Why Do We Cook in Garden Class?
Staff members from The Big Garden recently attended a regional community gardening event with representatives from several nonprofit organizations. An employee from another organization was surprised to learn that we prepare and cook fresh produce in our school gardening classes. Hearing this surprised us as food preparation seems like a natural extension of food production.
As our garden educators pack for class, you will often see their supply bins filled with items for planting: seed trays, bags of soil, seeds, and plant tags. But just as often, you will see their supply bins filled with cooking items: mixing bowls, portable cooktops, blenders, food processors, knives, and plates. Yes, it’s a lot of planning, preparation, and packing, but we believe that learning to prepare fresh garden produce is an integral part of growing it.
Erin Higgins, one of our educators, explained, “When kids learn to cook their own healthy food, they’re more excited to eat it. I think a lot of vegetables are delicious raw, but it’s a harder sell to get kids to eat them. When we prepare vegetables in delicious ways, it gets kids more excited to eat them. And, if they’ve eaten vegetables prepared in really delicious ways, they’re more excited to learn the skill of growing their own.”
In the summer months, we use fresh produce from the school gardens or our campus garden. We also buy produce from local farms, especially in the colder months. We supplement this produce with organic produce and other items from grocery stores.
Some of the foods our educators have prepared in recent months include: beet hummus and beet carrot apple juice using local root vegetables, smoothies made with local yogurt and aronia berries, pizza with local crust and cheese, salsa with tomatoes, peppers, and onions from our garden; pumpkin pancakes with local pumpkins, sweet potato fries, basil and kale pesto, broccoli salad, dill pickles, kale salad, applesauce, broccoli cheese bites, crepes, fried eggplant bites (our garden), Greek kale salad (kale from Norris Middle School garden), homemade hot sauce (peppers from our garden), sauteed Brussels sprouts (Norris garden), pecan butter and candied pecans (local), strawberry jam, homemade stuffing, and carrot ginger soup. Are you hungry yet?!
Erin went on to say, “Our programs get kids more interested in cooking at home. I’m especially excited to cook with middle schoolers because they’re excited to learn skills to become more independent. We provide skills that these kids can use for the rest of their lives, skills that become part of their identity. They become people who cook.”
At The Big Garden, we are committed to helping people eat healthier and alleviate hunger in their lives. If we don’t teach people how to prepare and eat fresh garden produce, then what’s the point of growing it?