Kasma's Thai Cooking Class Policies & Enrollment

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Enroll – Series

1. Read all policies (see below).

2. Cost is $180 for a 4-class series; $185 for Advanced.

4. Contact Kasma by email (best) or phone. We'll let you know if there's a space available.

5. We ask for full payment within 14-days of acceptance to hold a spot.

6. Refunds (less a $35 processing fee) are issued if you notify us at least two weeks before the first class date. After that, nothing is refundable.

7. Make sure we have a current email and phone number for you.

Enroll – Weeklong

1. Read all policies (see below).

2. Cost is $650 for a weeklong class.

3. Check prerequisites & schedule.

4. Contact Kasma by email (best) or phone. We'll let you know if there's a space available.

5. A $150 deposit within 14-days of acceptance holds a spot. Final payment is due 45 days before the first (Monday) class.

6. Refunds (less a $50 processing fee) are issued if you notify us at least 45 days before the Monday class. After that, nothing is refundable.

7. Make sure we have a current email and phone number for you.

Policies – Series

Cost: $180 for four-week, 4-session series; $185 for Advanced series. Fee applies to a specific series only and is non-transferable.

Location and size: Held in a private kitchen in Oakland, CA (across the bay from San Francisco) with a limit of 13.

Class format is mostly hands-on (less so in the Beginning Series).

Hours:

Classes start at 6:00 p.m.
Classes end when clean-up is done. Varies by group, questions asked and time spent enjoying a meal. Beginning end time is usually 10:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m., intermediate classes 10:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and advanced classes 10:30 p.m. or later.
Please be flexible in your planning so that you can stay until clean-up is complete.

Attendance: The series of four classes is intended for one participant. If you have to miss a class you may not send someone in your place.

Make-up Policy: You can make up a missed class on a "space available" basis for no charge ($0) only if you give us at least two days advance notice before the missed class. If you give less than two days notice, you must ask to be put on the make-up list and there will be a $30.00 food & handling fee. It may be some time (a year or more) before you have an opportunity to make-up a class.

Spiciness: Many authentic Thai dishes are spicy/hot. Kasma tries to spice according to students' heat level but certain dishes can not be made without a modicum of spiciness (heat). If you are unable to eat reasonably spicy food (3 or 4 on a scale of 1 to 10) there will be dishes that you will not be able to eat.

Clean-up: Students are asked to clean-up as they go. All class members help during and after the class. Please be flexible in your planning so that you can stay until clean-up is complete. (See note on end time, above.)

Policies – Weeklong

Cost: $650 for a weeklong class (5-days, Monday through Friday). Fee applies to a specific series only and is non-transferable.

Location and size: Held in a private kitchen in Oakland, CA (across the bay from San Francisco) with a limit of 13.

Class format is mostly hands-on.

Hours:

Start Time:

Monday: 8:30 a.m. (First Week) or 9:00 a.m. (Advanced)
Tues. – Thurs.: 9:30 a.m.
Friday: 8:15 a.m. field trip in Oakland's Chinatown.

End Time: It is difficult to give an exact ending time for the classes as it depends on the make-up of the group and on how many questions are asked. It is best to just plan to be here until the end of the day. Approximate end time is 4:30/5:30 p.m. for Monday through Thursday and 5:30/6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Attendance: The 5 classes during the week are intended for one participant only. If you have to miss a class you may not send someone in your place.

Make-up Policy: There is no provision for missed weeklong classes.

Spiciness: Authentic Thai food is by nature spicy and this class will teach you to cook authentic Thai as it is found in Thailand, which may be different from Westernized Thai food served in many American Thai restaurants. You should be able to tolerate a spiciness/heat level of at least 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, otherwise there will be many dishes you will not be able to eat.

Special Dietary Needs: Kasma is unable to accommodate special dietary needs. Dishes are taught as written, without substitutions. Authentic Thai food can include shrimp, chicken, catfish, pork, beef and squid, to name a few. Fish sauce is used is nearly all the dishes. The cooking oil is peanut oil. For vegetarians.

Note on Food: Kasma believes strongly in the value of traditional and traditionally raised whole foods. We use organic vegetables, when possible as well as meat and poultry raised naturally without antibiotics. We recommend The Weston A. Price Foundation for nutritional information.

Vegetarian Classes

Kasma does not teach vegetarian classes – she teaches traditional, authentic Thai cooking. Thailand does not have much of a vegetarian tradition (aside from a very small Buddhist sect, far outside of mainstream Thai cuisine). The most important food in Thailand, after rice, is seafood. (See A Seafood Culture, from Kasma's book Dancing Shrimp.) There is an old Thai proverb that says: "To eat rice is to eat fish." Probably the most important single ingredient in Thai cooking is fish sauce.

If you are a vegetarian these classes may or may not be appropriate for you. If you eat fish and seafood of all kinds (particularly fin fish, shrimp and squid/cuttlefish) you should have no problem taking the classes, getting enough to eat and participating in many of the exercises in harmonizing flavors that lie at the heart of Kasma's teaching; there will be many dishes that you will not be able to eat or taste, however.

If you are a vegan or do not eat fish and shellfish, these classes are not for you as you would be unable to taste any of the food or participate in any of the tasting exercises. Kasma does not provide information about "substitutes" that would allow a vegan to adapt her recipes because, to her, there are no substitutes if you want authentic Thai flavors and authentic Thai food.

Many people think that because Thailand is a Buddhist country that there is a strong vegetarian tradition. This is not the case. Just as among devout Tibetan Buddhists, Thai monks and religious lay Buddhists eat a wide variety of meats and seafoods. We invite you to read the Story of Dancing Shrimp to understand some of the Thai attitude toward eating living food. The following quote is from page 165 of Kasma's book It Rains Fishes:

Most indigenous cultures of the world hold a deep respect for the spirit of the animal that is slaughtered for food. They observe that humans do not exist on their own accord without the existence of everything else, and because all living things must eat to live, something must die in order that life can be sustained. Life and death are inextricably intertwined and inseparable. Death, as such, is never final as the spirit of the food that has sacrificed its life continues to live on in the body of another form of life. The slaughtering of animals for food, therefore, becomes a ritualistic act, done with much reverence and a depth of understanding of the interrelationship between life and death.

In midday meal ceremonies held in some Thai monasteries, the meal is prefaced with a prayer, inviting the spirits of the life forms that have been sacrificed for food, to live on and bless the people who partake of them. The monks pray to be worthy of the food, to become healthy and strong and to use the vitality gained for the benefit of all sentient beings.

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