photo and text by Brooklyn Reich
Lara Ritchie, Culinary Director at Nothing to It! Culinary Center in Sparks, runs the cooking school, kitchen store, and catering business with her husband.
Ritchie has been teaching cooking classes and demonstrations at Nothing to It since 2002, and has been cooking since she was very young.
She currently teaches 5 classes a week, and 400-500 students in a month. Ritchie is a big advocate for cooking with organic ingredients, especially when cooking with meats. On Thursday, March 10th she taught a class called "Killer Chicken Recipes", where she demonstrated proper technique on roasting and carving a chicken.
Ritchie says that for her the most rewarding part of teaching is "when I hear about their success stories at home". A "healthy mix" of her students are new and returning, so she makes sure to take time to chat with her students before class.