An Important Addition to your Curriculum: Cooking

Dr. Wendy Ghiora – Posting #125 – July 1, 2014

 

Without question, academics are important; additionally, a basic skill such as cooking merits consideration when creating a curriculum. It is also fairly easy to integrate cooking with other subjects. Cross-curricular learning comes with the territory in a cooking class. Students learn: science, language, counting, fractions, budgeting, weighing, following directions, sequencing, measuring, problem-solving, sharing, fine motor skills, and reading, just to name a few subjects incorporated within the cooking class.

Children acquire many benefits while learning to cook.  Cooking skills should be learned both at school and at home. Cooking from scratch helps kids develop a mature palate and a taste for fresh, wholesome ingredients. The earlier kids become accustomed to nutritious foods, the less likely they are liable to acquire a taste for processed foods. Kids are much more likely to eat what they make. Cooking creates a sense of ownership. When kids help in the kitchen at home, there are fewer mealtime battles and more willingness to try new foods.

Meals prepared from scratch usually contain more nutrients, fewer calories, chemicals and sweeteners than found in packaged foods and restaurant meals. Cooking together provides a natural way to discuss nutrition and the impact that food choices have on the environment. The more educated children are about food, the more likely they will appreciate your suggestions to eat something healthy.  The earlier children learn how to cook, the sooner they will learn an essential life skill.

Kids thrive on feeling they have accomplished something. Spending time working in a kitchen gives kids confidence. Cooking is an ideal way to boost self-worth and to teach responsibility. There is nothing cuter than watching children proudly serving food they have prepared to others. Preparing meals together means quality time as a family. Cooking with children when they are young offers an opportunity to communicate with them on a regular basis. The time you spend together chatting and cooking in the kitchen becomes even more important as they reach their teenage years.

Students should learn about, develop and demonstrate sanitary and safe work habits. This skill will benefit them in every area of their lives. This would include knowing how to organize a kitchen, wash dishes, sanitize a work space, operate a dishwasher, scrub a pot and even sweep and mop the floor after food preparation.

Learning the names and uses of kitchen equipment should be a part of a student's culinary education. It is helpful to know when to use a sauce pan versus a frying pan. Being able to identify a whisk and spatula is vital. As with all jobs, being familiar with the tools involved is crucial. Teach your students how to use and maintain a food processor, blender, microwave, mixer and other common kitchen appliances.

Another valuable aspect of a cooking class is the chance for your students to use their math and science skills in a practical way. Students will measure, learn to double recipes, and develop menu plans for various size groups. A good kitchen chemistry book will help them understand why certain reactions between foods occur. Why does yeast make bread rise? What causes the fizzling when baking soda and vinegar are mixed? Integrating other subjects with cooking will inspire your students to want to learn more.

Make sure your student learns how to take inventory of the pantry, read a recipe, prepare a menu and a shopping list. A field trip to the grocery store will provide a wonderful lesson in comparison shopping and how to choose the best meats and produce. Knowing how to double or divide a recipe will exercise their math skills and provide a useful life skill.

Most important of all, culinary education is one of the most effective strategies we can use to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. Hands-on activities such as cooking are powerful ways to transmit healthy habits to children. Teaching children basic cooking skills such as knife skills, sautéing, roasting, and how to transform raw ingredients into a tasty, balanced meal means they can feed themselves healthy meals for the rest of their lives.

The more proficient our children are in the kitchen, the less dependent they’ll be on packaged and fast foods. When kids bring home recipes they know how to prepare, they ultimately influence how the entire family approaches food. Learning how to cook from scratch also means that families on a budget can prepare nutritious, inexpensive meals with real, unprocessed fresh ingredients.