About Us
Who is the Cooking Professor?
The Principal of the Cooking Professor's Cooking School is Peter Kenyon.
Peter lives in Northbridge with his wife Jan, a cat called Shiraz and a number of goldfish. Peter imagines himself as a pretty good cook. When he was a uni student, he began to get interested in cooking, at first out of necessity because his Mum was a long way away, but then as a passion because he just loved the process of cooking and the entertaining which followed.
When he was a graduate student, he worked at the prestigious C&O Restaurant in Charlottesville, Virginia in the USA. On returning to Australia he became an enthusiastic amateur cook and went to many cooking classes around Perth, as well as becoming a cooking book tragic. In 2004, Peter took long service leave from his real job and lived a long-held dream of working in the kitchen of one of Perth's premier fine dining restaurants. He spent three months in the kitchen at the Loose Box Restaurant. His cooking career continued in 2005 when he cooked for the Linari International Classical Music Festival in Tuscany in Italy. He returned to Linari in 2006 to cook for the Festival. Peter has also cooked for John Maiorana's Italian Cooking Classes as one of John's assistants.
He has won two recipe competitions, one for 'Delicious' Magazine (October 2005) and another for Le Paris Brest's Gourmet Night customers' recipe competition. He regularly cooks for friends' dinner parties, weddings and other functions.
Peter also loves wine (too much, perhaps?) and has a very nice cellar. With friends, he makes one barrique of red wine per year. Apart from growing the grapes, he and his friends do all the winemaking from picking and crushing to bottling in a garage in suburban Attadale. All concerned think the wine is nearly as good as Grange!
In his 'real job', Peter is Professor of Economic Policy at Curtin University of Technology.
Sophie Budd
One of the highlights for the Cooking School has been the arrival of our Jamie Oliver chef, Sophie Budd. Sophie is a Kentish girl via Cornwall and has over thirteen years experience as a chef in restaurants and cafes in England and in Perth. She is on a working holiday in Australia (although with a bit of luck, she may become an Aussie!). Sophie has joined the Cooking School to have some fun and teach. Sophie is extremely well qualified, having been a Training Chef at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Restaurant in Cornwall where she trained the apprentices in all aspects of commercial cookery. She has also worked with celebrity chef, Rick Stein at his seafood restaurant also in Cornwall. Sophie is a gifted teacher and is especially interested in Pasta and Risotto and all things Italian.
Riki Kaspi
Riki was born in Israel, into a multicultural environment that revolved around food. Her Mother was from Turkey and came from a family of dedicated and intuitive home cooks. “There were no recipe books,” says Riki. “Recipes had always been handed down orally.” After training as a chef, Riki travelled with her jazz saxophonist husband, Heni, and worked in restaurants around France. Whilst expanding her French cuisine repertoire, she developed the idea of establishing her own French-style ‘Bistro’. When she and Heni immigrated to Australia, she realised her dream by taking over Riki Blake's North Perth Café where she won critical acclaim for her cosy, intimate and buzzy little place specialising in North African and Middle eastern cuisine. Riki and Heni sold the cafe early in 2009 and embarked on travel again to Europe and the Middle East. And then one day, she called on the Cooking Professor's Cooking School to enquire as to whether she might continue the cooking classes she had started at Blake's. So Riki is the most recent welcome addition to the teachers at The Cooking Professor's Cooking School.
Sunny De Ocampo
Born to a family of restaurateurs in the Philippines, Sunny found himself drawn to the kitchen at an early age. He joined local cooking schools at the age of 8 and then migrated with his family to Western Australia, joining Perth’s Parmelia Hilton as an apprentice. It wasn’t long before he became Head Chef at the Hilton’s Globe Restaurant. Eager for adventure and stories to add to his cooking, he then traveled extensively, working in kitchens all over the world. This is where he finds his inspiration in his cooking today, the international flavors reflecting his journey. Sunny now passionately promotes his ‘eatgoodlife” philosophy, an encapsulation of healthy eating in a fun environment, sharing his knowledge through cooking shows and classes, cookbooks and magazines. His teaching inspires and his enthusiasm is infectious and so he is one of the most popular teachers at The Cooking Professor's Cooking School.
