Photo Credit: Stephanie Anestis Photography @stephanieanestisphotography on instagram.
By Joseph Weathered
The Fig Cooking School will open soon in the Walnut Beach area of Milford. The formerly Hamden-based school is owned and operated by Founder and Chief Instructor Heide Lang, who trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York. While Lang cites her professional training, she also includes her 30 year experience cooking in her own kitchen, innovating menus and focusing on the concept that healthy, gourmet cuisine can be simple enough for any night of the week.
“We started eight years ago from my home with the idea that food brings people together so what we found over the years is that if you have a group of people who don’t necessarily know each other and they come together to have a meal, magical things happen,” said Lang.
According to Lang, the main concept of the school will be education, with a diverse array of classes focusing on everything from seasonal ingredients and cuisine to spice market classes, where students and guests can learn to blend spice mixes from all over the world.
“The key of what we are doing in any of these classes is to empower our students and our guests to cook for themselves and not be afraid to try new spices and ingredients. We try to make sure the ingredients are easy to obtain,” said Lang.
While the Milford location has now become the main hub of Fig, the school will also continue to hold classes in customer’s homes and companies along with appearing at various food and health fairs.
Along with the cooking school aspect, Fig will also offer deluxe lunch and dinner boxes to be delivered to Walnut Beach in the summer months. Lang also commented that Fig will also be a restaurant, with Friday and Saturday nights devoted to dining during the summer and depending on the demand the fall and winter months. Guest chefs and cook book authors will also be on hand to do guest lectures after the school opens.
While Lang has scheduled the official opening to be in late November, the process of obtaining and constructing the school has been a three year process. While the process has been lengthly, Lang is excited to be a part of the Walnut Beach community, commenting that “I knew that this was where I wanted my business to be. This business community has been unbelievably supportive.”
To learn more about Fig Cooking School, visit http://www.figcookingschool.com