Instructor: Hrant Arakelian and David Wells

For this class we will go over the fundamentals of cooking and growing mushrooms at home to help you put mushrooms at the center of the plate.

The menu will include, Shawarma spiced Mushroom Socca, which is a chickpea flour based cake, a bit more Italian but super easy to make and will really showcase Mushrooms as a meat substitute and its totally gluten free and vegan. We will also make a spicy Zhoug Sauce to go along with it.

The Shawarma spice will be an item guests can take home with them so they can recreate the dish if they choose to.

HRANT ARAKELIAN '97 Chef Owner at Nashville's favorite modern middle eastern restaurant, LYRA, will be leading the cooking components on how to preserve and cook a wide variety of specialty mushrooms.

DAVID WELLS with over 13 years experience as a mushroom farmer at HENOSIS will be teaching the class on how to grow mushrooms at home using low-tech methods for indoor and outdoor cultivation.

Class Fee: $50.00

Materials Fee: $75.00

Age 21 and up.

David Wells

Seeing degraded land and an increased lack of diversity while farming, David Wells felt there was a need to start HENOSIS, a mushroom company that has utilized local by-products from wood mills and coffee shops like Bongo Java to grow mushroom products. As its motto is A Better World from the Ground Up, Henosis partners with arborists such as Knock on Wood and landscaping companies like Nashville Foodscapes to clean water, build soil, and up-cycle wood into mushrooms, as a means to build foundations for diverse and healthy ecosystems while growing delicious healthy food.

From CSA’s to natural dye production, David Wells has been building businesses and communities around sustainable agriculture in Nashville, Tennessee for over ten years. As Garden Coordinator for The CHAMP’s Gardens program at Monroe Carrell Jr’s Children Hospital at Vanderbilt, David helped to create a new agricultural track for both Glencliff and Overton High School. He went on to win Farmer of the Year Award from Margot, a local restaurant, in 2011 and to co-chair the Nashville School Garden Coalition.

Moving to his own farm, Stony Creek, in 2011, he has been building enterprises in natural dyes, assisting in the production of Japanese Indigo with Stony Creek Colors and dedicating part of his time to growing an “Edible Forest Garden” of culinary herbs, vegetables, fruit and nuts for local restaurants like Rolf and Daughters, City House, AVO, Butcher and Bee, and Bastion.

Hrant Arakelian

Hrant Arakelian was born in Lebanon and raised in Muscat, Oman. Before his arrival into professional kitchens, Hrant worked with restauranteur Randy Rayburn at long-time Hillsboro Village staple Sunset Grill. He honed his skills at Flyte World Dining & Wine, and in 2008, Hrant was offered the Sous Chef position at Zola’s. His time spent working under the local legend Deb Paquette led him to management and sous positions at the Amerigo Company and beyond. Hrant has held Sous and Executive Chef positions at Rumours East, Adeles, Butchertown Hall, The Holland House Bar & Refuge, and most recently as Chef de Cuisine at Deb Paquette’s flagship kitchen, Etch.

After almost two decades of honing his skill, Hrant and his wife Liz (industry veteran and long-standing former Beverage Director of East Nashville’s Lockeland Table) finally set out on their own project. Hrant’s passion for the family tradition and food of his childhood matched by Liz’s curious spirit for wine and libations, and their shared dream of bringing modern middle eastern food to their neighbors has delivered Lyra to East Nashville.