Kids in the kitchen
Class teaches little chefs culinary skills.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
In the back of a kitchen store in Pleasant Ridge shopping center, 10 children ranging in age from 8 to 12 are learning to make calzones — from scratch.
Before this Saturday class, many of them had never heard of a calzone and ask the teacher and her support staff to describe the dish.
“It's like a folded over pizza,” they answer.
The kids nod like they understand, and then set about measuring the ingredients to make the dough.
One boy feels compelled to taste the flour.
He doesn't seem too pleased with the flavor.
Besides calzones, stuffed with ricotta, cheese and ham, the young cooks also will make fresh-squeezed lemonade, strawberry ice cream and corn salad.
Soon they'll be chopping away at strawberries and bell peppers, squeezing lemons and shucking corn.
The classes are led by Faith Anaya as part of her Kids Cook!™ business.
For these classes, Anaya puts the emphasis on fresh foods — usually made from scratch — and expanding the culinary horizons of the kids.
“I'm interested in the idea of showing kids how to make things from scratch,” she said. “Most of the time I want the kids to learn to measure and learn to put things together and see that it's not all that difficult.”
“We definitely don't stick pretzels into marshmallows,” she added.
Her goal is to get picky children to expand their tastes to new foods they normally wouldn't try at home with their parents.
Some children are more suspicious of new foods than others, Anaya said. But once they taste what they've made, they are usually won over.
Anaya said her classes usually have two types of children.
“The first are so excited about making everything, and they're sure it's going to be fabulous, and they can't wait to try it.”
The picky eaters fall into the second category.
“We spend a lot of time convincing them to try something different, but once they make it, they'll almost always try it, and they're surprised at how it tastes.”
The most complicated dish — the calzone — continues to baffle the younger children until they finish putting the ingredients together.
While shredding cheese, the children can't resist taking a few bites. And then a few more bites.
Next they roll out the dough and ask again for a description of the dish.
“It's like a pizza sandwich,” class helper and local nutritionist Penny Rudder said as she brings over a bowl of sliced Roma tomatoes.
“Are we making a salad?” one child asks her.
“No, we're making calzones,” she said again with seemingly limitless patience.
Each child makes a calzone for themselves, adding as much cheese, ham and ricotta as they like.
They press the edges of the calzone with a fork and put their creation onto a baking pan. Many of them are thick and misshapen.
“They look like turtles,” one observes.
Each calzone is identified with pencil on the wax paper before going into the oven.
“It wasn't the world's most perfect food when it was done,” Anaya said, “but the kids were proud of it.”
She has already gotten calls from parents who said the kids were ready to try recreating the dishes at home.
The mother of one young cook, Kim Hiatt, said her daughter Kaitlyn has been ready to take cooking classes for awhile. “She's been watching her brother and sister in these classes and is really happy to have her turn now that she's old enough.”
Many of the parents don't stay to watch the kids in the class. Hiatt said she doesn't feel the need.
“I don't feel that I have to,” she said. “I think things are controlled … She's got a way of working with them and there's not flour flying everywhere,” she said.
Her children are excited about cooking at home and, as a mom, she's happy they are expanding their tastes beyond chicken nuggets.
“They come home with recipes that they want to make and Faith does a great job of introducing new foods and getting them to enjoy it,” she said.
Anaya said she loves to hear that children are more self-assured in the kitchen.
“I'm trying to build confidence and trying to build interest in foods because kids today eat so badly,” she said. “If I can make a difference with one kid in how they feel about eating I can feel good.”
For more information on classes, visit www.kidscookarkansas.com.
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