The Cooking Academy

Cookery classes for children

Thursday 4th August – We’re in Bethnal Green

Yep schools well and truely out and we’re running cookery camps for our London schools projects.  Today we are hoping to inspire teenagers to get cooking, learn a new skill and potentially eat their way to a better lifestyle and education.  Food is nourishing to the body, soul and most of all BRAIN… if we can get them started and interested in food and the benefits of eating a better diet then there’s hope they’ll keep going long after we have. 

To find out more about our Cookery school for Kids – summer camp call us on 01923 77 8880.  For Childrens Cookery classes outside of this scheme check out our availability list to book onto a class.

I’ve just finished the last session of classes for teenagers before the Universities start back and the summer has been a long one!  Long but enormously FUN!  We’ve had some amazing student, from the hopeless disinterested “can’t cook won’t cook” to the “really wanna do this” and just very enthusiatic. 

I enjoy teaching teenagers to cook for a number of reasons – fundamentally the primary reason is probably very selfish – it makes me feel good to think that I am influencing a key change in someone’s life!  THERE!  it cant get anymore egotistical than that.     But however it makes me feel – the key thing is that the student go home having mastered some staple homecooked dishes that are easy, relatively cheap but mostly nourishing and will give them nutritional sustainence and stability to study or at least survive.    More than that though, they learn a basic life skill and some confidence in the kitchen to just have a go.   It sounds really basic but some student haven’t boiled a potato, haven’t sliced an onion and don’t know how to make stock – not even from a stock cube!  

If your fortunate enough to have grown up in a house where people actually cook then you’ve probably pick some things up subliminally, and would be OK just ‘having a go’  – but if you havent then thats a real tough one because the chances are you’re really quite unlikely to  just knock something up, let alone know what to buy and how  much etc… 

One of the other reasons i enjoy this group is the light bulb syndrome!  the light bulbs just go off and they surprise themselves that something they’ve cooked could taste so good.  How lovely! the expression on their faces and the fun in making it….  Young people have some really interesting interpretations of things…  their sense of practicality is really different to ours (and trust me I’m not old!) – buts it is  JUST DIFFERENT! that’s all.  Their logic is different and they all get to the sames place but in very different ways and their ways are entertaining tosay the least! 

Then we’ve had the feedback form the parents, the really grateful ones who cant believe their kids have just cooked them something edible and want to cook to show off their new skills; To the ones who are just coming back to share their stories of the new found expeience – their 18 year olds actually helping in the kitchen and taking an interest.  Their question to me is – How do i do it? 

All in all its been a great summer – we’ve taught hundreds of budding pre university students a very valuable life skill even before they’ve got to the ‘big learning school’ and just equipped to look after themselves in the most basic way known to man …TO EAT PROPERLY.  

Good luck you guys …..

The class in question was Teenagers cookery class.

For more information about learning to cook please contact www.thecookingacademy.co.uk

These are the statistics released by the government’s public health watchdog NICE , due to the high fat content in ready meals and processed foods.

So with so many cookery programmes on TV why are we such a nation of food junkies?  I genuinely believe that whilst time (or the lack of it) may be a possible factor i think the reality is – people thinks its hard to cook and actually think its more complicated than it is.     Its when you don’t know how to do something that you have this big hang up about it.  And cooking is no different.  If I had a pound for every time someone said ‘ I didn’t realise it was that simple – but now that you’ve shown me how, it easy’  I’d be a very well off lady.  Its amazing how we’ve lost the skill of teaching cookery from a generational thing.  Even some Home Economic or Food tech teacher actually look like they’re teaching from a manual and seem uncomfortable with the subject instead of teaching from the gut or the actually the heart – with a passion.    We have the chance to change the nations lifestyle and health for ever, why do not seize the opportunity.

Come on we can do better for ourselves surely?  Lets teach our children and each other to cook, sharing food is divine and the ultimate gift.