Want to know how to cook great...

Want to know how to cook great new things for yourself and your family? Or how to garden at home without using chemicals or pesticides? You’ll be able to satisfy both curiosities this week in the South Bay.

Bristol Farms markets in Manhattan Beach and Rolling Hills Estates offer year-round free cooking classes and demonstrations. Last week, the classes highlighted corn gazpacho and seafood salsa, and this week will concentrate on shrimp curry, tomato chutney and other exotic fare from India, as well as warm salads made with grilled salmon and shrimp.

“Food and cooking bring people together and we provide this for people who want to try out a new recipe,” said Bruce Mannis, manager of the Manhattan Beach store. “It’s an outlet for people to ask questions and for us to present new and unique and fun ways to use different foods.”

Chandra Williams, a former Santa Barbara restaurant owner, teaches Indian cooking Tuesday at the Manhattan Beach store, 1570 Rosecrans Ave., and Wednesday in Rolling Hills Estates, 837 Silver Spur Road. Both are at 10 a.m.

Tim McGrath, chef of City Grill in Long Beach, presents the salmon and shrimp salads Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Manhattan Beach and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Rolling Hills Estates.

Put down those poisonous pesticides, you don’t really need them is the message South Coast Botanic Garden visitors will hear today from organic gardener Ann Schwind. “I’ll help people identify problem insects in their garden and demonstrate nontoxic or nonchemical means of disposing of them,” she said.

And what are some alternatives to the chemicals Schwind says are damaging the environment? Oil sprays, trapping and getting rid of hiding places.

The program is at 2 p.m. and the garden is located at 26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula. There is an admission charge.