Niddrie Mills Primary School is one of the schools just down the road from the EFS kitchen. Primary school kids are enthusiastic (occasionally too enthusiastic!) and are always a fun crowd to work with. But more importantly, food education empowers children to make informed decisions about what they eat.
By understanding the nutritional content of foods, how things are made, where they are grown and produced, reading labels, and learning to navigate food marketing, children can make choices that nourish their health and well-being. We are believers in trying to make a positive impact in people’s lives as early as possible, so primary school is a great starting place. We are well positioned to help the children explore these complex ideas and concepts. These classes begin to introduce making conscious food habits in their lives, or at least plant a seed that may impact their future decision-making.
Speaking of planting seeds, during one week of our class we had been prepping cherries and teaching the young people about fruits with pips or stones in them. One of the young people was so excited by this that they vowed to plant the cherry tree in order to create a never ending cycle of cherries (she called it the ‘forever cherry’). Time will tell whether burying a single cherry seed in the primary school playground will result in a fruitful tree, but her excitement, ambition and vision was sweet and admirable.
We initially worked with the P5s across two separate classes they have. Each class is roughly 25 students, so quite the number to deal with and consider when planning each lesson. These classes would operate on a weekly basis to help us build trust and continuity to their learning. After all, it can be difficult to get the buy-in of young kids if they aren’t able to trust and rely on us. We have been doing these classes for five weeks now and it’s clear that this style of teaching and class structure was a good idea. The young people now expect us to arrive, are very excited when we turn up, and are chomping at the bit to get involved.
The curiosity of young people is something that we love. One week we were preparing some cauliflower for a curry we were making with the class. And to the amusement and delight of some, but also the horror of others, a couple of small slugs were hiding in the leaves of the cauliflower. The kids were shocked and didn’t understand why there were slugs in the veg. This was a great opportunity to talk to them about using fresh produce from local farms, and that sometimes this means wee bugs or dirt can be left behind. This is unlike what they are likely to find at supermarkets where produce is less fresh and often has been exposed to harmful pesticides, as well as going through a packaging process. Two of the classmates looked after the slugs all class and then ‘set them free’ afterwards.
Some of the lesson and techniques we have covered over the various classes include:
Knife skills
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This is something we get the young people to work on each week to help build confidence. Repetition of this skill helps build memory pathways so they develop a safe and correct technique.
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Chopping fruits and vegetables is a great way to get the kids comfortable with holding and using knives.
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Admittedly this is the main lesson objective that we have to approach with caution and much more of a serious attitude towards. These kids are young and excitable so we quickly had to be clear that this is not a game and this part of the lessons should be taken seriously.
Fresh Pasta Making
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This is a really good class for the students as each person got to make their own little ball of pasta dough to take home, as well as roll out and shape some pasta from a batch of dough we pre made for them.
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A fun lesson indeed, but also equally as messy. Young people sometimes have a bit too much fun covering themselves and others in flour… but hey, at least it washes out!
Sauce Making
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Sauces are a great thing to show people how to make. Many store bought sauces these days are packed full of sugars, preservatives and unnatural ingredients.
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Showcasing how to make simple sauces (e.g. tomato sauces, vegetable soups, fresh mayonnaise, petso etc.) is a great lesson and way of replacing an unhealthy store bought alternative. It can often be a lot cheaper also.
Flapjacks and Cupcakes
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It goes without saying that every week we turn up and the young people quickly ask if we are making cake that week. Afterall, they are the age group that spends most of their days daydreaming about the joys of cake… come to think of it, we still do too.
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We decided we would show them some basics of baking, and attempt to make things on the healthier side of the sweets world. Flapjacks are great recipes for making healthy sweet treats, as well as things like carrot cupcakes.
