Fostering a love for Cooking: Middle School Cooking Elective

Middle School students love to eat! It amazes me how they will eat lunch, then come to the cooking elective, make an apple pie and scarf it up like they hadn't had a meal in months! 

Middle School students also love to play in the kitchen! They love to bake and cook and learn how to make new dishes. From the time I first came to BFA, I have found that our students love the cooking elective! 

In times past, we have made foods from the Little House cookbook and have cooked our way around the world with Italian, Mexican, German and Korean foods. I have even had students in the past bring food from home! A student brought chicken once! His parents were running an Asian store nearby and we were going to make something with chicken so he brought extra chicken to make sure we had enough. 

A few years ago, I was searching for a simple curriculum for the cooking elective and found a basic one that I could add to. There is a set of about 13 lessons for different age groups that has students learning about kitchen safety, how to use a knife, how to crack an egg, mix and knead and bake bread and so much more! I have enjoyed finding classic movie clips to go with some of the lessons as well. When we were learning how to crack an egg and make omelets, I showed the clip from Sabrina as Audrey Hepburn learns how to crack an egg and struggles! We made some chocolate chip banana bread on Friday and I showed the clip where Lucy and her friend are working in a chocolate factory and can't keep up! 

A few weeks ago, there was an idea proposed in the lesson that students have 5 ingredients; an apple, cream cheese, cinnamon, piece of ham and nuts. They have the class period to create a dish with their 5 ingredients and can use the microwave, oven and stove if they wish. When I first proposed the idea to the class, there was a look of excitement and fear all at once! Then the room was abuzz as the two groups of girls ran around planning and creating their dishes! They had a blast!! I went and found 3 teachers to help judge their creations in the last 10 minutes. I took a short video as each group finished and they shared the title of their dish and how they put it together. Then, I did a short video as the judges tasted and gave their synopsis of each group's dish. There were lots of giggles! Definitely a highlight of their day! 

I have posted the videos below! Enjoy!