Deborah Hornbeck

Common Threads’ Chef Instructors are professional chefs and teachers, trained in Common Threads’ unique curriculum, who teach the students at each of our thirty sites throughout Chicago, as well as in Los Angeles, Miami and Washington, DC. Chef Instructors nurture and mentor our students, while leading them through the prep, cooking, clean-up and, of course, eating of the three hands-on ethnic recipes each week!

Deborah Hornbeck grew up in upstate New York taking delight in the produce from local dairy farms and apple orchards that were plentiful in the Hudson Valley. She learned from a young age to appreciate fresh and natural ingredients, and gladly helped whatever family member happened to be cooking in the kitchen. Starting from a young age she was always trying out new recipes and subjecting family to her “taste tests.”  After High School, she received a scholarship to Johnson and Wales University in North Miami and fell in love with the cultural diversity and variety of foods available in South Florida. For the past sixteen years she has been working in some of South Florida’s best kitchens learning and expanding her knowledge of the local ingredients.

Recently, she has branched out into teaching adults and children as a way to spend more time with her young son. One endeavor has been working with a local Montessori program on teaching kids from a very young age the sights, smells, and taste of fresh ingredients and foods. Her favorite saying is “It’s not the cost of food that makes it taste good.  It is the love and preparation that gives it the flavor”.    She is also an avid gardener, who grows many of her own herbs, fruits, and vegetables. She is very excited to be working with Common Threads and is excited to share her enthusiasm for good food with even more children.