The Marbella Culniary Club is a participant-driven, experimental cooking force that engages the public in creating and eating food together. Challenging the traditional cooking class model, participants learn from an expert chef. The MCC chef’s tutorial offers lateral learning structure in which the participants teach each other, often learning new cooking skills or sharing their existing talents
with other participants in the process. Armed with local ingredients sourced from a local market, a fully equipped kitchen and their own creative juices, participants break into groups of 2-4 to work together to decipher different recipes, creating a menu of seasonal dishes that are then eaten family-style. The Community Cooking Club often features recipes from guest artists, authors and educators who have a passion for community-centered cooking and eating. On-site, the guests assist participants with various tasks, such as helping to filet a fish, knead dumplings, wash dishes, or sharpen knives. Participants receive a digital copy of these recipes so that they may continue making these dishes to share with others. The Community Cooking Club’s mission is to use cooking, an artful, everyday experience, to empower the lives of people in urban environments and to deliver physical and mental health to communities. Through social interaction and working in groups, participants are brought out of isolated routines and interact in new ways to activate their minds and bodies. Participants leave the event energized not only to cook for themselves and others, but in their confidence and ability to trust in the cooperation of the group.
