Special to the Sydenham Current
Within the past years, there has been less attention to home economics in schools with fewer amounts of students enrolling in these courses.
This shift in education leads to a decreased level of food skills and literacy in the upcoming future generations resulting in an increased reliance on highly processed, convenience foods. Studies consistently demonstrate the importance of a healthy diet and its vital role in academic success as well as chronic disease prevention.
Healthy eating begins in the kitchen and as the saying goes, healthy habits start early. Therefore, it is important for children to be involved in cooking from a young age, and it can be as simple as a 4 year old setting a table.
Some age-appropriate ideas on how to get children involved in cooking are listed below:
Age Group (years)
– 2-4: Wash produce, retrieve ingredients, crack eggs
– 5-7: Measure ingredients with spoons and cups, assemble pre-prepared ingredients to make sandwiches, salads, or mini pizzas, responsible for food presentation
– 8-11: – Blending, chopping, dicing, and sautéing, reading recipes, seasoning foods with herbs and spices
– 12+: Most things cooking related can be completed at this age, including recipe adjustments, or preparing a side dish
This summer, cooking classes will be held for youth wanting to advance their food skills and literacy. Two four-week sessions will be occurring with each session running from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
1) July: Every Thursday at Walpole Island Health Centre located at – these sessions will occur at the Walpole Island Health Centre located at starting on July 7th.
2) August: Every Wednesday except the 31 st at Chatham Kent Community Health Centres (150 Richmond St)
For more information or to register for one of these cooking classes, call Tasha Rugless at 519-397-5455 extension 211.
For more info of other cooking classes occurring in Chatham-Kent County, refer to the Chatham-Kent Food Policy Council website under the events calendar at http://letstalkfood-ck.com/events/month/
