Campbell's Cooking Class

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I have always been interested in teaching. When I was still in college, I was a teaching assistant for a ten-hour art history class. In the past couple of decades, I have taught at several different universities. I love teaching, even though most professors my age have retired a decade ago. The question that you should be asking yourself is why is Campbell still teaching?

When I was in elementary school, my father's company transferred him to Pittsburgh, PA. He asked a realtor which school system was best in the Pittsburgh area. The realtor said Mt. Lebanon. It was the best in all of Western Pennsylvania, and the 19th best in the entire country. Therefore, we moved to Mt. Lebanon, which had a profound negative effect upon me. I went from an above average student to an average one. Essentially, Mt. Lebanon made me feel dumb. It took me half my life to realize that I wasn't dumb. Therefore, I don't want any students that I'm teaching to make that same miscalculation as I did.

However, this index page is about teaching cooking. Therefore, why do I love cooking as much as I do? My drive originated around the age of twelve. My mother was a great cook. However, she had cancer, which resulted in acquiring debilitating arthritis and lupus. All through my teenage years, she made dinner for the family but gone were the days of desserts, cookies, cakes, and pies.

If I wanted something special like a dessert, I would have to make it myself, which I did. One day, I wanted a cherry pie. So, I went to the store and got a can of cherries and baked my first cherry pie. The pie turned out alright except I hadn't removed the pits from the cherries, which made me feel a bit foolish. That drove me to cook and to learn how to become an heir apparent chef.

My granddaughter, Ayanna, was my first student. Then my two grandsons, Jack and Owen, came along. After those young culinary scholars, Emmy and Fletcher took my class.