By Sue Tiffin

 

The
Minden Community Food Centre kitchen was bustling last week when Grade 8
students from Archie Stouffer Elementary School joined with Food Centre
volunteers to roll up their sleeves and slice, dice, blend and mix with
hands-on experience in the kitchen.

 

The
students walk as a class to the culinary arts experience, where they
learn components of healthy living supporting the Grade 8 curriculum,
including demonstrating an understanding of different types of nutrients
and their functions, evaluating personal food choices on the basis of a
variety of criteria, including serving size, nutrient content, energy
value, ingredients, preparation method and other factors that can affect
health and well-being, and identifying strategies for promoting healthy
eating within the school, home, and community. 

 

“I
think it is a great opportunity to bring our community members
together,” said Shannon Blanchard, ASES educator. “We have a wealth of
knowledge in our community that our youth can learn from, and why not
gain life skills, such as knife handling, reading recipes and following
directions, and health and safety while in a community space, such as
our local community kitchen.” 

 

At
the first lessons, held on Feb. 20 and 21, students were creating fruit
smoothies, and learning how to cut different vegetables, including
celery, cauliflower and peppers, to be used with a hummus dip.

“I
love it, they love it,” said Michelle Kernohan, Grade 8 teacher, who
said the class of life skills helped the students learn to take care of
themselves and make healthy food choices, so that they might think about
how easy it is to make a smoothie rather than reach for a bag of chips
when wanting a snack.

In
the program, the students will learn about safe cutting techniques and
knife safety, about cross contamination and how to avoid it, how to
prepare meat safely and safely operate a stove top and oven, prepare
soup from scratch, use Canada’s Food Guide to understand a balanced
diet, and how to read and understand a food label.  

 

“We
love the positive experience that the students are getting in Grade 8,”
said Jane Austin, ASES principal. “They are learning about healthy
eating habits, budgeting, cooperation skills, cooking skills and
community involvement.” 

 

The
eight-week program culminates in a banquet meal for their parents that
students create, from menu planning, to ingredient shopping to
preparation and serving. The program is funded by Feed Ontario, a
collaboration between Monsanto and the Ontario Association of Food
Banks.