Christina Pirello
Christina Pirello, the Emmy Award winning host of the national public television series Christina Cooks is an inspiring teacher whose own journey began with one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave, as the saying goes. Diagnosed with a terminal form of leukemia at the age of 26, she decided to forego medical treatments and cured herself with a macrobiotic approach to living. Twenty-seven years and a Master's degree in nutrition later, Christina has written 5 best-selling cookbooks, including Cooking the Whole Foods Way (named 'healthiest cookbook of the decade' in Jan. 2010), is in her tenth season of her award winning show and travels the world teaching whole foods cooking classes and lifestyle seminars. Christina continues her work on a new level with her newest book, I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Gonna Eat It Anymore, in which she exposes the dark side of the American diet and offers simple solutions for eating well, living naturally and demanding the best in life. In 2008, she and her husband founded 'The Christina Pirello Health Education Initiative,' dedicated to helping people have a healthy relationship with food and working to help our children make healthier choices early in life through education in schools and in their communities.
Cooking Classes, Lectures and Private Consultations for the 2012 Cruise
Cooking Class 1: Diabetes - The New Epidemic of Our Age, with Dr. Neal Barnard
Don't you wish you could have your cake and eat it? Me, too. Diabetes is becoming an epidemic (and a big pharma industry), so we need to take another look at all that cake…look at what happened to Marie Antoinette! Join Dr. Neal Barnard and me to discover the foods that can help prevent, treat and reverse this almost completely preventable modern crisis.
Cooking Class 2: Oh, Boy! SoyBoy!
Ay, ay, ay, as I famously say. The humble soybean has been the center of more controversy than the law should allow. One of the great wonders of the nutritional world, this powerhouse of nutrition has become the source of a lot of confusion. Is it good for us? Will soy make you healthy or aggravate your condition? How much should we eat? Is it true that tofu can shrink our brains and our men’s…well…you know…Will I get enough protein from soy? What about calcium? Will soy affect a thyroid condition? What about breast cancer and soy? And estrogen? It can give you a headache. But don't fear. In this class, we'll clear it all up so you can enjoy traditional soy products with delicious peace of mind.
Cooking Class 3: The Five Essentials of Health
Is there such a thing as perfect health? Sadly, no, but you can come awfully close. In this class, we will discuss the five basic essentials of good health…and how to cook to achieve them. From ingredients, to cooking techniques, we’ll explore the basic theories that are the keys to great, robust and long-lasting health.
Cooking Class 4: The Italian Table, Vegan Style
As you probably know, I’m Italian…and I love all things Italian…the language, the art, the culture, the history and of course…Italian food. You probably think you can’t enjoy the best of authentic Italian cooking because of all the carbs, calories, and unhealthy ingredients, right? In this class, the real foods real Italians enjoy.
Q & A: Confused about Food and Diet? Ask the Kitchen Witches
Between them, Christina Pirello and Jessica Porter have cooked 14,321 meals, cracked 9,557 jokes and admired their lovely red tresses at least 3 times each day. Join these funny ladies for a Q and A session designed to answer all your questions about vegan, macrobiotic and basic healthy cooking. Christina, author of six books on food and cooking and star of her own Emmy Award-winning show, Christina Cooks, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of nutrition while Jessica Porter, author of The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics and co-writer of The Kind Diet, loves to explain the philosophies behind things. And both ladies will make you laugh out loud.
Lecture 1: I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Going to Eat It Anymore!
Pink buckets of chicken to fight breast cancer! Two pieces of fried chicken around cheese and bacon instead of bread! Fancy coffee drinks weighing in at 920 calories! Salads with more calories than you need in a day! Pizza with cheese stuffed in the crust!
The health-stealing pirates on Madison Avenue seem to spend their days and nights dreaming up more decadent, disgusting food combinations to sell to unsuspecting people who just want to eat delicious food. And while we all have free choice, we are constantly bombarded by advertising designed to seduce us into the downward spiral that is robbing us of health and making us pharmaceutical companies’ dreams!
And yet, we hold all the power. We vote three times a day with our forks, and it's time to demand better. All these companies care about is profit, not your family, your breast cancer or heart disease. In this class, we'll talk about standing up for our health, demanding better quality food and truth in advertising and labeling. It's only when we demand it, when their profit is threatened, that we will we see real change. It's time to say enough and fight for our health and our future.
Workshop: 3 Hour Boot Camp Cooking Intensive - $150/person
There isn't one detail of cooking that doesn’t enchant me. Julia Child once called cooking a life skill and said its importance should never be trivialized. Cooking is more than combining ingredients so that we can eat. Cooking is not just a time-consuming chore, but rather a healing, nourishing meditation and how we make our love manifest. We honor the ingredients...and each other...by preparing food with mindful consideration. Cooking makes our lives whole. Finding pleasure in the process of cooking, from shopping to cleaning, the slicing and dicing, the sautéing and simmering, we experience joy for joy’s sake...not in anticipation of the reward of the meal. From knife skills to basic techniques, cooking styles, and tips and tricks, this workshop will turn your passion for cooking from simmer to boiling over.