I founded Kitchen Wizards in October 2001. I’ve always felt that preparing food and feeding people shows love. My work has been a labor of love. My career included working as an elementary teacher and a technical trainer, and I combined my experience as an educator and my passion for cooking and baking to create a business that never feels like work and always gives me joy. My heart is full when I’m teaching and nurturing children. I hope to ignite a love of cooking and baking in the young chefs I meet.  

As a child, I loved to cook and bake with my Mom. Like most little girls, I wanted to be just like Mom. My mother and father are now 93, and I’m so lucky to have them as my parents.  They have been a great match – Dad LOVES to eat, and Mom LOVES to cook and bake. That pairing has served them well for 70 years!

I feel such a sense of warmth when I can feed others. When I was a child, I would chat with my Mom as she cooked dinner – and she’d teach me how to make various recipes that her Mom taught her. It’s so important for families to have traditions, and it seems that our family had a lot that revolved around food.

As an elementary teacher, I taught my “kids” at St. Patrick School in Norristown how to make “Irish potatoes.” Each child would also plant tomato seeds in a cup on the classroom windowsill to celebrate the first day of spring. They’d plant them at home on the last day of school.

As I got older, I cooked and baked for friends and family. Baking Christmas cookies was big in our family, so as an adult, I baked for my loved ones each year – taking vacation time to do what I enjoyed. In my 20s, I was the birthday cake baker for friends at my Friday night hangout (the closest thing to “Cheers” I ever knew). I took many cooking, baking, and candy making classes. I went on vacations where the main focus was cooking classes.  

I want children to grow up and hang out in the kitchen with their own children, showing them how to make their favorite recipes and talking about their children’s day. I never had my own children, so this is my way of ensuring that future generations will have a chance to experience the joy I did when I was a child.

Kitchen Wizards is always looking for like-minded teachers who love children and have a passion for working in the kitchen. If you have teaching experience and wish to join the Kitchen Wizards team of 25 instructors, please send your resume to Kathy at kathy@kitchenwizards.info.

If you want your children to learn an important life skill, connect what they’re learning in school to cooking, perhaps try a new-to-them food, and meet other kids who like to cook, our summer calendar (camps/classes in the Philly suburbs and down the shore) is listed on our website – www.kitchenwizards.info/events.

Have a great summer!

Kathy Wolper, Owner, Kitchen Wizards
www.kitchenwizards.info/events
kathy@kitchenwizards.info
610-348-5284
Instagram:  KitchenWizardKath
Facebook: /KitchenWizards

Photographs provided by Kitchen Wizards.