Future Food Network Stars

Every Friday for the past 2 months we've been holding a cooking class for some crazy 6th graders. This is part of a nutrition curriculum we've been teaching at the school we partner with, Alinambi. The school approached us in February and asked us to teach the 6th grade class a course on nutrition. We designed a course where all 20 students are given a charla (mini-lecture) about a nutrition topic every Tuesday, and on Fridays they split up into 2 groups of ten and do hands-on activities that reinforce themes learned on Tuesday and promote healthy eating habits.

Beginning of the garden

Now we have some vegetables (and weeds) growing

Attentive students

Every Friday, half of the group goes to the garden (located on school grounds) to learn about the food cycle, how to grow healthy fruits and veggies, and why we need to make sure the produce we eat is nutrient-rich. The other half walk down the street to the Centro de Manna, where we teach the cooking classes. The kids LOVE going to the 3rd floor kitchen (thanks again to all of our donors!!). I help out every other week in the classroom, and I teach the Friday cooking classes (along with my trusty sous chef, Krysta). Here we have covered the following topics: kitchen safety, hygiene, using the food pyramid, foods of Ecuador, and micro/macronutrients. We reiterate what the students learn in the classroom and teach them how to cook a meal based off of their new nutrition knowledge.

Making juice

Enjoying their hard work

I'm a little frightened that one day we'll lose a finger in class, but I really enjoy teaching this program and think that our students are learning how to take control of their health and eating habits. Last class, one girl came up to us to share that she made a potato dish we learned how to make in class as a special treat for her mom. These are the moments that make wrangling pre-teens around pans and knives in a kitchen worthwhile.