About PCC Cooks
Our mission is to inspire fresh ideas for delicious natural cooking and healthy living with fun, informative classes.
PCC Cooks began in 1983 as an educational and nutritional program called FoodWorks, which was designed to introduce our members and shoppers to the delicious world of natural cooking. Over the past two decades, PCC Cooks has grown to include six fully equipped teaching kitchens offering more than 1,000 classes a year.
The program originated in the 1970s with cooking demonstrations at card tables in stores, hosted by PCC's former nutrition education manager, Goldie Caughlan. Goldie's demos for simple recipes using bulk foods were a hit and the demand for expanded cooking classes eventually led to the creation of a full-time cooking program, which — at the time — featured eight classes.
PCC Cooks is currently managed by Marilyn McCormick, who joined the program in 1994 to help keep pace with the program's growth. Originally hired as a part-time instructor, Marilyn taught our popular whole-grain bread making class. Her enthusiasm and talent for natural cooking led her to join the administrative side of the program, first as an assistant, later becoming the program's manager in 2001.
PCC Cooks program specialist Rachel Welker, PCC Cooks writer Jackie DeCicco and PCC Cooks program specialist Alicia Guy — along with our roster of professional chefs and instructors and helpful volunteers — round out our talented team.
» PCC Cooks wins 2009 IACP Award of Excellence in Avocational Cooking Schools category.