and advocates for animals. They’re getting more in touch with their own bodies and journeys to wellness. And they’re falling in love with plant-based food—for the first or hundredth time!
In addition to lectures, movement classes, and gourmet meals throughout the day, our onboard programming also includes cooking classes. We want our guests to leave with the confidence to cook plant-based recipes at home and share them with friends and family. This year’s schedule of cooking class presenters includes Julieanna Hever, Kim Campbell, Jessica Porter, Sandy Club, and Dunja Gulin.
Back to Basics
While it’s fun to get fancy with recipes, sometimes a new twist or update on the basics is exactly what you’re looking for. Registered dietitian and co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Gluten-Free Vegan Cooking, Julieanna Hever, MS, RD, CPT, will lead three cooking classes: “Dressings and Sauces to Help You Fall (More) in Love with Vegetables;” “Soup Solution – How to Use Soups as the Key to Successful Healthy Meal Planning;” and “Hummus Should be a Food Group;” plus a boot camp called “Healthy Eating Made Easy”.
Did you know that the minimum recommended number of vegetable servings per day is ten? That may seem like a lot, but it’s easier to get than you may think. Not craving more vegetables? Julieanna says the secret to wanting more vegetables in your diet is all in the sauce. This class will deep-dive into how to make easy, delicious dressings and sauces to use across the culinary spectrum and help inspire you to amp up your love of veggies.
Now in her second year of teaching on the cruise, Kim Campbell is the author of The PlantPure Nation Cookbook and The PlantPure Kitchen. She has developed more than 250 delicious, whole food, plant-based recipes using no processed oils. During our next cruise, Kim will lead two cooking classes. In “Bringing Back Our Favorite Comfort Foods,” Kim demonstrates how to build familiar recipes in a healthy form. She will cook Fishless Fillets and Indian Malai Kofta.
Kim tells us, “Taste preferences are often rooted in our traditions and memories so in order to appeal to these preferences, we should strive to build foods with similar flavors and textures. At the same time, it’s important to use ingredients that are accessible, affordable, and most of all healthy. During this class, I will cover a variety of techniques, ingredients, substitutions, and how they can be used to build very traditional style meals that are family and kid friendly. Included, I will cover gluten-free options and low-fat substitutions. Most importantly, we will share ideas and sample everything we make during the class! The cruise never let’s anyone go hungry.”
Change the Way You Cook
For the 13th consecutive year, the inspiring and funny Jessica Porter will once again combine humor with education as a presenter on Holistic Holiday at Sea. In her cooking class, “Don’t Let Tofu Make You Lose Your Tempeh,” Jessica will go into the benefits of both powerful foods and delicious ways of preparing them.
If you’re a bit confused on soy foods and how to cook with it, this class is for you! “There are two categories of complaints these days,” explains Jessica. “First of all, soy is getting a bad rap, and that topic needs to be thoroughly understood. Not all soy is a problem, and in fact, much of it is incredibly healthy and smart to eat, but we need to understand how quality and quantity affects our health. Is it GMO? Organic? In what form? Fermented? All these things matter.
“The second category of complaint is about cooking; people say that tofu is boring or has no taste. This is simply a matter of understanding the nature of tofu and its versatility and tastelessness need never be a problem. Ditto tempeh and other forms of soy.”
Sandy Clubb, of Cookware Health Clubb Inc., helps people understand the healthy benefits of whole plant nutrition and proper food preparation techniques. In her demonstration, “What’s the Cookware Got to Do with It?” Sandy will use the waterless cooking method (no water, no oil, no oven) to prepare 30-minute lasagna, veggies, and cake. She will review the best tips for cooking methods and cookware we use to prepare our meals.
When recommending cookware to people, Sandy offers this advice:
- Ask questions and do research. Look behind the label because, after all, your food will touch it, cook in it, and sometimes be stored in it. Should your cookware be the highest quality or the lowest? There is very little regulation on cookware. Find out where it’s made and from what materials and why? After all, it is YOUR dinner.
- WHAT do you want your cookware to do for you? Save Time? Save Nutrition? Make your food taste better? Save food volume? Be easy to clean and last for decades? To cook without water, without oil? Why, Why, Why? After all, you can cook in a tin can or a hubcap!
Variety is the Spice of Life
Croatian-based cooking teacher and author, Dunja Gulin has been part of the Holistic Holiday at Sea team, working in the kitchen, for the past five years. She describes the experience as “great fun and very rewarding.” Dunja will lead a cooking boot camp called “Falafel Forever,” in which she will go over a number of falafel recipes, including fried, baked, dehydrated, and raw varieties.
When asked about her favorite method of eating falafel, Dunja replied, “I often use a variety of plant-based ingredients to create falafel-like dishes, since we all love falafel, but don’t want to eat the same recipe all the time. In warmer months, I often prepare seed-based raw falafel for my family and my clients. The taste is so rich, there is no frying involved, and they can be prepared days in advance. Fuss-free, nutritionally dense and very practical. All you could ever ask from a recipe!”
Bring your appetite as samples will be available following the boot camp. Dunja says, “I think that’s the main purpose of any cooking event—to enjoy what we created and share a meal in a relaxed and inspiring atmosphere. Participants will be more than welcome to join me in every step of the way. Cooking is very much about practice and getting your hands dirty, and that’s exactly what we will do! I’m really looking forward to the 2018 cruise!”
Plant-Based Cooking Today
Often the best culinary techniques and methods are those that are based in tried-and-true traditions, and helped along by modern advancements.
“Plant-based cooking has become so much easier in the last ten years,” says Kim Campbell. “Mainstream grocery stores are beginning to carry a wider variety of ingredients and there are many great vegan chefs out there sharing their gifts and knowledge around food. Digital photography, videos, and social media make it easy and fun to allure, support, and sustain this lifestyle. When our family began this journey 30 years ago, there wasn’t the internet, beautiful vegan cookbooks, and restaurants offering vegan options. It seemed like everywhere we went there were roadblocks. We made it work and learned a lot along the way, but it’s a different world today and I think it’s much easier to transition to a whole food, plant-based lifestyle. My own parents have made this transition at the age of 83 and they did it overnight! They had a little PlantPure help but I can honestly say they didn’t struggle doing it.”
Whether you love rolling your sleeves up in the kitchen, or you’d rather just eat more healthily, these cooking classes will help expand your knowledge of plant-based nutrition and just how healthy and delicious it can be!
