The Story of our Club:

Our club was started by a very special student her name is Stacy Harris! Stacy is part of the free snack cooking club. She loves cooking club so much and wanted her friends to experience it with her. She saw the importance of learning how to cook healthy foods and wanted her friends to join. Stacy would share what she made in the free snacks cooking club with her class and they would be so impressed. Stacy is in a social work group with a bunch of her friends and they would usually talk about cooking club at the beginning of group. Stacy asked the social worker if it was possible to have a cooking club with her friends. A lot of Stacy's friends are seniors and are headed to vocational schools or working after college. Stacy wanted to make sure that her friends got an opportunity to learn how to cook before they left. The social worker told Stacy that she would help Stacy start this club. Stacy and Ms. Ketelsen talked to Ms. Barrow about starting another club. Ms. Barrow worked her magic and helped them start the club! Ms. Ketelsen and Stacy asked Ms. Bowlus to join the club. Ms. Bowlus is their favorite teacher and she agreed! From there the Bowl and Kettle Cooking Club was born! Stacy invited all of her friends to join the club and the rest is history! 

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From the teaching artist’s perspective the two cooking clubs had worlds of things in common, such as a “Make it Your Own” philosophy or an artist’s approach to cooking creatively in the kitchen, a complicated supply line, and most importantly a network of wonderful partners and parents. But it also had striking differences. For starters this club was made up of a close-knit group of upperclassmen and their teachers. They worked together, checking in on each other, and moving from step to step as a group, everyone used their camera for watching and socializing instead of filming their hands/work stations while opting for chat. Most importantly, these students were as excited by learning about ingredients as they were about the final product. The class became like a material studies course where we investigated the properties of our kitchens. They were delighted to see new vegetables and taste fresh herbs one by one as we added them to a spring salad, to identify oils vs vinegars in their glass bottles, to practice accurately measuring with the right cups and spoons, and to have the knowledge and support to be the chef rather than the helper. 

There’s something particularly lovely about offering classes in creative life skills. We know that the arts nourish us. Culinary arts allow us to engage our senses, work with our hands, plan ahead, improvise, design, present, and enjoy our own ephemeral creations. As I strived to create a culinary art environment that sprang from the generative values I hold as an artist, I realized the value in the nurturing side of this art form. Students from all walks of life signed up to learn to cook because they are investing in their futures. They want to learn how to care for themselves and their families. They’re looking for ways to recharge during a stressful, transitional year. They’re striving to be more independent and advocating to fill the gaps in the skills they need in adulthood. They’re making such a mature choice. We were able to offer them something very special by stoking the creative side of culinary arts. It’s almost like the technical abilities, safety rules, and practical knowledge built themselves as we constructed an environment that validated them as culinary artists and kept them coming back for more. 

As our 13 weeks together flew by, students became more and more eager to joke, take chances, show their work to the camera, and take photographs to share with the greater community. Rocio baked her first cake and even improvised her own icing in a breakout room with Ms. Bowlus. Solmaris made a sushi roll that made her older brother jealous. Stephon excitingly put his own signature twist on nearly every recipe... We really believe our students will use what they learned in Cooking Club for the rest of their lives.

Academic and SEL Standards:

In terms of SEL standard we used "3B.4a. Evaluate personal abilities to gather information, generate alternatives, and anticipate the consequences of decisions".  We are fortunate that this club gives students the opportunity to learn in a creative way. The students over the course of our club learned about their personal abilities. They started with the very basics of cooking, some of them had never chopped before or used the stove. As our sessions went on we made intricate recipes that required them to use their imagination to add their own creative touch to our recipes. The students would be able to weigh the pros and cons of adding certain ingredients.  They were challenged to think of the consequences of adding certain spices or other ingredients. The students did one open kitchen and made tacos. This was a test of they applied the goal to cooking club. We told them they were supposed to make tacos. We provided them with corn tortillas and no other ingredients. Up until that point we were providing most of the ingredients and step by step instructions on how to use the ingredients.  They had to use their personal abilities that they had built during cooking club such as chopping skills, advocating for themselves to get groceries, using the stove and adding their own personal touch to the dish. Next they had to generate many ideas on how to make tacos, they had to weigh the pros and cons of what to add and what not to add. They had to decide if they made a meat taco, veggie taco or if they added salsa etc. Once they had weighed the pros and cons they had to anticipate the consequences of their decisions to add certain topings. They had to figure out how to time everything right so they would be able to service the taco together. They all did a great job, everyone made different tacos with their own unique toping. Our students will continue to learn and after this club be able to weigh the decisions  of what and how to cook based on their own abilities. They will be able to figure out the consequences based on learned experiences of burning a dish, adding too much seasoning or not adding an ingredient that they felt was crucial to the dish.