Southwestern cooking school classes foods market

Noe Cano, kitchen manager and sous chef, is an invaluable asset to the School. He does all the food purchasing as well as prep and assisting with the classes. He has been at the School for 15 years.

Noe has worked at many of Santa Fe's top restaurants including La Casa Sena, Coyote Cocina and was chef de cuisine at Hotel St. Francis. He has worked alongside many of the chefs of Santa Fe as well as some celebrity chefs.

He was instrumental in the production of a segment of The Food Networks show called Dinner Impossible, which celebrated the traditional foods of New Mexico.

Deena Chafetz has been cooking professionally for 27 years. She first moved to Santa Fe in 1993 and fell in love with the flavors of New Mexico.

Trained in many world cuisines, including French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and Thai, it is the cuisines of Mexico and New Mexico that she loves the most. Her most recent restaurant position was that of Executive Chef at Sen Japanese Restaurant in the "Hamptons" region of New York.

Deena returned to Santa Fe in 2010, and is currently working as a private chef in addition to her work at the Santa Fe School of Cooking.

A California native, Danny Cohen, immersed himself in the culinary world by working and living in the San Francisco Bay Area for 12 years. After attending California Culinary Academy, Danny traveled across America, visiting and eating in New Orleans, New York, Montreal, Chicago and many places in between to help expand his culinary horizons. Upon returning to the Bay Area, Danny worked in restaurants, as a private chef, in hotels and as a caterer for more than a decade.

Transitioning from professional kitchens to business, Danny worked for a small Berkeley company importing high quality extra virgin olive oils and vinegars from Italy, primarily to a discriminating culinary clientele. Danny moved to Santa Fe to bewith, and marry, his wife, Erin, who is a local Santa Fean. He is enjoying the food scene and learning more about New Mexican cooking by teaching at the Santa Fe Community College and working with students at the Monte del Sol Charter School with their farm-to-table program.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico based Native American Chef, Native American foods historian, culinary anthropologist, James Beard Award winning author and photographer, Lois Ellen Frank's first career experiences were as a professional cook and organic gardener. Ms. Frank has spent over 20 years documenting the foods and life ways of Native American communities throughout the Southwest writing and photographing many articles and papers on the topic. This lengthy immersion in Native American communities culminated in her book, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, which won the James Beard Award upon its release. In 2010 she released, The Taco Table, which won the Glyph Award upon its release.

She completed her PhD dissertation in May 2011in Culinary Anthropology entitled: The Discourse and Practice of Native American Cuisine, Native and Non-Native Chefs in Contemporary Southwest Kitchens, which she is planning to publish as an upcoming book, tentatively entitled, "The Turquoise Plate". Frank partnered with PCRM to teach a series of cooking classes entitled Food for Life: Healthy Native American Cooking in both Santa Fe at the Institute of American Indian Arts, IAIA and Albuquerque at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, IPCC. She is a featured cooking instructor at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, an adjunct professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the chef/owner of Red Mesa Cuisine with Diné chef Walter Whitewater. Frank is an avid gardener of local cultivated and wild plants.

Michelle Roetzer brings 26 years of experience to the stoves of the Santa Fe School of Cooking. Her experience began in the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of 14 rolling pasta for a family friend. She eventually rose to the position of Sous Chef in an upscale Northern Italian Ristorante at the age of 21.

In 1996, she returned to her hometown of El Paso, TX and became Executive Chef of Café Central for 7 years. In 2003, she was the Chef De Cuisine for the Professional Golf Association Champions Dinner in Rochester, NY and has cooked for numerous notables including presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Vicente Fox of Mexico. She moved to Santa Fe in 2003 and is currently the lead instructor for Santa Fe Community College's Culinary Arts program and a freelance caterer for several local catering companies. In her spare time, she is a student of Political Science at College of Santa Fe, windsurfs, snow skis, mountain bikes, gardens and mentors young chefs.

Jeremiah Schultz began his cooking career in a Moroccan restaurant while in business school in Colorado Springs. It was there that his passion for food was realized: within six months, he was Kitchen Manager.

He decided to pursue his love of the culinary arts full time and left Business school behind to fully immerse himself in the world of fine dining. Since this initial experience, Jeremiah has worked as Head Chef, Sous Chef, Personal Chef and manager in many establishments.

His appreciation for fresh, local and sustainable fare weaves through his culinary creativity. Jeremiah hopes to one day operate a potato and quinoa farm on his property in Southern Colorado.

Jen Woodring came into the culinary world after many years assisting surgeries in operating rooms throughout the west. After graduating from Oregon Culinary Institute in 2009, she became a bit of a culinary adventurer, seeking out learning experiences that intrigued her and increased her skills.

Her self-propelled education found her working for a butcher shop on a mobile matanza (slaughter) truck, cooking in the shop for customers as well as giving protein cooking classes. She has raked cheese curds, made chocolates with an award winning chocolatier, done basic cake decorating, catered private dinner parties and charity events, helped teach healthy, nutritional cooking to diabetic Native American students and currently consults with other chefs in Oregon in her spare time.

She believes in Nose-To-Tail cooking, supporting locals who craft food, and in access to fresh, clean, quality produce for everyone, despite their income bracket. Known to be the best, most prepared one to ever be on a group camping trip with, Jen is always happiest surrounded by smoke and covered in bacon grease. She can really throw down a heck of a S'more with perfect brulee' on the marshmallow and very exotic chocolates.