“Cooking” is not a word that inspires motivation among stressed college students, but “free” certainly is.

Earth Fare, a natural foods store in Five Points, is trying to change that by offering the Athens community semi-regular free cooking lessons with an emphasis on natural ingredients and healthy eating.

The varied lessons happen in the store’s tiny Community Room and are led by culinary specialist Michael Perkins, a talented and informative chef.

Brandy Aaron Taylor, the store’s community coordinator, suggested reserving a spot in advance because of the room’s limited space. With the chairs and tables needed for the lessons, the room can only hold 20 to 25 students.

She recommended the store’s Web site (www.earthfare.com) and signs throughout the store to find out about upcoming lessons.

“It’s become so popular we are now trying to do the lessons once a week,” she said.

First-year graduate student Caroline Twiggs attended her first lesson last week when Perkins was teaching how to make various winter soups.

Perkins began the lesson by making hot apple cider. After everyone tasted it, he began preparing his dessert of chocolate soup with bananas flamb�, as it would need the rest of the lesson to chill.

Perkins then prepared minestrone soup with all-natural vegetables topped with a pesto sauce and a butternut squash soup as entr�es.

Twiggs liked the results of the lesson – the tasting – but was disappointed that the lesson was not very hands-on.

Aaron Taylor said this is because of the lack of space in the Community Room. She said larger Earth Fare stores in other states have cooking classrooms, but they then have to charge for the lessons.

“We want to keep it free,” she said.

“(Perkins) was really informative,” Twiggs said, “but I wish he was more like Martha Stewart. I was hoping for a first-hand experience.”

She is even considering making one of the soups, for which Perkins provided the recipes, at home. Twiggs also said she plans on going to more lessons.

“I need it,” she said. “I suck at cooking.”

Even if you leave a lesson still unable to cook on your own, there are other perks, as Twiggs pointed out.

“I’m a college student, like everyone else,” she said. “I love free food.”