Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Atwood.
Hi Christopher, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
For me, food has always been about much more than what makes it to my plate. It’s about people gathering around a shared table. It roots us to where we come from. And, cooking and eating together is something that all humans partake in — food is one of those rare human universals. Even if we don’t speak the same language, we can share a meal together and understand a little more about where someone comes from through food.
As a kid, I used to spend hours with my mother and grandmother as they cooked — pestering them with questions about what they were preparing. As I grew up, I began cooking to recreate dishes I recalled from my childhood. And then, as I grew more confident in my cooking, I’d cook both to tackle new culinary challenges and to understand other cultures’ relationship with food.
I have been teaching for over 20 years — first as a middle-school teacher in NYC and then as a college professor in Northern California, Chicago and Atlanta. So, in founding my business, The Food Society (https://www.thefoodsociety.community), I strove to bring a teacher’s talents to the art of cooking. In my hands-on cooking classes, I strive to take the stress out of cooking. We learn to think like a cook, understanding the what, the how, and the why of each step.
One of the main influences in my cooking are the two years I spent living in Italy (in Florence, Rome, and Bologna). For Italians, food is an unrushed, social experience. Friends gather around a communal table. Grandmothers and children shape pasta together by hand. It’s not about fawning over a celebrity chef. Instead, food is a means of nourishing connection and community. The Food Society aims to do the same, slowing us down and connecting us to something that feeds our bellies and our souls.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road to founding my own business has been quite the squiggly line. For over a decade, I worked as a university instructor / doctoral researcher. In that time, I thought I’d end up working as Professor after grad school. Instead, I took what I learned as a classroom teacher — how to make complex, foreign-sounding concepts understandable — into a business that helps people to understand something that, for many folks, can feel intimidating: knowing how to cook from scratch.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Food Society was founded in winter 2020, as the pandemic ravaged the restaurant industry. We realized that more and more people were starting to cook from home—whether that was sourdough baking or prepping simple meals they’d previously grab in restaurants.
Our goal, from the start, was to create a people-centered food business. What do I mean by people-centered? Well, a lot of food businesses only talk about the food they craft or the chef’s inspirations. For us, food is something we can all share in — whether we’re hungry newbies or experienced home cooks.
The Food Society specializes in inclusive culinary experiences — open to all. Our events include chef pop-up dinners (where diners and chefs interact with each other), hands-on cooking class, online culinary lessons, and food-centered teams buildings. What sets us apart is the human touch: we want our guests to feel a people-to-people connection. We want anyone attending our pop-up dinners or events to feel welcomed and at home.
We are an LGBT-owned business that understands that not all spaces have welcomed all bodies. As a result, we strive to be inclusive of all people — honoring the diversity of the human experience through one of the things that can bring us together: a meal shared with delicious company.
How do you think about luck?
I wouldn’t exactly call it luck . . . but, when life hands you lemons, sometimes you’ve just got to make limoncello! We conceived of The Food Society at a historical moment when many restaurants were closing and many chefs were losing their jobs in professional kitchens. The tumult of the pandemic sparked our desire to create a space that offered something restaurants did not: a shared sense of belonging, paired with good food. As a result of this sudden change in both diners’ and chefs’ lives, we were able to launch a food business that brings joy to people’s lives and empowers them to cook for themselves, all while sharing the hard-earned know-how of expert chefs.
Pricing:
- Cooking classes can vary in pricing from $59/person (group classes) to $115/person (private couple’s classes)
Contact Info:
- Email: thefoodsociety.info@gmail.com
- Website: https://thefoodsociety.community/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thefoodsociety.community
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefoodsociety.atl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtGmZk26VKDb1EfZsfGym-w
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-food-society-atlanta
- Other: https://thefoodsociety.community/classes-2
Image Credits:
Photos taken by Christopher Atwood & Thomas Walker Brown
