*An additional fee of $20 for food materials is due at the first class payable to the instructor. Based on her newly minted podcast with American Public Television, Claudia shares fun facts and tasty recipes that will premier in Season One of her new PBS show. If This Food Could Talk: A History Show for Everyone who Eats is a brand new, family-friendly podcast series that transports listeners back in time to learn the origin stories of some of today's most beloved and delicious dishes from around the world. Host and Executive Producer Claudia created the series to share her culinary knowledge and passion with a much broader audience across the country. By partnering with APT to produce an on-demand series of 30-minute, food-focused episodes-covering everything from fermented foods to Napoleon Pizza & Persian Flatbread -she aims to cultivate a worldly group of foodies who approach global cuisine-and culture-with open minds. Each class will go into the rich history of some of our favorite foods: think modern day coffeehouses and how they transformed European modern history; the very accidental discovery of yogurt thousands of years ago on the Silk Road; or how Persian soldiers created the very first pizza using their shields on an open fire while waiting for war to break. Each class will be historical in nature, but will be accompanied by a tasty recipe or two - so we can replicate the Persian pizza with goat cheese and dates. I hope you consider trying/tasting/joining in the discussion that will change the way many Americans approach our kitchen table. Claudia Hanna is the Creator, Executive Producer, and Host of If This Food Could Talk: A History Show for Everyone Who Eats, food history show with APT Podcast Studios. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and MBA in Corporate Finance from Emory University. She was a Management Consultant and Finance professional for years before slipping off the power suits and donning flip flops and beach sarongs for a simpler, healthier life in Cyprus. She now writes her own blog (Live Like a Goddess), is a Lifestyle Writer for Mind Body Green, C’ville Weekly, Women Who Lives on Rocks, Expats.com, and Sivana Spirit. A serial entrepreneur, Claudia founded Athena’s Bump, a maternal nutrition company focusing on customized nutrition for the four stages of pregnancy (from preconception to postpartum). The smart app was designed for the FEMTECH market and focused on providing education, resources, and delivered foods to expecting families. Athena’s Bump has secured nearly $2 million in early funding. Claudia was taught to cook by her two Mediterranean mothers: her own Egyptian & Greek Mom, Kamilia, and her Cypriot Mother-in-Law Tulin. She has taken her love for authentic Mediterranean cooking to the classroom, where she teaches Eat Like a Greek cooking class at the University of Virginia and James Madison University, where she is Faculty. She teaches people ages 5 – 80+ in a simple, comprehensive and easy to follow steps for developing a healthy palate using natural, local and sustainable products. Claudia loves leading culinary and cultural tours to Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, and Egypt where she enjoys sharing the warm culture and foods of these ancient lands. Quadra-lingual in Arabic, Greek, Turkish and English, Claudia loves sharing food history, language, culture and leans on her expertise, contacts across the globe for a truly authentic experience to her guests.