Andrea Montague-Doghan, a Leiths Online's Alumna, chats with us about her journey completing the Essential accreditation and learning online.
Leiths Online alumna Andrea Montague-Doghan fitted her Essential Cooking course in around moving house. We spoke to her about her Leiths journey and her experience of gaining accreditation at Leiths School of Food and Wine in London.
What was your motivation to do the Leiths course?
I found Leiths Online through Google searches when I was looking for online cooking courses during lockdown. I have a passion for cooking and wanted to formalise that passion and give myself a good solid basis in the basics of cooking so I can decide what to do potentially in a food career later.
How did you find the app learning experience?
I found it a really easy interface to use. You could look at all the modules that were coming up and learn step by step in a really visual way how to cook each item. It got progressively more advanced as I went through but because you’re seeing the food each time and the individual steps each time, you feel like you’re really able to keep moving on and advancing with the course.
How long did it take you to complete the Essential Course?
It took me around eight months to complete the Essential Course online. I probably could have done it a little faster but because you have such flexibility, I took a little bit of a break halfway through as I was moving house, before carrying on with the second half.
How helpful did you find it to work with a mentor?
My mentor was Ali. She was really great at answering any questions that I had. There were some modules that I found particularly difficult and I would just ask her questions and she was incredibly responsive, really good at giving feedback on what my food looked like and at giving tips on how to make certain things better next time and why things went wrong.
How did you find being in a small cohort?
My cohort was around ten people and we set up a WhatsApp group so we stayed in contact throughout the course and even after the course. We’ve all stayed in touch to find out who’s doing something in food or what they’re going to do next. Every time that someone has cooked something from the course, we put it on the WhatsApp group. It ends up being quite an intimate group that you get to know really well.
What courses have you taken with us?
I took the Online Essential Cooking Course with Leiths Online. I’d love to do other courses afterwards but that’s where I decided to start.
Would you recommend Leiths Online?
I would absolutely recommend Leiths Online. If you want to get your foot in the door with understanding the basics of cooking or getting an idea about a future career in food or just as a hobby, absolutely I’d recommend Leiths Online.
What’s next for you?
I’ve now done the online course and the assessment day. It is absolutely fantastic to see your mentors in person and actually get to apply everything you’ve learned online and be tested to see that you have learned a lot over the time period of the course. [Going to Leiths for the two-day assessment] has given me a lot more ideas and options about what to do next.
