Founded by food scientist, broadcaster and writer Kumud Gandhi back in 2010, The Cooking Academy has been teaching people how to improve their kitchen know-how for over a decade now – with delicious results.

You know you’re in safe hands when it comes to queen of spice Kumud, as she’s catered for everyone from The Prince of Wales to Nelson Mandela and Madonna (seriously!) – and now she’s bringing her expertise to her genius classes at The Cooking Academy in Rickmansworth, along with a team of expert chefs. The in-person classes cover everything from An Introduction to Cooking (perfect for beginners) and the Essential Six Class (to help you break out of those midweek cooking ruts) to specialist classes for world cuisines like Thai, Middle Eastern, and Italian.

There are also excellent virtual classes that last around 1.5 hours and teach you how to create two dishes, covering everything from Spanish to vegetarian Indian cooking. You can buy a specific class, or buy open vouchers (which make fab gifts, by the way). Find them on The Indie Store!

Speaking of gifts, The Cooking Academy also have a brilliant shop packed with hand-blended spices. Stock up your cupboards with everything from the everyday to hard-to-source flavours, or pick up curated kits including baking spice starter packs, Persian cooking kits and even chai tea blends and gin botanicals. So not only will you be a whizz in the kitchen, you’ll have the spice rack to match your newfound skills!