"share my passion & enjoy
learning to cook with me"
Applying my past experiences gained in the corporate world I believe that there is a place for a small scale, yet professional cookery school, where the atmosphere is less formal or ‘chefy’ and the learning experience is more personal.
I now take great pleasure in putting my energy, knowledge and experience full time into Vanilla and Spice - teaching people to cook confidently and developing others' skills and appreciation of good food and the best of home cooking.
Jan Maggs
I was fortunate to start cooking and develop a love of good food at an early age. Both my mother and aunt are great cooks and even now are a source of inspiration and challenge to me. Food and cooking is my lifelong passion.
Much of my working life has been dedicated to coaching, training and developing individuals and teams to better their performance and improve their self-confidence. I believe that teaching and sharing knowledge, helping others grow and learn is both a privilege and a positive responsibility. What use is knowledge if you can't share it or pass it on?
Vanilla & Spice was born initially from teaching friends and acquaintances to cook on a casual basis. Using my knowledge to help them understand how to prepare good food from scratch, how to host a special dinner party and so on.
Spending time at other cookery schools for my own development I very quickly came to understand that Vanilla & Spice could bring something greater to a much wider audience of people all looking to get pleasure through cooking, whether starting from scratch or learning new things.