StemChef

StemChef was founded with a vision to inspire children to love and appreciate science and math through “experimental” cooking. They turn daily cooking and eating into curiosity-filled culinary experiments, where every class is completed with a new recipe, a new scientific principle and a new mathematical concept.

The Stemchef programs are new approaches to STEM (Science, Technology , Engineering and Mathematics) learning for children through food and cooking.Curiosity and learning have no bounds. However, their program is designed for children between 5 and 10 years of age and adolescents between 11 and 15 years of age. Classes are divided according to the age and skill level of each child.

Textbook learning is becoming worldly, especially for young children. StemChef makes science and math both fun and relatable as children learn by following yummy recipes and getting messy.

About the Founder and her Story

Ashie Bhandiwad holds a PhD in engineering at Dartmouth College. In her previous life, Ashie worked at the UC Berkeley Energy Biosciences Institute to produce renewable energy. Ashie lives with her husband and daughter in San Ramon and never misses the Saturday Farmer’s Market.

It’s been quite a journey from a bio-scientist to a new mom to a scientist-chef. It wasn’t until her four-year – old daughter discovered that she had a passion for teaching science to children as much as she had a passion for hard-core science. And all of this started at the dinner table.

At dinner time every night, her daughter would ask her questions about the food in front of her. And every night, she ‘d demonstrate a science or math lesson in the explanation of her question. Innovative STEM teaching, besides being a full-time scientist at UC Berkeley, became her part-time job. Every night, she explored a new hands-on lesson with her daughter: how the bread puffs up, why the pasta turns soft when cooked and the egg hard when cooked, what gives the lemons their sour taste, or her favorite, when the jell-o sets. Teaching STEM concepts to her daughter and then eating the results was inexplicably rewarding. She is putting together these tried, tested, and tasted experimental experiences in bite sized culinary programs for kids to enjoy.