I do not resist to continue speaking the praises of offer children meaningful learning in the kitchen.
Today I will talk about topics that we have not discussed in the previous entries, especially about the pleasures of the taste for good food and everything that can be discovered in a real way about nutrition, culinary techniques and health in the kitchen.
Medium-term effects of cooking education
Yesterday my son, who I guess our regular readers will know is somewhat older than the little ones we are referring to, made his first risotto. A fried scallion, a little bacon without salt, asparagus tips and red pepper, rice and good broth, topped with a couple of tablespoons of cream, made us enjoy an exceptional taste experience.
Proud of my little chef, I can't deny that he is there, it seems that, although he doubts between the actor's family career and being a riding instructor, it seems that Cordon Bleu is earning points and has begun to devote his savings to being able to pay that course and everything.
The kitchen as a transversal subject
The kitchen, for him, has been one of the subjects with many possibilities of transversal learning that we usually treat, both specifically and in the way I explained to you in previous subjects, such as the History, Geography and Science laboratory.
Just as you have a tutor for physics, chemistry and mathematics, a professor of graphic design and computer science, an actor who gives you guidelines to declare and goes riding, in addition to the study system offered by your school, the teach him to cook It is, for us, a fundamental part of their education and training.
It is no longer that children like the profession of chef. What I mean is that being able to buy food, choose them, prepare them, preserve them and make a delicious meal with them is an element of their education that seems to me to be essential, just as it is being able to take care of their health, their safety, Your home, your future family, choose emotionally healthy relationships, as well as prepare to have a job.
Learn, little by little, from small, to make food and eat healthy, is something that I consider an indispensable element in the integral education of people.
Nutrition and health
We can take advantage of the kitchen to explain the importance of vitamins, different nutrients and their importance for development and health, creating healthy eating habits from practice and knowledge.
In school, children will study the food pyramid according to the most widespread theory, they will see how what we eat is produced, although they will never really show them how, for example, it is a chicken farm or how they live terneritas that later we eat, because if they saw it they would become mass vegetarians surely.
They will study vitamins, proteins and hydrates on a text or on, hopefully, a beautiful mural, but they will not have the opportunity to touch and taste each food or ask, a teacher just for them, their doubts about the reasons why that our body asks for nutrients that must be offered with a varied diet.
And that is fundamental. It is no use getting angry if the child does not want lentils or the horrible chard. Let's say something, for example one of those foods, that repels them.
Nothing really happens, the palate is educated over time and, if we are concerned that they have a correct diet, spend hours with them studying how our body works and where we can get the necessary nutrients, it will be a good basis for them to take responsibility for their own health over time, not for Eat chard if you do not like it, but to understand that you must take combined vegetables and fruits to get the right amount of nutrients.
It may happen to us that we think that our children are not prepared to understand concepts that are too complex. And, of course, it can be that way, but each parent can gradually deepen, relying on children's books and educational programs such as Once Upon a Life, moving forward day by day.
And is that education is not something we can instill only about books at school, our role is fundamental and requires a lot of time and dedication, making little by little, as the child matures, we can teach more complex concepts, adapting to each particular child and his personal evolution.
Hygiene and health in the kitchen
Also, taking advantage of the preparation of food, we can talk about bacteria and hygiene, exposing the need to wash our hands and the products that we will eat raw, or the correct cooking and preservation of food to avoid diseases, encouraging Hygiene and food health attitudes from the kitchen.
It is these issues, which are related to food hygiene and health, that on paper remain in pure words, but that, if we accompany them with a real experience, even using movies or the internet to visually explain what they are pathogenic germs.
Learning in the kitchen offers children many possibilities, from the obvious of being able to choose and prepare their food, to being more aware of the nutritional needs of their body and the hygienic practices that they should follow to avoid diseases.
