Junior Chef program teaches kids to cook with fresh, local ingredients

Bell peppers from the SOILS Center, spinach from the Ratto Brothers and olive oil from Sciabica. Fourteen students prepared a “veggie-forward fried rice” using these local ingredients Thursday afternoon at Christine Sipherd Elementary School.

These Empire Union School District students are part of the Junior Chef program, which launched in 2016 to inspire kids to cook fresh, nutritious meals and foster healthy eating habits alongside a love for cooking.

The program works with students from Stanislaus County, including those in Modesto City Schools and the Empire and Keyes school districts. It is sponsored by Ratto Brothers, Sciabica Olive Oil and Morning Star tomatoes and is a fee for service program.

Surveys show that 76% of students reported cooking more with their families at home weeks after completing the program. Many also noted increased confidence in their cooking abilities.

Working with partners at their tables, the students followed step-by-step instructions from a chef. Each student had a copy of the recipe, along with a compost bowl on the table, which would later be returned to the SOILS Center. The SOILS Center in Ceres teaches sustainable farming and healthy eating.

On Thursday, Sipherd Principal Jon Valenti and Empire Union school board members Loretta Stein and Carole Dovichi joined the students. Stein and Dovichi had their own workstation and cooked alongside the kids, while Valenti moved around the room, assisting students with chopping.

“You guys are doing an amazing job,” Valenti said.

This was the cohort’s fourth and final class, which was commemorated with a pin for the apron each student gets to keep, a certificate and a goody bag filled with all the recipes they learned.

By the end of the class, the students had collected four pins on their aprons — each representing a dish they cooked during the program.

Throughout the program, students prepared a variety of meals from different cuisines, including shakshuka , zucchini pizza boats and an omelet.

Meriam Jacobs, education programs manager at East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District, said the goal is to teach students how to prepare culturally relevant dishes that are easy to replicate at home. Shakshuka, a dish of eggs poached in a tomato-based sauce, has become a student favorite, along with cauliflower fried rice.

“It’s crazy to see that such a vegetable-focused dish could be their favorite,” Jacobs said.

Learning the joys of cooking

When it was time to cut the red onions, the students groaned.

“Don’t inhale the onions,” chef Mark Cullors advised. In previous classes, red onions led to teary-eyed kids.

Students learned how to properly hold a knife, wear cutting gloves and safely operate a stove. They also received fire safety lessons.

“Good cutting skills,” Nichole Gutierrez, the district’s coordinator of after-school programs, said to the students.

“We learned from a professional,” responded fifth-grader Yaretzi Mendoza.

The cauliflower fried rice included a mix of onions, garlic, bell peppers, pineapple, carrots, peas, soy sauce and egg. Bacon, cut into small “lardons” to enhance the flavor, also was added.

Cullors, a local seasoned chef, reminded the students to taste the dish before adding extra salt, because soy sauce and bacon already contribute plenty of sodium.

“Right now it’s worth $3, but we’re going to make it pretty and dress it up and make it worth $6 or $7,” Cullors said, instructing them to garnish the dish with chopped green onions.

Once finished, the students passed around a bottle of sriracha and sweet-and-sour sauce to top it off. As they enjoyed their freshly cooked meals, served in to-go boxes, they filled out surveys reflecting on their experience.

Exposing students to local ingredients

Jacobs said the main goal of the organization is to work with farmers and teach kids about local produce. Living in an agriculturally rich county, she emphasized the value of taking advantage and encouraging students to buy as much local produce as possible.

“We’re trying to teach them about their local food system and eating local and buying local,” Jacobs said.

Although not everything can be sourced locally, Junior Chef strives to use as much local produce as possible and adjust its recipes to align with the seasons.

“Most students don’t know what a cherry tomato is, or ginger,” Gutierrez said, noting that the program provides valuable exposure to unfamiliar ingredients for students.

This year, a new spinoff program called Junior Farmer will debut in the school districts. In this program, kids will grow their own food, with the hope that they’ll later use their harvest in Junior Chef classes.

Jacobs pointed out that while some schools have cooking clubs, most culinary programs are offered only at the high school level. This program gives younger students the chance to explore cooking before high school, helping them decide if it’s something they want to pursue.

She also said school coordinators have observed improvement in students with behavioral issues as they become highly engaged in the cooking class. Parents, too, have responded positively to the program.

“The students are so happy to be able to show their parents what they’ve learned, and the parents love it, too, because they’re shocked at what they see their kids do,” Jacobs said.

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