Overview of Our Curriculum
Over the past 21 years, Chef Lynda has developed a curriculum that teaches hands on life skills with a focus on proper nutrition. Wise food choices, focusing on herbs, grains, fruits and vegetables items are discussed in worksheets as are shopping, manners, and many other aspects that impact healthy living. Children learn kitchen safety, food prep, food storage and cleaning up after themselves. As the children are exposed to a wide variety of foods and cooking styles their minds and palettes are opened up.
During the classes they talk about the ingredients and their relationships in the new food pyramid, prepare the food, taste it, and then compare their reactions to each recipe. The classes increase the child’s self esteem as their kitchen skills grow and they experience a sense of adventure with each new skill learned and food sampled. Math, Geography, physics, health, and social skills are all learned though the cooking process.
While the classes are about fun and the enjoyment of preparing food so it tastes good they are also learning about long and short term health issues which can be caused by, or exacerbated by improper diet. We discuss Type II Diabetes, heart disease, and obesity as a regular part of the consideration of which foods children should be eating and why.
During the classes they talk about the ingredients and their relationships in the new food pyramid, prepare the food, taste it, and then compare their reactions to each recipe. The classes increase the child’s self esteem as their kitchen skills grow and they experience a sense of adventure with each new skill learned and food sampled. Math, Geography, physics, health, and social skills are all learned though the cooking process.
While the classes are about fun and the enjoyment of preparing food so it tastes good they are also learning about long and short term health issues which can be caused by, or exacerbated by improper diet. We discuss Type II Diabetes, heart disease, and obesity as a regular part of the consideration of which foods children should be eating and why.