Kitchen Tales

When a child arrives 10 minutes early to class and smiling shyly pulls out a fruit tart she made at home the previous night from her lunch bag, a cooking teacher's heart melts. One of my students took her mother to the store and purchased fresh fruit, yogurt, and tart shells and recreated one of the recipes from class for her family.

Another young man, twice my size, sidled up after class and whispered, "We have some tortillas at home. How did we make those pinwheel sandwiches again?"

When I told the class we were making food for the families at the performance, one 11-year-old boy's eyes lit up and he raised his hand and nearly shouted, "I'm making those cucumber things stuffed with cheese." He had diligently peeled a cucumber with a lemon zester, removed the core with an apple corer and stuffed it with striped string cheese. He then carefully sliced it with another garnishing tool. This young chef spent 15 minutes creating these little appetizers while the rest of the class giggled, sliced, ate, and wriggled at the table alongside him. He was beaming proudly as he presented his culinary masterpiece to the group and a visiting teacher. He then incorporated them into a sculpture and proceeded to taste the whole thing. The kids have been counting how many new foods they try during the week. The average count has been as high as 8-10 new fruits and vegetables.



There is always one "meal" where we all sit around the table with our creations in front of us and eat and talk and share stories and recipes. It is surprising to me how even the young, wiggly kids calm down and talk about their favorite foods, their family traditions, how the world eats. Truthfully, the conversations and behaviors are better than many grownup dinner parties.

The first day of class, we make collaged cookbook/food diaries to keep track of what we eat all week and to fill with recipes, snack ideas, and maps of where our food is grown.

It has been amazing to watch the kids eat raw and cooked vegetables. After spending time cutting, slicing, sculpting, and sauteing the veggies, they want to taste them. Not all of the tastes are pleasing to the kids, but they are surprised when they find new things that they really like.