Serving up lessons through cooking
Cooking classes at Grassroots offer kids a chance to try foods from all around the world and our teachers blend learning into the mix. Luis and Kerrie both spend time teaching the kids why it is important to eat healthy. When either of them leads a cooking class, they try to pick recipes that are flavorful and nutritious.
Kerrie and Luis do more than just demonstrate how to cook. When they teach the kids how to make a dish, they might talk about where the ingredients come from or how a particular vegetable is grown. Or, they might explain the importance a food has to a particular culture. They always find some way to help the kids understand that food is more than just fuel for our bodies.
They sneak in other lessons, too. They might teach a little bit of math when they have kids figure out how to double a recipe. Or, they might talk about physics when they explain how heat transfers better with some types of oil than others. Or, they might get in a little bit of chemistry when they explain how flavors in different foods compliment each other.
Earlier this week, Luis taught the kids how to make sushi and this afternoon, he and Kerrie taught the kids how to make fried tofu and a homemade dressing for the salad they were making.