A Plug for Operation Frontline and Teaching Kids Nutrition and Healthy Cooking

Last night was a new class for me as the chef teaching for St. Louis’s Operation Food Seach and Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline (the pictures on the home page are from my last high schoolers' class - amazing kids!), which is an innovative nutrition program run by volunteers who know how to cook and nutritionists. We teach free, six-week hands-on classes focused on preparing healthy and tasty meals on a limited budget. Throughout the course we teach about MyPyramid, food safety, how to read a recipe, knife skills, and how to identify aspects of the Nutrition Facts Panel.

My current class is “Kids Up Front,” with a highly energetic group of upper-grade school kids. Everyone really wanted to have a try at chopping, measuring, mixing, and stirring. Best of all, unlike some classes I’ve taught, all of our students actually tried everything we made – our “rule”, you gotta have a taste. The kids made (baked) spicy sweet potato fries – a bit on the spicy side, perhaps we need to work more on measuring – and veggie-turkey wraps. The fries were a huge hit, and the wraps got mixed reviewed.