By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
TOORADIN Primary School students get the whole food experience from harvest to plate as a part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.
The purpose-built kitchen has been providing Grade 3 to 6 students with a safe cooking space for seven years and kitchen specialist at the school Fiona Berkholz said parents were learning just as much as the students were.
“The aim of the scheme is to encourage children and adults to enjoy fresh, locally grown and sustainable produce; we couldn’t run the program without the wonderful parent volunteers who come in each week,” Ms Berkholz said.
With a chook pen, vegie garden and fruit trees on the school grounds many of the recipes whipped up in the kitchen are made with ingredients the students have planted, picked or collected themselves.
On Wednesday 22 June Grades 3 and 4 made Moroccan red lentil soup, a warm roasted pumpkin salad, crispy corn puffs and a dessert of custard cupcakes with a pear filling- using pears that were donated to the school.
Healthy recipes are at the core of the program, and Ms Berkholz runs the classes so the students learn each ingredient and are able to identify between different vegetables and herbs.
“While it is important that the food be nutritious and the students be aware of it, the emphasis is on ‘delicious’.
“It’s a great way to show how much fun can be had creating food from basic ingredients, rather than buying an impressively packaged and processed meal,” Ms Berkholz said.
The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation was first introduced in 2001 at Collingwood College and has since extended Australia-wide into 835 schools.
Ms Berkholz said the cooking class was a favourite among students who had all passed the kitchen knife test and have been awarded their knife licence.
“I run six classes a week, and the students all love it, they can all identify coriander now and they amaze me with their work on a regular basis,” she said.
After reading the special recipes Ms Berkholz has adapted for them, the students start collecting what they need before cooking, setting the table, eating, washing up and tidying the kitchen space from top to toe.
“The children themselves are the stars,” Ms Berkholz said.
To donating fresh produce to the school kitchen call 5998 3321.
