Building a healthy food culture

Every spring and fall, students of Andrew Carnegie Elementary School fill up the Experimental Station’s kitchen with excitement and curiosity as they gather for their 4-week cooking class.

The students eagerly raise their hands to answer questions from the chef instructor, Chef Sebastian White. Chef Sebastian asks the children if they have tasted basil before, tried zucchini, or liked garlic. 

While excited murmurs continue, the children begin to concentrate on cutting the vegetables that Chef Sebastian distributed to their cutting boards. He leads them through the steps of preparing a dish. Then, they taste their dishes and explore the flavors they helped to combine.

This class is part of the 61st Street Farmers Market’s food education programming delivered in partnership with Andrew Carnegie Elementary School since 2013. This sequential program provides hands-on instruction to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders covering healthy eating concepts, tastings, gardening, and kitchen skills. At the request of teachers and students alike, the cooking class has expanded to include in-school classes for 5th graders this fall. These classes focus on utilizing specialty crops, vegetables, and fruits that are available in the Midwest.

Among all these learning opportunities, students’ favorite part of the program is to pick and taste different fruits and vegetables grown at the hoop house, a community garden of Jackson Park Terrace. Emily Cross, the Farmers Market Manager, has them taste sorrel, strawberries, peppers and herbs freshly picked from the garden.

With much excitement, the students exclaimed, “Where’s the sorrel!!?,” since sorrel is this class' favorite herb to taste in the Hoop House."

Others said "I’ve never tried cilantro before," "That [sage] smells so good,” "My grandma puts that [thyme] on spaghetti,”

Overhearing the students’ comments and exclamations, Ms. Joyce Butler, Jackson Park Terrace resident and gardener at the hoop house, confirms, “Trust me, they love it. I can hear it [in their voices].”