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Macey's Little Theater site of cozy cooking classes By
Curtis McInelly Have you ever wanted to watch a live cooking show and learn how to make a variety of meals in a relaxed atmosphere? Macey's Little Theater makes it possible to do all this in Logan. Macey's Little Theater offers free cooking and community classes that teach people how to cook and take care of themselves better. They can also learn photography and gardening skills. "We want to provide a service to the community that is free and if they buy groceries while they are here, that is great," Little Theater coordinator Katie Carone said. Macey's first put a Little Theaters in its Sandy store and has added them to its other stores. Logan's Little Theater started in July last year, Carone said. The Little Theater is a cozy little room next to the photo lab, it will seat 40 people and has a small kitchen layout at the front. It even has cameras in the ceiling and TV monitors to give the audience a better view of what the instructor is doing on the counter top and stove. According to the April schedule, classes are held three to four times a week and start at 7 p.m. They will teach how to cook desserts, low fat foods, Brazilian and Italian foods. Saturday mornings are usually kid's classes with themes that cater to children's interests. Classes are free, but do require a reservation. To reserve a seat and a portion of the food stop in at Macey's service desk or call 753-3301. The schedule of classes comes out on the 20th of every month and are available at the service desk. Carone is in charge of the schedule and promotion as well as organizing and preparing for the classes. Carone said that many people offer to teach classes and she tries to rotate through everyone, but she is always looking for new instructors and new ideas. "Some instructors are professional chefs but most just have something they want to share with the community," said Carone. It is usually a different instructor each time but classes are often taught by a USU Extension agent. According to the schedule, Adrie Roberts from USU Extension presents a Food Storage Cooking School. Classes will cover a variety of food storage topics, including how to use your wheat, rice, oatmeal, and non-fat dry milk. It is an eight-week class centered around a book written by USU professor Deloy Hendricks, and will be taught every Friday at 11:30 a.m. through April and May, Roberts said. It will teach people to actually cook from their food storage by adding it into regular recipes, this will help them get used to eating wheat and rice without getting sick. "Because food storage items are inexpensive, like rice and wheat, they save money as well," Roberts said. Roberts has been teaching classes every month since the Little Theater started. "My classes are always booked and have a waiting list, the room will hold 40 and I have had 50 on the waiting list," Roberts said. "But people don't show up, and there are often empty chairs." Roberts has taught many different classes including, low fat cooking and a "cooking better for less" class, described cheap ways to make good meals, using mostly dry powder mixes. The Little Theater program is convenient for instructors because Macey's does all the promotion and advertising as well as provides all the needed supplies, handouts and facilities, Roberts said. "If I was going to start a grocery store, that is the way to do it," Roberts said. People come in to learn how to cook and end up wanting to buy the supplies to make it, and will buy groceries. The Little Theater is a way for the Utah State University to get extension agents out and spotlight the University, Roberts said. 'It is a good way to get out into the community and get to know people. The purpose of the extension is to take information and research out into the county, and the Little Theater is a great way of doing that, Roberts said. It also makes people more comfortable about coming to the community classes that the extension offers. Roberts said that she will often teach about other issues while she is cooking. She said her classes will have a slant towards family closeness or safety. "I have talked about traditions and how to bring a family closer using traditions,'"Roberts said. "What are people going to go away with," Roberts said. Not only are they going to learn to cook better, but they will go home wanting to make their family better, or thinking about safety issues. "I am surprised at the variety of people that come to the classes," Carone said. Some are young mothers wanting more cooking experience, and some are single students. There are also the older group who come often and make it interesting. Everyone is welcome, so come to Macey's Little Theater to learn how to cook a new dish, and best of all get some free food.
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