Women's Equality Day: Special Cooking Workshops

Women’s Equality Day falls on August 26th. As our Women’s Equality Day page states it, the date commemorates the anniversary of the certification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. It was first officially recognized in 1971, and it remains a marker of both the suffrage movement’s achievements and the work still outstanding in the workplace, in education and in politics.

Plenty of companies mark the date with a slide. If you would rather mark it with something your team does together for an hour, Rockoly runs three workshops for it — and the reason they are worth booking is that none of the food was invented for the occasion. Every dish on the list traces back to Fannie Farmer or Julia Child.

Three workshops, and where the recipes come from

The collection is deliberately narrow. In the page’s own words, the workshops are “culinary delights inspired by iconic women chefs, such as Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cream Pie, Julia Child’s French Omelet and Gougeres, and Julia Child’s French Crepes with Strawberries.” That is the whole list — three sessions, two women, no theme layered on top.

Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cream Pie — 90 minutes

Boston Cream Pie is described on the card as “a delicious dessert with a deceptive name.” The same card sets out where the recipe comes from: “Follow this recipe from Fannie Farmer’s The Boston Cooking School, the predecessor to The Joy of Cooking, with a professional chef by your side.” It finishes on a fluffy, creamy, chocolate-y result.

Boston Cream Pie is the established one of the three; the other two are new enough to still carry a New badge. It runs 90 minutes, starts at $129 per person, and your kitchen needs mixing bowls in two sizes, measuring cups and spoons, a whisk and a spatula, a baking sheet or tin, and an oven you preheat when the chef says. A coffee tasting add-on extends it by 30 minutes; a champagne pairing is also on the list.

Julia Child’s French Omelet and gougères — 90 minutes

The French Omelet workshop is built around the thing Child taught Americans best: nerve. The description is direct about it — “Use Julia Child’s classic recipes to learn fearlessness and joy in the kitchen. Execute a classic French omelet while cheese puffs bake in the oven for a luxurious and simple meal and enjoy some time exploring the lessons we can learn from this American icon.”

Those cheese puffs are the gougères. They are part of this one session, not a second booking; the menu line reads “Julia Child’s French Omelet and Gougeres” as a single item. It runs 90 minutes from $119 per person, wants a chopping board and a sharp knife, mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, a large pan or skillet, and a stove — plus an oven if your chef calls for one. Its add-on is a wine pairing.

Julia Child’s French Crêpes with Strawberries — 60 minutes

Strawberry French Crepes is the shortest and the least expensive: 60 minutes from $109 per person. You learn to make French crêpes served with crème anglaise made from scratch according to Julia’s instructions, topped with fresh strawberries. Same add-ons as the Boston Cream Pie — a coffee tasting or a champagne pairing.

What the hour actually looks like

The run of show is published per workshop. The 60-minute crêpes session opens with five minutes of welcome and introductions, spends eight minutes on mise en place — prep and portion everything first, the step that makes the rest calm — then cooks together for about twenty-three minutes. While something rests or bakes, the host runs a short icebreaker or trivia round. The last stretch is plating, tasting, a group photo and questions for the chef. The two 90-minute sessions run the same shape with more room in the middle.

Ingredients are the part most people ask about. They are not packed a week ahead: each guest’s ingredients are bought fresh at a local store — Whole Foods first choice, or the best grocer near them — and delivered to their door the day before or the day of. Standard shipping is free anywhere in the US. Addresses are due 10 days before the event, and we collect them ourselves with a short form sent to each guest, so nobody has to chase colleagues for home addresses. Shipping is insured: a lost, delayed or damaged box gets replaced. International delivery is available to most countries at additional cost, with earlier address deadlines, and where shipping isn’t practical we send a free digital shopping list so that person cooks along with everyone else instead of watching.

Two details that change who can come: each delivery is sized to feed a family of four, so dinner doesn’t end when the call does, and partners and kids can join on the same screen at no charge. Zoom is the default platform, and Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or WebEx work just as well.

Prices, plainly

Each of the three carries its own ladder, and the per-person rate falls as the group grows.

• Boston Cream Pie — $149 per person for 5 to 30 guests, $139 for 31 to 50, $129 at 50 and above. Under 5 guests it is $745 flat, with a five-seat minimum.
• French Omelet — $139, $129, $119 across the same bands; $695 flat under 5.
• Strawberry French Crepes — $129, $119, $109; $645 flat under 5.

Every rate covers the personal chef, your dedicated event planner, the Zoom host who runs the call, all ingredients delivered, and gratuities. A $250 deposit holds the date and comes off the total in full, and dates at least two weeks out book instantly.

All three carry a gluten-free option, are vegetarian, and have a vegan option. Adjustments cost nothing — tell your planner and the kits change.

Planning notes

Allow about three weeks for a cooking event. The chef is usually findable at shorter notice; what cannot be compressed is a kit physically arriving at every doorstep. Groups run from 3 people to 600 and up, and large ones are normally split into more than one sitting, by department or across a couple of days, because a chef who can see faces teaches better than one talking at a wall of squares.

Plans move, and the cancellation and rescheduling windows are counted back from your event date. Rather than summarise them here, check the current terms: our Event Terms & Conditions control where any summary differs.

If none of the three fits

The Women’s Equality Day collection is one shelf in a much larger catalogue. Browse virtual events and you will see 175 workshops listed, though fifteen of those are seasonal collections like this one rather than bookable menus; French cuisine alone accounts for eight. A shorter year-round selection sits at all menus and cooking workshops, and the three anchor cooking classes — sushi, cavatelli with walnut pesto, Mexican street tacos — are on virtual team-building cooking classes.

If a team would rather drink than bake, virtual wine tasting and virtual mixology are separate products; the wine tasting is run by expert sommeliers. If everyone is in one city, in-person team events brings a chef to your office or a booked venue for about two hours. And if half the team is in the room and half at home, we have written about how hybrid events are run. Marking the date as part of a wider recognition programme is a conversation worth having too — see employee appreciation.

Booking one

Use the inquiry form on the Women’s Equality Day page, call (617) 939-9732, or email events@rockoly.com, and a planner takes it from there. Every event carries the Love Your Event Guarantee, which is short enough to quote in full: your team should have an amazing experience, and if your Rockoly event doesn’t live up to expectations, we’ll make it right.