The Louise Rosier association offers cooking courses for children during school holidays and runs taste awareness workshops in schools. Because eating well can be learned from an early age, with many benefits, in addition to new skills
The benefits of teaching children to cook
Awaken to different tastes
Originally from Haiti, one of the mini-chefs in the group is not used to eating quiches at home. She thus discovers a recipe that she would probably not have had the opportunity to make in her family. Indeed, children tend to eat like their parents. If, at home, we don’t like zucchini, for example, they will rarely be confronted with them, and have little chance of getting used to their taste. Awakening to new flavors is therefore not only the prerogative of the family circle. In fact, the group visited a vegetable garden that very morning. “ We ate nasturtium flowers: the stem, the seeds, the petals… It was weird! »Is still surprised Malo, 6 years old.
Making food rhyme with pleasure
For his part, Maxence is renamed “Monsieur Paprika”. He wants to put spices everywhere! At home, the 10-year-old boy is used to a variety of tastes: “What if we added turmeric?” », He asks the trainer. If children are invited to follow the recipe of the day, they can indeed make it their own, because creativity and cooking go hand in hand. “ We explain to them that they can reinvent the dishes to arouse this pleasure of eating. That’s the key word: pleasure! With parents, food is often associated with notions of constraints – “finish your plate” – or limits – “don’t eat too many cakes”. However, it is essential not to disenchant food and never lose sight of its playful aspect, to prevent eating disorders as much as possible., for example, ”she continues.
Learn concepts of food balance
Faced with this young audience, the psycho-nutritionist also introduces notions of nutrition: “ In the tarts, there are already bacon which are salted, so no need to put a lot of salt in your appliance. You can even replace it with spices which are also flavor enhancers! “. Generally speaking, the workshops then encourage young people to cook at home and to pass on certain good practices. Because eating well is pleasure, but also health.
Unfortunately, one in two French people is overweight or obese . According to some, such as the three-star chef Michel Guérard, setting up cooking classes at school would be a solution for the future: “ Children should learn to eat and cook well, just as they learn to read and count. ! He argues. The stakes are high: a greater consumption of fruits and vegetables could save, according to the WHO, up to 1.7 million lives worldwide. Thanks to this type of workshop, young chefs will explore all their senses, educate their taste, learn about a varied diet… but also develop skills.
Do math while cooking
Cooking allows you to put into practice many learnings. For example, on this day, the recipe is indicated for a large quiche. To find the right amounts for an individual tart, they went into the divisions. In the kitchen, we will also go from one value to another and, sometimes, have to carry out conversions between grams, liters … ” When cooking, they apply mathematical knowledge which sometimes remains abstract for them “, comments the director.
Develop your culinary lexicon vocabulary
Attention, lovers of letters do not worry: while cooking, we explain to children all the vocabulary relating to cooking and thus we learn new words. It is also a good way to have a child read along with reading the recipe, and to write, to make the shopping list , for example. Finally, the youngest develop their fine motor skills or even hand / eye coordination, by detailing, mixing, spreading, cutting.
Team working
The common thread of the week is to imagine, from A to Z, a recipe in brigade, thanks to the techniques learned, and which they will present to the jury on Friday. For many of the children present, cooking shows like Top Chef or Le Meilleur Pâtissier have largely contributed to giving them a taste for cooking, so you can imagine that the challenge is close to their hearts! They write down the ingredients and utensils necessary for the production, imagine the different stages that they divide up: Inès at the cutting, Malo and Maxence at the house ketchup . In the kitchen, we also learn teamwork!
Boost your self-confidence
“It is a school of organization and civility. We teach children to do the shopping before, to clean their countertop, to clear, to do the dishes after, ”comments Margaux Raoulx. Making a recipe will also allow them to gain confidence and strengthen their self-esteem. What a feeling of pride when you see your dish come to life in the oven! Besides, the quiches are now cooked. Inès is very proud of her personalization with a little rabbit. Didn’t we succeed? It’s not serious ! We’ll do it again, right Samuel? Its crown-shaped decoration did not hold up when it was removed from the mold… which will not prevent its dish from being delicious!