Hi there. In this education post I would like to cover the topic of teaching kids food preparation and cooking.
I have been inspired by this video where Kindergarten kids in a rural Chinese school learn some basic food preparation and basic cooking techniques. Classrooms are usually associated with sitting down and learning from a teacher. Adding cooking and food preparation into the mix adds hands-on learning and building the kids tactile skills.
It is a very good idea to teach kids early about the basics of food preparation and cooking. The young ones get to see how some of their favourite dishes get made. More importantly, the kids get to see how much work is needed to have the food prepared. The teachers do more of a teaching by showing approach. Kids early on show an appreciation of their food and don't become spoiled.
Here is one screenshot from the above Youtube video. The kids here help in food prepration by peeling off the shells of quail eggs. These quail eggs will be a part of a braised pork and rice dish.
At around 26:57 of the video, the kids also help out bring out these short tables from the classroom to outside.
Then they help peel off cabbage leaves. (29:08)
The kids also help with more vegetables preparations. They make green beans shorter plus they use plastic knives to cut tofu (see below).
Some of the kids get a close hands on experience with wok cooking. The one youngster here is guided with stirring ingredients on a outdoor wok.
In the Toronto area, youngsters don't really learn cooking in school. I learned how to cook rice when I was in grade 7 by my parents. Some schools like this rural school in China teach the young ones how to prepare food and cook. There is also this video with Japanese first graders help with food prep. It does take time and resources to teach the kids but it is not that difficult to teach kids food prep.
The biggest thing to learn for the kids is that prepared dishes take time and work. A lot of different tasks are needed to feed hundreds of kids and some adult staff.
Thank you for reading.
