About Camp Culinary
Hey Folks,
Welcome to Camp Culinary! My name is Michael DeBoer and I love to cook. I’ve spent years as a professional chef running high-end kitchens in restaurants in Boulder/Denver area, and as a Sous Chef and around the country. It was fun, demanding work but, as I got older, I wanted to do something more meaningful and family friendly.
I love teaching people how easy, fun and rewarding it is to cook. I envisioned in-home cooking classes that would reach people at a young age and help them feel more comfortable in their kitchens. So, I left the world of professional cooking and launched my dream business, Camp Culinary, in 2008.
We started out teaching classes to children, but soon their parents got into the act and I found myself doing cooking parties for adults. Those are a lot of fun and we still do a number of those per month, all over the Boulder and up and down the front range..
Last year, by popular demand, we introduced culinary team-building events into our Camp Culinary menu. We found that our teaching methodologies and philosophy translates naturally into creative and useful activities for nonprofits, corporations and groups that want to learn how to work together.
One of the ways Camp Culinary gives back to the community is by volunteering at the Boulder Farmers’ Market, which we’ve done for the past three years. We give free cooking demos at least four times a month throughout the spring, summer and fall. Part of our mission is to promote the farmer’s wares by showing people what’s fresh and how best to prepare it. Most recently, we’ve launched a You Tube channel so people everywhere can get a taste for cooking through Camp Culinary.
Camp Culinary had room to grow, so last year I got married and brought my wife and stepson into the business. Lori does the marketing and helps with sales and Max helps out at the Farmer’s Market.
When we’re not running Camp Culinary, I like to hang out with my family and my four parrots. I grew up in Boulder, and graduated from Fairview High School in 1986, so I have a heap of relatives in the area.
We have as much fun when we’re not cooking as when we are, so it’s never a dull moment with us. Hope you’ll book a Camp Culinary event with us so we can add you to our extended circle of family and friends!
Keep on cooking!
Michael
FAQs
Where did you learn to cook?
I have a solid educatonal when it comes to cooking. Not only am I a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park New York (1994), but I also took the extra step of completing a two year classical apprenticeship at the Flagstaff House, a four-star, four-diamond restaurant in Boulder. Most chefs either go to school or do an apprenticeship, not both. My real education in food began when I visited my grandparents on the farm in Iowa. My grandmother loved to cook to feed her family and I loved to eat her food so much that I had to learn to make it myself. Once, my cousin and I were so hot on sweetcorn that we lugged a huge pot of water into the cornfield and started a small fire there, with the intention of boiling us up some sweetcorn. There was more smoke than flames, so my Grandmpa and Uncle Thor busted us.
My stepfather is Chinese, so I also learned how to make a mean eggroll, which has become one of the standard and most loved-Camp Culinary class.
Where else have you cooked?
I’ve worked as a consultant for the launch of the Palms Restaurant in Borrego Springs, California, Regionally, I was the chef for the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House, the Greenbriar Inn, the Red Lion, Spruce Confections and La Coupole Café. Out East, I’ve cooked at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York, the Jasmine Café in Reston, Virginia, the Tidewater Inn in Easton, Maryland, and Macy’s Cellar in New York, New York.
Can anyone learn how to cook?
Yes, if they care about it and learn to relax and have fun.
What’s different about Camp Culinary?
We teach methodology and not recipes.
Camp Culinary in the News
Read about Camp Culinary in the Boulder County Business Report
Listen to an interview with Michael on the NPR affiliate, KRRC.
Read about Camp Culinary's holiday cooking classes in Claire Walter's Culinary Colorado.
Also featured in Edible Front Range, Boulder County Kids and Mile High on the Cheap.
