Sprout duo shouts the praises of healthy eating in flashy new cooking school

THEMIS Chryssidis and Callum Hann put the spotlight on South Australian produce in their new Hilton-based health complex and cooking school.

IT’S a touch of MasterChef, right in the heart of Adelaide — but instead of TV ratings and high drama, its ethos is healthy eating and hearty cooking.

Dietitian Themis Chryssidis, 29, and 2010 MasterChef runner-up Callum Hann, 24, open the doors to their Sprout complex later this month. For the past three years the pair have been running cooking classes around Adelaide under the Sprout banner but outgrew that arrangement as a result of increased demand.

“Sprout has always been about home cooking,” Mr Chryssidis said.

“We’ve always wanted our own facilities and there’s nothing else like this. Other large kitchens around Adelaide tend to be more commercial kitchens, designed for students who are training to work in a restaurant environment but here everyone learns to cook in a domestic kitchen environment using appliances and equipment they already have at home.”

Classes kick off with Sports Nutrition on September 3.

“We’ve run classes in kitchens all over the country and it gave us a really good idea of how a kitchen should run for hands-on cooking classes,” Mr Hann said.

The site, located on Sir Donald Bradman Drive in Hilton, has a 5m-long wooden bench and demonstration stage that looks out over 12 stainless steel work tops, Miele ovens and induction cooktops, fridges, a herb garden and chill out area.

There’s also a dining room, conference space and consulting rooms home to dietary consulting practice Nutrition Studio, Peter Kipreou’ Elite Physiotherapy. Future plans include a diabetes educator, a podiatrist, a psychologist and an exercise physiologist.

Facilities will also be used for food-based launches, high profile chef events, corporate catering and school and university programs. Curriculum-based workshops run for one to five days and cover everything from healthy shopping to the preparation of a three-course meal.

The two mates were this year’s Australian Healthy Weight Week ambassadors and helped run recruitment days for Jamie Oliver’s soon to open Adelaide restaurant Jamie’s Italian but the cooking school is their biggest achievement yet.

“Being able to open our cooking school to the public like this is by far the proudest moment of my life,” Hann said.

“I can’t wait to get people in here.”