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Guests do the cooking –
and love it! Guests invited to dinner parties this holiday season might do well to ask the hostess just who is expecting to do the cooking. If Andover chef Helene Spoto is organizing the party for the host, the surprising answer might be "The guests!" And, says Spoto, they're going to love it. Sounds a little like Tom Sawyer getting
that old fence whitewashed. But, no, says Spoto, the so-called
"interactive dinner party" is all the rage right now, spurred, she says,
by cable television. "One of the reasons for the increased interest...is
the popularity of the Food Network," says Spoto. “People watch celebrity
chefs preparing great food on television, and want to learn how to cook
some of those same recipes at home.” |
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| An in-home personal chef and
cooking teacher with a list of weekly clients, Spoto found herself during
the past two years teaching cooking techniques to a growing cadre of
friends and clients. “People would find out that I was planning an
interesting dish and they would ask to come over and watch,” she says. The idea grew out of the popularity of these impromptu classes and the types of parties people wanted her to plan for them. "In-home cooking classes were so much fun that I began to offer in-home classes to groups of clients' friends," explains Spoto. "The classes were always so much fun, and ended up with a delicious meal." The transition to a party was an easy one. Spoto's education helps too. A graduate of
Temple University, where she majored in communications and theatre, she
sprinkles each lesson with anecdotes and humorous banter. The result, she
says, is that "the interactive dinner party is less a class than an
entertainment." |
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| The combination
of hands-on cooking and dinner party was just what Don Collins of
Greenwich, Connecticut had in mind when he asked Spoto to help him plan a
surprise event for his mother's birthday. In addition to the birthday
celebration, Collins intended proposing to his fiancé at the party. To
make things even more interesting, the event would also be the first time
the couple’s two sets of parents were to meet. "Both families are of Italian descent," says Collins, "so everything always centers around the kitchen anyway. It was a perfect way for them to get together." Collins had tried to plan the trifecta
celebration himself, but found the task more complex than he liked. He
found Spoto online, and, he says, she took all the heavy lifting out of
the event. According to Collins, Spoto arrived "with everything – the food
and all the materials, the aprons, even the knives." |
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Quips Spoto,
"It’s a good thing it all turned out so well (for Collins), and everyone
was so friendly – since they all had knives." Spoto says interactive dinner parties fit all types of occasions, from anniversary parties, to holidays and special events such as Christmas and the Super Bowl. The newest source of interest is coming from corporations, who use these gatherings for team-building purposes. "Working together in the relaxed atmosphere of a kitchen can be a fun way for an organization to improve collaboration, communication, and relationships among associates." Spoto's in-home classes are still popular, she says, "Because they teach people how to prepare delicious, convenient, healthy meals in minimal time. They can also help achieve…fitness goals by allowing them to control what they eat." |
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A current member of the Personal Chefs Network and a fully-insured ServSafe food handler, Spoto will offer classes through the Andover Department of Community Services this season for the second year. |
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