'Be in the Kitchen' Specialist Online Cookery School with

Be Kassapian

About Be

Cook with Purpose, Eat with Joy.

With over 30 years experience as a professional chef, teacher and demonstrator, Be Kassapian helps you develop the skills to create wholesome, energizing meals.

A brief bio....

"I teach and inspire teenagers to cook with fun and enthusiasm,

providing skills for life and the opportunity to enjoy a lifetime of great health!"

Be graduated from Leith's School of Food & Wine in 1986 as ‘Best All-Round Graduate’.

She travelled as private chef, and spent 2 years with Albert Roux in his London restaurants, including Le Gavroche. A year followed as private chef on board ' 94' classic yacht, fulfilling her world travel dream. In London she set up restaurants at Health and Fitness Clubs before returning as senior teacher and demonstrator to Leith's, co-writing Leith's Seasonal Bible.

She gained her PGCE (DTLLS) in 2012 and created Be in the Kitchen Cookery School leaning towards food for health. In 2015 she was awarded Leatherhead & District Business Person of the Year, also running her Vitality Group for 3 years. She became an AAP for DofE Awards Scheme in 2019, providing online cookery courses.

In 2023, she graduated from the College of Naturopathic Medicine with a diploma as naturopathic nutrition therapist. Her role as specialist cookery teacher includes students with autism and anxiety. She is married to Mark, has three adult children and lives in Surrey with dog, Ivy.

If you'd like to find out more, scroll on down...

Read on

for the

nitty gritty!

Be's Career

I was born to cook and it was a given that I would train to become a professional chef, first at Leiths School of Food & Wine and then, 2 years with Albert Roux in his London restaurants including Le Gavroche.

Working as a female chef during this era was tricky. I made a lifestyle decision to leave the male-dominated, unsociable, underground world of the professional restaurant chef to allow travel, marriage and family - it worked! (Gordon Ramsay stayed at Le Gavroche and managed it all brilliantly!)

Leith's invited me back to teach in my mid 20's and this progressed to a love of demonstrating. I have had a long-standing professional relationship with the school, including as their specialist 'Free-From' senior teacher.

During my 30's I tucked my 3 young children into bed and spent a few years having fun working in direct sales for The Pampered Chef, an American company selling amazingly brilliant kitchen utensils. It was a fun time and they are very much missed in the UK. When the kids stopped going to bed at 7pm, it was time to get back to my roots!

I had in mind that teaching in schools would be the way forward, with Leith's being too far to travel, and spent 2 years gaining my DTLLS (PGCE) at Brooklands College, Weybridge. I was delighted to be qualified to teach, but the restrictive nature of the school environment and a beautiful new kitchen, with Aga, led to me starting 'Be in the Kitchen Cookery School' in 2014. Hurray!

Nutrition and Health

The passion for health began...

Struggling to make progress with my health from GPs, various consultants and traditional medicine, I began my journey into nutritional therapy. As I learnt all I could about the 'free from' world, I shared my knowledge with eager clients in my Vitality Group. This group empowered my clients to understand how to look after themselves, by incorporating holistic training and developing community.

The downward spiral...

However, things changed. Despite being fit and strong, eating amazingly, doing all the mindful things one should do, I lost all my energy and couldn't work. My GP left me with some final words: "I'm sorry, there is nothing wrong with you, I hope you find a way to live". I looked at my life and decided that there definitely was something to be done and enrolled with CNM.

Recovery...

Covid provided a wonderful umbrella for me to recover. I turned my DofE cookery skills classes into an online business and took great delight in teaching professionally at great value, reaching more students without losing energy!

The upward journey...

I assigned myself to a wonderful Functional Medicine practitioner who went through everything systematically with me and ultimately gave me a last piece of advice: "Deal with your stress or you will not get better". She was absolutely right and the rest is history.

So in 2022 I gained my 3 year diploma as a nutrition therapist with the College of Naturopathic Medicine.

Along the way I found myself drawn to particular areas of health:

Reversing Alzheimer's
I follow the outstanding work of Dr. Dale Bredesen who has done unprecented work on reversing Alzheimer's disease. Do read his books, and then have a go at this brain test...

Cancer
There is no doubt that if you have cancer, then the incredible NHS care and medicine available is critical. However, with the disease coming to 1 in 2 of us, prevention will always be better than cure. I have attended numerous CPD events on this subject, and have several contacts and recommendations for those wishing to protect and support themselves.
There is so much we can do to look after ourselves, but we need to be proactive and my friends and clients have found this information invaluable.
Click the 'contact' link at the top of this page if you would like this information sheet.
Gut Health and Paleo Keto
Gut health has been my genetic weak link and the greatest person I have found to support that is the wonderful Dr Sarah Myhill Mb Bs. I love the Paleo Keto diet that she promotes as the best way of keeping disease at bay and for long-term health. You will find many historic videos on my Paleo Keto Party Facebook page.