Austinist Interviews Chef Aja Tahari Marsh

As far as spices go, I could be happy with some good sea salt, whole black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, and cumin. Those cover a lot of multi-ethnic ground, can be endlessly combined, and are easy to find at any store. But if I were asked to choose only one ... as much as I adore freshly cracked black pepper, I would pick sea salt every time.

Central Market has been offering cooking classes for years, and now Whole Foods is in the game too. How is your setting and approach different?

Well, never having actually taking any cooking classes at Central Market or Whole Foods (I just moved here very recently!), I can't specifically compare my approach. But I have really enjoyed teaching small classes of 10 or fewer students in a residential kitchen - we all feel at home, and it really helps to keep all of the participants comfortable and at ease. That and however impressive things look in a 'studio kitchen', it's always nice to be in a kitchen that is comparable to your own - in that way, I think students feel more confident about being able to reproduce recipes in their own kitchens. And my approach matches that - I love to dialogue, laugh, and have fun right alongside everyone in the class.

I'm very casual. I think a lot of my desire is for the participants to gain confidence in the kitchen. Being that they aren't familiar with certain foods or techniques or don't cook much at all, I want everyone to leave feeling they can do successfully something new. I encourage everyone to solve problems on their own. I think in a lot of classes, of any sort, when you have an instructor who you know is more knowledgeable than you, we have a tendency to shut our brain off a bit and look to the instructor to solve every obstacle for us. Of course I help anyone who needs it, but I try to empower the students to problem solve - read the whole recipe through before beginning, think logically about the steps and the ingredients - because if this were a recipe you just found and attempted at home, you'd have to do your best right? And it would probably come out just fine.

I really don't worry about following recipes so exactly, though some people in my classes really prefer to. I really like to instill that cooking is about instinct, and enjoying yourself. If you never waver from the recipe, you'll never make any happy mistakes. And sure, you might make some unhappy ones too, but that's how you learn! I like to say, "Recipes are guidelines and rules to be broken. So just have fun and put love into everything you make! And remember... it's only food!"

Sustainable and organic foods and the ''Slow Food'' movement are increasing in popularity all the time. What are your food philosophies in regard to these trends?

I'm moving right along with them. I try to eat seasonally, buy local produce, and be as sustainable in my eating and cooking practices as much as possible. My food philosophies exclude genetically modified products, hormone ridden meat and dairy products, and processed sugars and flours. I work to plan seasonal menus for clients and events using as many organic products as I can and focus on whole grains and natural foods. Nothing processed. No chemicals. Just food. Real food.

One of my more popular classes is "Introduction to Healthy Eating." In that class, I discuss that we are so focused on "good food" and "bad food" that I just started defining things as "food" and "not food." Americans put so much into their bodies that is entirely devoid of nutritional value, it's no wonder what we're doing to ourselves. High fructose corn syrup. Trans fats. Processed everything. We don't even know where our food comes from. The hamburger and chips we reach for don't have a beginning further than the wrapper they're born from.

But at the end of the day, with all of the struggles people in our country are having with weight and diet-controllable diseases, I'd rather someone go out and buy a bunch of kale that has been shipped across the country, if the other option is go down the road and pick up a Big Mac. I think that's where I get a bit conflicted sometimes - as much as I want people to support local agriculture and local businesses, I try to meet people where they're at. Not everyone can jump into the organic, local, slow-food pool so easily. One step at a time. One foot in front of the other... keep on moving and we'll get there!

Being green is hugely important to me, and I'm so glad that it's becoming more popular. I'm learning new things myself everyday. I actually just started a blog combining the marriage of healthy lifestyles and living green and eating well. It's called Stem+Leaf and found at www.stemandleaf.net

You studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City. Would you do it again if you had the chance?

Oh, definitely. I was already living in NYC at the time I decided to go to NGI, so it was perhaps an easier decision than many of the students who come from around the country. I considered several other cooking schools, but none had such a focus on the aspects of food and eating that are priorities for me - eating for health and prevention, local, seasonal, and organic food. And there was such a holistic approach to different diets and dietary and health concerns, I knew it would haven't been easily matched by any other conventional culinary program. While there were aspects that lacked in comparison to traditional programs, I felt confident that if I needed to learn more classical French techniques or meat fabrication, I could take some continuing education courses elsewhere.

It was a really positive experience and continues to be. If anything, I am grateful for positive influence it's lent to the people around me to look at their own diets and make changes for the better.

Your Thursday class focuses on knife skills. Will there be any horseplay allowed.

Haha. Not too much! At least not while the knives are in the hands of relative novices. I always encourage having a good time, but to keep everyone having one, we'll be going over knife safety first!

How does your design background affect your cooking choices?

I've always been affected by aesthetics, in all senses-- I like to be surrounded by delightful sights, sounds, scents, and flavors. That doesn't mean that it's all necessarily "good" or "successful," but it's intriguing, and intrigue and curiosity drive all of the work I do. And now that I think about it, my approach to cooking, is similar to my approach to my photo and design work - simple and clean, fresh, bright, and not without an underlying sense of humor and approachability.

Sometimes, especially at the height of summer harvest, I'll just go to the market and be overwhelmed by colors and shapes, and I come home with a fridge full of stuff and ask myself what I was thinking. But that's when the fun really gets started, and I just start throwing things together, playing with the idea that if it looks good together, it probably tastes good together ... because we eat first with our eyes, after all. And while I don't usually try to hard to design food to look 'good' or specifically chic, I pay a lot of (subconscious) attention to textures and complementary shapes, sizes, and colors.