Van Aken enlists local chefs to teach healthy cooking on a budget “Get Cooking” will live-Zoom monthly from Valencia’s downtown campus kitchen

Timing is everything, they say.  And that Orlando’s new “Get Cooking” program, a collaboration between the legendary Norman Van Aken and successful food blogger Stacie Archer, dropped the same week as news that the cost of living comfortably here, for just one person, is over $100,000 a year, is timing that can’t be ignored.

“It kills me to see people in such dire straits when it comes to having quality food for themselves and their families,” says the man behind Norman’s Orlando, recently named the Best New Restaurant in Florida for 2024 in Southern Living Magazine.“I feel like God gave me a gift when it comes to cooking and I like to share that gift with people besides those who can afford to eat in restaurants like this one.”

Archer launched Get Cooking, a nonprofit which teaches under-resourced families how to prepare healthy, home-cooked meals for four for less than $20, in 2020. Working with Camillus House, which has been serving the vulnerable and homeless in South Florida for more than 60 years, Zoom-coordinated classes allowed participants to cook alongside her, adding new meals to their repertoire, building camaraderie along with skills and knowledge of both prep and ingredients.  (Read more by clicking the link below.)