On a Thursday afternoon in early February, eight elementary school students grades four through six arrived at the cafeteria and took seats around a circular table. One student read aloud the first few lines of the day’s recipe, “Scallops with Mashed Potatoes and Sautéed Vegetables, Yield: 4 servings.”
These students are members of the Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School Cooking Club, an afterschool program that we were able to offer this winter. Over the course of four weeks students learned how to create simple snacks and meals they could easily replicate at home.
Every day began with a roundtable reading of the recipe and a discussion of relevant culinary terms. We covered words like sauté, crimp and dice and took time to discuss topics such as kitchen safety and the importance of cleanliness while cooking.
This particular afternoon started with each student peeling a potato, which I then cut up and got boiling to make mashed potatoes. The students then worked in pairs in front of the stoves to sauté onions and peppers. They learned how to properly heat the oil up and what it means for onions to be translucent and tender.
Meanwhile, Ingrid Bengis-Palei set a cooler full of fresh scallops onto a nearby table. Once the students were finished with the vegetables, they all made their way over to Ingrid to watch her demonstrate how to remove the foot from the scallops and pat them dry before having a chance to try themselves. All of our sessions involved demonstrations, but ultimately the students were the ones preparing the food. In many cases each student was able to cook his or her own individual dish, whether it was a few seared scallops or a plate of scrambled eggs.
This program was a collaborative effort between the school and the Island Culinary and Ecological Center. After the last class, students were given a sauté pan and a few other kitchen essentials with the hope that they would continue to cook at home and further develop their culinary skills. By the following Monday morning I already heard from a few students and family members that the weekend meals had included fresh ravioli and scrambled eggs prepared by these budding chefs.
The cooking club is one of the many projects at the school that I have been able to be involved with as an Island Fellow. I have been able to step in with that extra set of hands so the club could be offered to students this winter. It was a great opportunity to give them an organized afterschool activity and at the same time be able to share my interest in food and cooking.
Working at the school has provided me with an opportunity to facilitate additional partnerships between the school and local organizations, such as the Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society. In conjunction with the school’s year-long “river” theme, I worked with the historical society to set up a small display on steamboats in Downeast waters. Students took particular interest in a model of the steamship J.T. Morse, where they gathered around to examine all of the intricate details.
As we move toward spring, I am looking forward to shifting gears from cooking to working with the students in the school Greenhouse and Garden Club. A group of sixth graders have started a small seed company and plan to partner with local retailers to sell their packaged seeds across the island. So, if you find yourself on Deer Isle this spring, look out for their seeds and help support our young gardeners and chefs.
Wesley Norton is the Island Institute Americorps Fellow on Deer Isle. For recipes from the cooking club written especially for young chefs, visit the Gardening & Cooking page of www.dises.org.