Veecoco: Online Vegan Cooking School

I completed the 7-day trial, and this is my review. 

First of all, the website is very clean and intuitive. Once you sign up for the trial, you’re greeted with a personal library of courses. They don’t simply drop 600 lessons at you randomly, which you would then have to navigate. Instead, they offer you a path, starting with a self assessment of your personal skill level. Then they customize each course so that you’re building skills as you learn. At the end of each course in a specific cuisine, you can earn a certificate of completion: this is included in premium membership.

I sometimes find that following a video makes me anxious trying to keep up and, as a result, I forget what I even learned. Veecoco’s approach, on the other hand, is a nice mixture of video classes and written lessons, which makes it easier to learn through different teaching methods. It really makes you feel like you’re taking an online college course where you’re learning the ins and outs of cooking.

The videos are incredibly well-produced–they are on par with other online courses such as MasterClass in quality. The difference is that, in Veecoco’s case, it’s not simply an overview of a famous person in their craft, it’s a deep-dive into the historical significance of a culture and its food, along with an in-depth explanation about the ingredients being used and the purpose behind incorporating them. 

With that said, you don’t have to be a great homecook in order to make any of these dishes. The course starts you off with Italian cuisine, perhaps because it’s the most accessible to most people, vegan or not, who dabble in cooking. Many of the recipes presented were not necessarily purposely vegan, nor did they involve a series of alternatives and substitutes. With the inclusion of  dishes that are incidentally vegan (like tomato soup, pizza dough, pasta, and gnocchi) the courses felt more like organic processes that make sense and harmonize with each other intuitively, rather than scientific experiments where you’re having to mold a meat analogue. 

The next course I did was French cuisine. Perhaps most impressive was Chef Victor creating French pastries. While one can conceptualize using Italian staples and adding a vegan twist, French pastries have a reputation for being decidedly non-vegan (perhaps due to what we always see from TV chefs adding a ton of eggs, milk, cream, etc.) Chef Victor uses gluten-free flours like brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, and soy flour, and the results are astounding. This is no longer simply baking: this is the elegance and beauty of chemistry in its most artistic form. I found learning about the different properties of oils, grains, and gluten-free flours is nothing short of mesmerizing. 

It’s worth noting, mind you, that while the chemistry of what’s happening might be beyond my basic understanding of science, the ingredients themselves are not special-order items. These can be bought at most grocery stores. For example, their recipe for pastry cream is simply a combination of soy milk, coconut oil, sweetener, corn starch, and vanilla–all readily available to most people.

There are more vegan pastry tutorials with plant-based chef, Diana Kronenberg. Going beyond specific recipes, these cover more overarching technical ideas like the use of specific leavening agents and egg substitutes.

Beyond Italian and French, you can also find courses in Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese cuisines. Making Bulgogi with mushrooms and Pajeon with chickpeas are such small changes that are simple, yet effective, that one has to wonder why these aren’t included in a more mainstream approach. Overall, it’s inspiring to see that the course embraces other cuisines beyond a traditional western repertoire, making these tutorials ideal for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of cooking.

A few more examples of their courses:

Mouthwatering Vegan Desserts

Vegan Cheese Made Easy

Vegan Swiss Chocolate & Sweets

Baking With Sourdough

Raw Food Fundamentals

You can even treat someone you love with a Veecoco gift card.

Veecoco is an incredible platform to learn just about anything in vegan cuisine. With over 600 lessons, the premium subscription seems like a no-brainer. During my seven day trial, I felt like I barely scratched the surface of the platform. With workbooks, clear instructions, and incredibly well-produced cooking demonstrations, Veecoco is here to stay, and it will no doubt become a hub of both traditional cuisines and innovation.