About Chefcargo

About AGA

Our Location

About ChefcargoChefcargo is the creation of Chef Matt DeRobertis (Chef DeRo). Located in Asheville, North Carolina, our mission is not only to provide the tools and the training to make our clients better cooks, but to incite passion in the kitchen. Chefcargo is all about bringing to you, the chef, the cargo you need to enjoy cooking, whether that's the dopest range in the world or merely some advanced cooking knowledge. We're all about creativity—we even named our company after the French dish of escargot. What else screams creativity then a meal of snails?!? Whether shopping for an AGA Range, coming to us for cooking classes, or one of our other services tap into our creativity for an ultimate Chefcargo experience, trust us your stomach will say "thank you yo".

AGA Sales and Consulting We specialize in sales of the legendary AGA, the British-manufactured heat storage cooker. We provide clients not only sales but consulting on AGA purchases for the full line of AGA products, including the cooker, the Legacy series and the refrigerators, as well as helping you plan out your AGA kitchen. See our Products page for details.

Cooking Classes In addition to the 3 day class at The AGA Cooking School performed on a 4-oven cooker, we also provide cooking classes and demonstrations on the more conventional but equally admirable AGA Legacy. See our Training page for details.

ConsultingWhether its recipe development, menu consulting, party planning, or just about anything having to do with food, the Chefcargo crew is there to use their infinite knowledge to help you. Food is our life so we are always reading new books, scanning food magazines, and finding any excuse possible to travel to new places to what else, EAT. So whether you are a domestic culinary diva trying to get recipe rights or a professional chef or restaurateur developing a cutting edge menu, we look forward to the challenge. Visit our Contact page.

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About AGA Cooking School We are an extended family of people who love family, food and fun, and we find that we can combine the three more often than not. But beyond that we are AGA specialists here to get on your way to cooking the AGA way. We look forward to meeting you soon.

Chef Matthew DeRobertis - CEO and Exec Chef

Chef Matt DeRobertis' love of food started early. His mother, a professionally trained ballerina, opened a small dance studio when Matt was ten. So while she taught dance a couple of nights a week, Matt began experimenting with the family meals. Many years and experiments later and after a brief stint in graphic design, Matt found his way AB-Tech's award winning culinary program in 1998. After graduation, Matt worked as a chef at the prestigious Eseeola Lodge in Linville, North Carolina. In time, Matt returned to Asheville and worked in AB-Tech's culinary program for two years. It was during this period that Matt started his own catering business in Asheville. All his experience let him to open Chefcargo. And after years of exclusive catering and running a retail store for modern cooking wares, he now shares the wisdom gained over those years with students who attend one of our cooking experiences.

Catherine Self - AGA Cooker Specialist
Catherine grew up in a small town in the Piedmont area of North Carolina not far from Winston Salem. All her life she wanted to be a good cook—to the extent that she majored in home economics at Appalachian State University. When she realized her long-time dream of AGA ownership, she found that there was quite a little community of AGA lovers, though many had difficulty learning to cook the AGA way. Thus in 1999, she began the AGA Cooking School. While she has turned over the day to day operations to Chef DeRo, rest assured that Catherine is there to draw on her years of AGA experience for the benefit of new owners.

K Alex DeRobertis - AGA Cook and operating member
Alex is Catherine's youngest and wife to owner Chef DeRo. With three older brothers and one older sister, she has learned to handle the pressure that comes from having to get food on the table right now—before her brothers could eat it off the stove. That grace under pressure served her well during the years that she and Chef DeRo ran their catering and personal chef business. Alex serves as the CFO but isn't afraid to wash dishes when needed. And that's more than we can say for her brothers ;) While not a trained chef she has been surrounded by food throughout her life; growing up with an AGA cooking mother, marrying a chef, and spending time at a training program at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) she holds a vast knowledge in food and all things AGA.

Claudia Self - AGA Cook
Like the chef himself, Claudia married into the family and has survived remarkably well. No doubt growing up the middle child in a house inhabited by an Italian family that would bring Cher to tears prepared her for the *joys* of the family kitchen. Somewhere along the way she picked up a creative style of cooking that allows for wonderful Italian & German dishes that even those with dietary restrictions can appreciate. Claudia can help students with allergies to wheat, gluten, lactose, and is willing to learn more.

Everybody Else
The school and everything related to it wouldn't work if not for the hard work of the many other family members who appreciate the benefits of having a chef and a cooking school in the family. From Kate Rudman (Claudia's spunky youngest sister) to the Georges (both the patriarch and a grandson) to Tootsie (the Chesapeake Bay Retriever doing laps in the pool out back) everyone plays an integral part. We hope you'll get to meet some of them when you come. You're sure to love them as much as we do!

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