Chaotic Cooking Chronicles

Course Syllabus: Chaotic Cooking Chronicles

Semester: Fall 2025 | Instructor: | Credit Hours: 3

Course Description

This course explores cooking as both survival skills and a storytelling art. Students will develop habits of consistent meal making, meal prepping, budgeting, healthier eating habits, while also practicing food creativity through recipe development, discovery, and trying new flavors. This course emphasises documenting the process whether they are wins, fails, or just experiments. Students will do this through journaling, photography, videography, blogging, or podcasting. By the end of the semester, students will have built a repertoire of recipes, resulting in a cookbook of their own, and a portfolio of practice creative content.

Learning Objectives

• Prepare and eat three intentional meals a day, minimal and intentional snacking between.

• Listen to their body to understand what it needs.

• Explore new foods, restaurants, and cultural cuisines with purpose.

• Build and stick to a budget for both groceries and eating out.

• Cut down/out any food waste.

• Use eating out as only an intentional and earned experience.

• Make overall better food choices based on health needs and goals.

• Meal prep weekly.

• Learn foundational cooking skills and gradually get to desired cooking techniques.

• Develop original recipes and stories for food.

• Create and share content during the entire process

Required Texts

1. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nostrat

2. The Sporkful- Podcast

3. Pick up Limes- YouTube

Recommended Texts

1. Cookbooks that you have been dying to get!

Course Schedule

September: Foundations & Flavor

• Build 3-meals-a-day habit.

• Create grocery budget system.

• Learn & practice 3 cooking basics: knife skills, sauté, roasting.

• Assignment: Reflection #1: Food & Story — My Current Relationship with Cooking.

October: Chaos & Creativity

• Experiment with one new food/restaurant per week.

• Try “grocery roulette” (one random ingredient → new dish).

• Midterm: Chaotic Dinner Party → menu planning, cooking, storytelling documentation.

• Assignment: Write first original recipe (documented trial + tweaks).

November: Mastery & Meal Prep

• Lock in meal-prepping system (esp. lunches).

• Explore cultural/historical recipes.

• Practice plating & presentation.

• Assignment: Reflection #2: How Food is Changing My Story.

December: Storytelling & Synthesis

• Refine 3–5 original recipes.

• Document your cooking process in long-form content (blog post, video, or podcast segment).

• Final Project: Chaotic Cooking Zine/Portfolio.

Assignments and Grading

• Participation (30%) – Daily consistency: 3 meals, prep, budget, and tracking

• Weekly Food Logs (15%) – Write/Record short reflections. What you cooked, what worked, what didn’t, and what you learned.

• Midterm Challenge (20%) – Host Chaotic Dinner Party (for yourself or friends) Must plan menu, theme, cook, plate, and document the process.

• Final Project (35%) – Create your Chaotic Cookbook: A collection of all the recipes, photos, stories, and reflections.