The Classroom Chatter has been all kids’ voices this week! I know I’ve talked about it before but this summer  with The Junior Chefs Academy has been a blast!!! We’ve had 4 Junior Chefs classes this week alone! Our 9-14 year old friends made Mexican food twice, decorated cakes and baked pies. This summer they’ve been to the farmer’s market and haggled for their own fruits and veggies, learned about pizza, eggs, chicken, and some have even come in to cook with yours truly at the Overland Park farmer’s market!
These kids are so hungry (pardon the pun) for cooking knowledge! They ask questions about their food. Â They wonder why things are made they way they are, and they’re eager to get in and try it themselves. Â They’re also not afraid to fail. Â They follow Julia Child’s sensibility of cooking with courage! So what if you break the egg yolk… make an omelet! So what if your pie looks funny, everyone will think you meant it to look that way.
Every time I see the light of realization in one of their eyes, or when one is excited to tell me what recipe they made at home last week it makes me glad I do what I do for a living. Â That sense of wonder and reckless abandon is something we could all learn from…especially adults! Why not try that new recipe, that exotic ingredient, that weird vegetable, it will probably be great, if not, you’ll know at least one thing not to do again!
Rachel Ciordas
“Dean of Deliciousness”
Manager of Culinary Curriculum