Who needs a fancy culinary school when Rouxbe is just a few clicks away?

Rouxbe (pronounced roo-bee) is an online cooking school which over the years has accumulated about 1,200 high-definition instructional videos where amateur chefs can learn everything from the art of chocolate making to the proper way to pit an avocado.

The company is based in Vancouver, B.C., though Seattle investment firm Curious Office Partners (the folks behind Imagekind and Inkd) holds an equity interest and has been assisting the startup on design and development efforts. Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield also is an investor and adviser.

Curious Office co-founder Kelly Smith is pretty excited about the concept, noting that the instructional cooking arena represents a "big market."

"Home cooks of all ages ... are motivated to become better cooks," he said. "They are tired of hit-and-miss recipe success and want to learn actual technique."

Rouxbe offers eight to 15 minute professional cooking classes, charging students $15 per month or $99 annually to "attend" the virtual courses.

"Unlike other online cooking sites that focus on recipes, celebrity chefs and short technique videos, the Rouxbe School mirrors an actual culinary curriculum, complete with instructional cooking video lessons, practice video recipes, culinary chef exercises, progress reporting, cooking quizzes, and personal chef support," said Smith.

The company -- led by CEO Joe Girard -- is currently looking to tap some Seattle tech executives to help turn Rouxbe into a household name, Smith said.

He declined to say who those people might be, but there's certainly a strong talent pool from which to draw.

For reasons that are beyond me, Seattle has developed into the capital of online food/restaurant startups. Just off the top of my head, I can think of AllRecipes.com, Big Oven, Foodista, Enjoymentland's Locavore, Urbanspoon and Recipezaar.