One of the best ways to help children and teens eat healthy is to encourage them to learn to cook. Learning to cook helps kids find out about nutrition and what it means to eat healthy. Kids who learn to cook benefit in other ways, too: Are more likely to eat healthy, contribute to the family, learn about planning and making choices, develop a life skill, expand their understanding of math, boost their self-esteem and explore their creativity (https://www.gundersenhealth.org)

     After School programing was put on hold during the 2020-2021 school year because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Two of the schools who I’ve worked with for years (Brandeis and Kennedy Elementary) partnered together and we offered virtual cooking classes FREE of charge to 30 students!  Partnering with the Family Resource Center we were able to conduct 8 lessons virtually cooking with students in 4^th and 5^th grades.  4-H purchased and packed weekly cooking supply boxes and parents came by the school to pick them up.  

     Karen Kummer (4-H Program Assistant) and myself brainstormed multiple recipes that helped broaden the taste buds of picky eaters yet give them the experience to make them feel more comfortable and confident in the kitchen.  Participants learned about kitchen safety, measurements, meal planning, and ingredient substitution.  Once a week students fixed a meal for their family from start to finish.  

     The 4-H Cooking classes created a vision for future chefs to feel comfortable cooking in their own home.  One parent emailed and thanked me for the program.  She shared that her son was really struggling with quarantine at home and this program has him visioning that he will be the owner of his own pizza parlor, creating unique and different types of pizzas. Another parent expressed that she appreciated our program, because it provided the family the ability to spend some quality time with each other. After completion of the program 95% of the participants are now willing to taste and explore new foods, 90% felt more comfortable and confident in the future, and 100% of them want to continue cooking for their family in the future.  4-H plans to continue this program with the school for the upcoming school year.