CHEF FINDS GREAT SATISFACTION TEACHING OTHERS HOW TO COOK
Staff urged to use imaginations with fresh food ethos at Tangerine: The Food Bar
Made from scratch today is the ethos behind Tangerine: The Food Bar and Schoolhaus Culinary Arts. It’s an ethos Regina has embraced, as Tangerine, with its gourmet coffee, decadent baking and rotating menu with plenty of vegetarian options, has been operating for a decade.
After training at SAIT in Calgary, owner Aimee Schulhauser got her start in the Queen City with a catering company (now called Catering by Tangerine).
At clients’ insistence, she opened Tangerine and, because she believes there’s a chef inside us all, started Schoolhaus Culinary Arts in 2014. Tangerine in the Valley, her newest endeavour, is a seasonal restaurant in Fort Qu’appelle and well worth a visit next summer.
Tangerine’s menu has changed every single day since it opened. There’s always a soup, sandwich, hot lunch, crustless quiche and vegetarian option. Winter calls for a “cosy combo”; during summer, a portable picnic.
“We wanted to make sure we could make the best out of what was in season and fresh. We also wanted to stretch our creative muscles,” said Schulhauser who encourages her staff’s culinary imagination.
Opening Schoolhaus and teaching people how to cook has been the most gratifying thing she’s done.
“I’ll say at the beginning of class: ‘I’m going to show you a skill that will change your life. Here’s how to hold a knife.’ ”
Showing people these vital skills removes the intimidation factor from cooking, too. Schulhauser has met people in their 30s who have never cooked for themselves.
“They previously only ate packaged food out of a box. I say to them, ‘I’m so glad you’re here!’ ”
She’s at her best when she’s sharing her knowledge with those eager to learn.
“We socialize and come together over food, but we don’t do it over the making of food. There’s satisfaction in creating it together and then eating it.”
Schoolhaus started with just six types of cooking classes and now offers more than 300, taught by both professional chefs and self-taught cooks — one grew up learning from her grandma in China.
“We don’t think that chefs are the sole keepers of knowledge in the food world,” Schulhauser said with a smile.
To grab a spot in one of Schoolhaus Culinary Arts’s cooking classes, visit schoolhausculinaryarts.ca.
And to see what’s on Tangerine’s daily menu, head to tangerineregina.ca.
Jenn Sharp is a freelance writer in Saskatoon. Her first book, Flat Out Delicious: Your Guide to Saskatchewan’s Food Artisans, will be published by Touchwood Editions in April. Follow her on Twitter @ Jennksharp, Instagram @flatoutfoodsk, and Facebook.