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- Wednesday, May 26, 1999 THE O A K V ILLE BEAVER C7 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Lew King of Alternatives Market cooks up a healthy stir-fry. Photo by Ron Kuzyk Fat-free is going out of style By Scott MacArthur SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Lew King, owner of Oakville's renowned Alternatives Market, has been sharing his love of food and knowledge of cooking with our town's citizens for years. "I've been doing cooking classes for about 15 to 18 years," said King. "I've always loved cooking since I started as a teenager. I worked the night shift and so my mom couldn't cook hot meals for m e.. .it was one of the best things to ever happen to me." King, a man who insists on food of the highest quality, runs his cook­ ing classes from September through to May in a side room at Alternatives. "I like to experiment with food, see what works and doesn't work, basically try new things," said King. "I keep on top of food trends, what's happening with food, where it's com­ ing from and where it's raised." The classes usually take place on Tuesday nights and Saturday morn­ ings, and are attended by people of all ages who want to learn how to cook and more important­ ly, how to eat better. "The demo­ graphics are changing a lot," said King. "More men are coming, and we're seeing a lot more young couples showing up who want to learn." The classes are primarily vegetarian and tend to be theme related. Exam­ ples include a Thai food class for those with spicy appetites, an Italian class for pasta lovers, and a variety of hands-on class­ es, which range from bread-mak­ ing to soup-mak­ ing. "I prefer to do themes than a big dinner where it's an appetizer, main course and then dessert," said King. "For example, in the Thai class, I'll do four or five main entrees, or maybe three entrees and two desserts. It allows people to take the recipes home and expand on them and not just have one meal, but have a week's worth of meals." King teaches almost all his classes, but will occasionally bring in guest chefs for differ­ ent viewpoints. "We've had Michael (Killip), the executive chef at Paradiso, come in before," King said. King points out a surprising devel­ opment in today's dietary trends, the fact that fat-free is going out of style. "There are a couple of reasons for this," he said. "First, we need fat in our diets, and second, quality fats taste good. People are just tired of bland." King's wife, Lorrie, started Alter­ natives 22 years ago as a buying club. The Kings have been at their current Kerr Street location for 10 years, after being forced to move from their Reynolds Street store due to the town's purchase of the land for the Cornwall Road extension. Alternatives boasts about 60 to 70 fresh items daily, compiled from not only King himself, but other store employees, as well. For more details on Alternatives' cooking classes, call 844-2375. H ealth departm ent supports classes (Continued from page C8) never more than 20 ....We prepare the food and at the end we have a feast. We eat it all. And everybody takes home a recipe," says Hanna, adding that the participants often pick the topic for the class. "Customers picked four of their Paradiso favourites, and we had one class called Kitchen Secrets - sauces, dressings, vinegars and oils. That's something they made and kept." Hanna says she also will be offer­ ing a couple of cooking classes in con­ junction with the Halton Health Department, focusing on nutrition and healthy eating. "The Health department is your best friend, a natural liaison. It has the resources to educate," she says. "Too many people who talk about nutrition talk about it as a form of denial. You don't have to give up the pleasure of eating in order to be healthy." For more information on Paradiso's cooking classes, call 338-1594. Sway, Swing & Step to the Neighbourhood Beat Dance-a-way the day as CH W O radio host Jim Paulson broadcasts live from the mall and plays your old favorites during Hopedales' Tea Dance. Thursday, May 27 2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Centre Court •Dancing Demonstrations by Arthur Murray Dance School •Spot Dances, Prizes courtesy of Big K Music •"Pajama Game" Theatre Tickets •Give-a-ways •Free Coffee &. Tea •Blue Jay Tickets Plus lots of other prizes to be won. Sponsered by Hopedale Mall &. chwtmso Everyone is Welcome! G o o d Hoixhbours K n « " ' H opedale Mall 3rd Line & Rebecca 827-0229 www.hopedalemall.on.ca Shop: Mon. - I ri. - 9 : 10 .on to 9:00 pm • Sat. - 9 : 50 am to 6:00 pm • Suit - Noun to 5:00 pm Cable's the home of innovation. It's brought you basic channels, specialty channels, Pay Per View, high speed Internet access and more. Cable Solutions And we're constantly upgrading to make it even better. In the future, you can expect things like telephony, digital television and music, video-on-demand, web browsing, interactive TV and games. All through your cable. So stay tuned. And get ready for the future. t f f ' A \ r ' r \ r ' m \ z r n C A B L E S O L U T I O N S vm vxv. c o g e c o . c a » http://www.hopedalemall.on.ca