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"We're not all cut out to be master chefs, and culinary school isn't for everyone. But if you're tired of making mac and cheese in the microwave, taking an online cooking course might just be your kitchen savior. \nDavid Spinks ate McDonald's and not much else for most of his life, then decided to make a change. His solution: founding an online cooking school. Spinks created Feast to find his way around the kitchen and provide a community cooking platform for other culinary novices. \nFeast's goal is to help \"the most average schmoe ... become a more confident, badass cook,\" but also to connect users with other students taking the course. Video tutorials and photos break down each step to the very basics, but students can easily skip around if they've already mastered a particular skill. \nMany online cooking classes can be intense, with quizzes and jargon, Spinks says. \n\"Who wants to learn to cook that way?\" he tells Mashable. \"This is for a person who just wants to be able to feed themselves like a human being.\" \nSEE ALSO: 7 Apps to Help You Cook and Eat Like a Pro\n \nStudents can sign up for four-week classes, and though everyone can view each course at their own pace, each lesson is released to users on the same date to encourage simultaneous participation within the weekly time frame. Participants join a Facebook group where they can share pictures of their creations, tips or issues with their recipe and even get feedback from the chef instructor. \n\"We're creating this really cool education for hands-on life skills \u2014 it should be this really fun, immersive experience,\" Spinks says. \n\"Our goal is for people to come out of this class feeling legitimately comfortable and confident that they\u2019re now ready to explore the food world.\" \nEach lesson (e.g., braising, making stock) includes pictures of the end result for every step. When there's a lull in cooking time, users can watch embedded TED Talks or other food-related video content. Courses cost $60 and are taught by Jeremy Umansky, a chef at Brooklyn Fish Camp and farm manager in the Hudson Valley. \nIn the future, Spinks hopes to expand courses to focus on lifestyles in order to target dietary needs and raise awareness about food issues like production and safety. \n\"If we can teach a million people how to cook, we can solve a lot more problems than just people being able to eat better,\" he says. \nWould you use Feast? Do you use any online cooking classes? Let us know in the comments. \nImage via iStockphoto, Erikona "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/04/10/feast/>