It’s mid-December and New Year's resolutions are top of mind for your customers. Chances are that at the top of those Things-to-Change lists is eating/diet. So when veggie chef extraordinaire Chad Sarno filled us in on a new online professional cooking course he’s offering, we knew our readers and natural products retailers would love to learn more, 

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The 120-hour Plant-Based Professional Cooking Course uses videos, chats, interactive classes, e-mail and other online tools to teach plant-based cooking. What’s plant-based cooking? Essentially, learning all the ways you can prepare fresh produce, legumes, beans—basically any non-animal edibles.

The more we learn about health, the more we know that a plant-centric diet is best. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat meat, fish or dairy, just that your diet should be plant heavy. This intensive course is broken down into 19 units that include basics like knife skills all the way up to plant-based entertaining. Because it’s video-based, you can do most of the four to five hours of weekly course work on your own schedule.

The course is designed for cooking newbies and veterans who want to increase their plant-based cooking skills, according to Sarno. “This is a foundational course, geared toward anyone that is a serious cook, passionate about health, or an existing chef wanting to jump into veg. We cover all aspects of cooking plants, cooked to raw, comfort to therapeutic,” he says. The chef assures us that vegetarian cooks won’t be bored. “No matter what your current experience is with vegetarian, the course is focused on technique; even the simplest technique and methodology of why we do certain cooking methods is very valuable for anyone.”

Chances are that many of the raw cooking techniques and material, like plating and meal planning, will benefit all levels. Upon finishing the course, participants receive a certificate of completion, making it worthwhile for even professional chefs.

While this course is new, the school offering it, Rouxbe, is not. Founded in 2005, it is the first comprehensive online cooking school. Its format allows users to learn a specific cooking technique, such as How to Brine or How to Pan Fry, whenever desired. The new plant-based course is its first foray into dedicated healthy cooking material. In 2014 it will launch more health-targeted classes, such as cooking for autoimmune conditions and healthy kids.

If you’re serious about bringing healthier eating into your home or just honing your cooking skills, or want to encourage a friend or loved one to do so, this class could be just the thing. Sarno assures us that it will be a “blast.”

For more information about the class, such as cost and commitment, click here.