On International Chefs Day, a reflection on curiosity, cultural exchange and what we pass on through our craft.

My work as a chef, chocolatier and international chocolate consultant takes me into different settings: school classrooms, professional kitchens, colleges and cocoa-growing communities.

Each brings different questions, ingredients and experiences. Wherever I teach, I want people to leave with greater confidence, practical understanding and curiosity about chocolate.

Recently, four workshops at Saxon Wood School reminded me how carefully we need to think about making that possible.

Different ways into the same ingredient

Some of the children were deaf. Some were blind. Others were bedbound or had complex physical needs.

We explored chocolate through touch, smell, sound and taste, wherever appropriate. Cocoa pods, roasted nibs, silky cocoa butter and tempered chocolate offered different starting points. Cola-flavoured popping candy added another sensory dimension.

With support from the school’s staff, the children also had opportunities to make chocolate lollipops. Some worked directly with the chocolate; others explored ingredients or participated with assistance.

I went there to teach, but came away reflecting on my own practice.

What are we really passing on when we teach someone about food?

Curiosity travels well

Through Coeur de Xocolat and Chocolate Safari®, I use chocolate as a starting point for exploring ingredients, places and people.

In a school workshop, that might begin with examining a cocoa pod. In professional training, we might explore how fermentation, roasting or refining influences the chocolate we make.

My urban and tropical Chocolate Safaris offer further opportunities to follow those connections: from the finished product towards its ingredients, origins and makers.

I want that exploration to encourage questions. Where was this cocoa grown? Who processed it? What decisions shaped its flavour? What can we learn by tasting carefully?

Those questions give us somewhere useful to begin, whether we are encountering cocoa for the first time or working with it professionally.

Teaching across cultures means listening

The international element of my work matters deeply to me. Consultancy, demonstrations and training bring me into contact with people whose culinary knowledge and experience differ from my own.

I bring my skills as a chef and chocolatier. I also need to understand the setting in which those skills will be used: the ingredients available, the equipment, the working environment and what people want to achieve.

That means listening before deciding what a useful lesson or recommendation should look like.

A technique needs to make sense in the kitchen where it will be practised. A product idea needs to suit the people who will make it and the customers who will enjoy it.

I want the exchange to work in both directions. Sharing my experience also gives me opportunities to question familiar approaches and learn from other people’s knowledge.

Connecting cocoa origins with chocolate making

My work with Ghana, alongside preparations for bean-to-bar training at The Manor at Corby, gives these connections a practical focus. Delegates from Ghana and Togo are expected to take part in the forthcoming training.

For me, this is an opportunity to bring discussion of cocoa origins into the same room as the practical work of chocolate making.

The course will cover the journey through processing, refining and tempering, alongside working with finished chocolate and making bonbons.

I want learners to understand what they are doing, recognise the results and feel equipped to make informed adjustments. There should also be room to discuss how those skills could be applied in their own circumstances.

That is what makes international training particularly interesting to me: a shared ingredient can lead to different ambitions, products and possibilities.

Giving confidence a practical foundation

“Temper the chocolate” is easy to write in a recipe. Teaching it means helping someone recognise what to look for, how to test it and what to do when the result needs correcting.

Whether I am teaching in the UK or working internationally, I want questions to be welcome.

A learner should feel able to try, observe and make an adjustment. Confidence becomes useful when it is supported by understanding.

The workshops at Saxon Wood School reinforced another part of that responsibility: finding a way into the subject that works for the person in front of me.

In each setting, I need to understand the learner as well as the technique.

Keeping the people behind chocolate in the lesson

When I teach chocolate making, I also want to give proper attention to the work that happens before the ingredients reach our bench.

Growing cocoa, harvesting pods, fermenting and drying beans all belong in the story we tell about chocolate.

My international work keeps those connections central to how I think about the craft. I want to discuss flavour and technique alongside origin, farming and the people involved.

We can enjoy making a beautifully finished bonbon while taking a serious interest in the cocoa inside it.

Through Coeur de Xocolat, that is the respect I want to encourage: care for the ingredient, curiosity about its origins and recognition of the work that makes ours possible.

Keeping knowledge moving

On International Chefs Day, I think about the people who have shared their skills with me, and the responsibility I have to keep that knowledge moving.

Sometimes that means demonstrating a technique carefully. Sometimes it means adapting an activity. Sometimes it means listening to a colleague in another country and reconsidering my own approach.

From a sensory workshop in a British school to professional chocolate training with international participants, I want my teaching to give people something they can use and build upon.

The finished chocolate is a pleasure. Helping someone take their next step is a pleasure too.

Who helped you find your confidence in the kitchen—and where have you taken that knowledge since?

Through Coeur de Xocolat and Chocolate Safari®, I offer school workshops, professional training, international chocolate consultancy, demonstrations and urban and tropical chocolate experiences. Please get in touch to discuss a programme for your school, college, business or team.