Trailblazing Sunfired Culinary Institute Expands

The Sun-fired Foods Culinary Institute is blazing a trail and creating a gastronomical movement in Grand Cayman, with the demo and food preparation classes, phase now in full swing.

Located at Palm Heights’ Coconut Club on the Seven Mile Beach - formally know as Beach Suites - the Institute is where Dr. Aris Latham and his world-renowned brand of healthy eating are making a notable impact. His tried and tested wisdom relating to plant-based, ‘sun-cooked’ foods is a mix of nutrition and artistry.

As a result of the growing demand for good food and a healthier lifestyle, he is already fully operational and students, as well as residents can either visit his special spread on Thursday and Sundays or enroll in online classes or in-person.

With a new classroom, service-area and demo lounge right on the seaside of Cayman’s most popular strip of sand, there is a hive of activity on the beach when the action gets started and much to see and learn.

“We are launching an online institute on the 1st of January, when people will be able to enroll. The first LIVE sessions/classes start on 5th January from 9am to 12pm. It’s complimentary for the first month and then there’s a small monthly fee,” noted Dr. Aris.

Sessions are also recorded, so if one is unable to make the times for the class, they can still access the sessions online. More details about the online institute program can be found on sunfired.com.

Classes for residents are set for the second Wednesday of every month from 9am to 12pm and 6pm to 9pm.

The three hour classes feature special recipes and the full science behind the foods and how they are prepared, as well as meals. Details can be found at palmheights.com.

An ever expanding list of clients and students is testament to Dr. Aris’ approach to cuisine and the relevance of his philosophy, which steadily continues to grow in notoriety and influence.

Thousands following on social media around the world also have the opportunity to see Dr. Aris at work against the backdrop of Cayman’s turquoise Seven Mile Beach, as he is streaming live on Facebook and Instagram.

He can often be seen giving LIVE demos and mini-lectures about how the food is prepared and what each dish consists of.

“It’s a sun-fired, gourmet, street-food scene at the beach, highlighting local produce and creating exciting dishes on a daily basis,” exclaimed Dr. Aris. “It’s where you get to see food create in a special way and learn while the food is being prepared.

There is actually no fire used at all and all the recipes reveal ways in which to use plant-based foods that are not only extraordinarily healthy but also really quite unique. The food Dr. Aris prepares is not cooked in a traditional sense.

His philosophy means that he relies on the sun to cook the foods through a plant’s natural growing process to maturity; hence the moniker ‘sun-cooked’ foods.

In many circles this way of eating is referred to as a raw-food diet but Dr. Aris elaborated, “We don’t always use the word ‘raw’ because there tends to be a connotation that the food is unprepared and nothing could be further from the truth.”

In fact much of the spread consists of dishes that can take hours to make. Whether it be using lime and coconut or apple and ginger in the combination, Dr. Aris rarely repeats the same dish twice because of the vast variety of foods that allow him to use the farm to table selections to create inconceivable artistry with fruits, vegetables, roots and natural herbs.

He is essentially an alternative artist, using his outdoor food pantry as a painter would wield his brush; only instead, summoning elaborate spreads of Island delights.

Students can also opt in to Dr. Aris’ food certification course at sunfired.com. Space for this class is limited to 6 persons per session.