The story of FREE SNACKS Cooking Club

On July 6, 2020, the Free Snacks Cooking Club delivered groceries to its first set of students during the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down Chicago. The key players in Free Snacks are teaching artist Betsy Zacsek, and Getsemani Nava and Beth Barrow, who are teachers at North-Grand High School. One year after inception, we are still going strong and are still evolving to meet the needs of the young cooks and their families. We are amazed at the dedication, awareness, technical skills, and artistic progress of their students and are very appreciative

 The beginning and the evolution

A year ago, we started out with cooking three nights on video meets that lasted two hours and we delivered food weekly. Almost every night, the students were all cooking the same recipe with groceries that we delivered to their homes. The students loved the class, but the pace and workload was not sustainable for the teachers. Over time, we evolved to slightly longer 2.5-hour classes that meet twice a week with grocery delivery every four weeks. 

To lengthen the time between food deliveries, we introduced the concepts of staple ingredients which are provided by families. We could assume that houses had milk, eggs, flour, sugar, etc so that we could purchase less common ingredients for the students to try. We also introduced Open Kitchen nights, where the students could cook whatever they wanted. Sometimes they chose family favorites and other times they played with food to make their own creation. We also introduced Ingredient Challenge nights where we provided one key ingredient only. The students all researched recipes that used the ingredient and came in with excellent recipes that they found online. Several students cooked from video recipes off of TikTok and YouTube. The students took well to the new structure and seemed to really enjoy both the Ingredient Challenges (even when it was spinach!) and the flexibility of Open Kitchen. 

"Lo que me gusta de la cocina abierta es todo, ya que 

vemos que es lo que compañeros saben hacer y que sabemos hacer" --Edwin

Translation: What I like about the open kitchen is everything, since we see what colleagues know how to do and what we know how to do.

The club has relatively strict guidelines that the students follow, including an attendance policy for those students who receive the groceries and a requirement to keep cameras enabled and focused on their food for safety. We have caught more than one smoking pan over the course of a year. Students checked in when they could not attend and posted the pics of their food after the fact. They answered reflection questions in the club’s Google Classroom after each video meet. The experience level of the students spanned from newbie to pro. And, while the experience levels were different, the support they gave for each other was always amazing. Each week, the kids would step in to help their peers and support them when the recipe plan went awry. 

All recipes were demonstrated by Miss Betsy and translated in Spanish by Ms Nava. Ms Barrow helped kids who were struggling and provided the family support and communication that was needed. Students shared their food and stories with their families. We laughed a lot, but also helped the kids through tough times like family illness and loneliness. And, while the kids are learning how to cook, the club teaches the students to experiment, troubleshoot, adjust, analyze, and (most importantly) persevere. 

Cultural Capital

Our class occurs in each student’s kitchen. We are in the heart of their homes and their family recipes represent the knowledge, background, and experiences of not only the students’ parents, but also their grandparents and great grandparents. We celebrate the similarities and differences between the recipes and cooking practices of each home and each culture or set of cultures that home represents. For instance, when we learned that several of our students had Guatemalan root those students came together and decided we'd have Guatemalan night. They sourced recipes and we had a lovely meal that we couldn't have otherwise planned.

Academic Standards/SEL Standards. 

Cooking Club gave students a social outlet with peers that also helped them form key life skills while expressing themselves with food. With each lesson, we focused on helping the kids express themselves through their food. They were encouraged to break away from the recipe and use “MAKE IT YOUR OWN” ingredients and practices. Ingredient Challenges and Open Kitchen nights gave students safe space to experiment with food and try new things. 

What was your approach to online teaching? 

Our approach is good planning peppered with a willingness to change anything.

Good planning: 

Before we roll a new recipe book out to the students (typically every four weeks), we send approximately 47 million texts to each other asking questions, clarifying, and suggesting changes until we either run out of time, run out of ideas, or run out of problems to solve. We edit each other’s work because a second set of eyes makes a big impact on the final product. We know that with each grocery run and recipe book, we have one chance to roll it out smoothly. So, we invest the time up front to avoid emergencies and mistakes that might make cooking club less fun for the student. When the kids sign on to the video meet, we provide a calm and supportive environment where we focus on them as they struggle, strive, or thrive as they learn. 

Change anything: 

After each video meet and grocery run, we debrief and reflect, where we would make notes of what went well and troubleshoot things to improve. The debrief helps us stay on the same page and the reflection process yields great ideas like Open Kitchen and the Ingredient Challenges. Also, during the reflection, we make note of how each kid was doing and identify any families to check in with. Each month, we continue to tweak, streamline, improve and enhance the experience for the students and their families.