FOOD
Kids’ menu grows up at cooking class
Matthew Bronsky, aka MJ, of Kenmore, 11, was very excited about the little sandwich he had created by enclosing sweet red pepper slices and topping the whole thing with tomato sauce.
At the table right in front of him, Sarah Benderson, 14, of Sarasota, Fla., in town to visit family, carefully regulated the heat on her butane burner so that her sliced vegetables would not boil over.
Meantime, George Hermance, 15, of Clarence Center, talked about the crab cakes he likes to prepare at home, while Luke Koren, 14, of Kenmore, carefully trimmed red pepper rings to use for garnish.
All told, there is lots going on at the Culinary Teen Camp being held this week in the Green Room at the Wegmans on Sheridan Drive. Actually, there’s lots of kids culinary training going on this this summer in many other places, too.
In addition to the usual softball, swimming, bike riding and just plain hanging out, kids are getting into haute cuisine. It’s not all hot dogs and s’mores these days, either, it’s much more serious and basic.
At Wegmans, classes are held from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m. Monday through Friday. Fifteen kids, working in teams at individual stations, use professional utensils and learn how to make what teaching chef Fred Torrell calls “food with adult flavors.”
By the time they plan, shop and cook their final dinner Friday, they will have learned to prepare the likes of grilled pork tenderloin with raisin black peppper sauce and prosciutto-wrapped cod.
And they are learning quickly. The menu for the very first lunch included gazpacho, Thai green bean mango salad and heirloom tomatoes with feta cheese. (This grownup palate approved.)
Also scheduled were lessons on basics such as slicing and dicing, nutrition and food safety.
“They are like sponges that absorb the knowledge,” marveled Don Woods, executive chef for the Buffalo-area Wegmans. He calls the kids “our future culinarians.”
“I can’t believe how fascinated they are, even by subjects like safety, ” Woods said.
‘Taste of Italy’
Some people think that it’s food TV that’s making kid cooking classes so popular.
“I was surprised to learn that big, hulking teenage boys love the Food Network,” said Rosemary Conley, director of career development at Erie County BOCES 1, which conducts a weeklong cooking class called “Taste of Italy” for middle school students at both the Harkness and Potter Career and Technical Centers.
The kids will explore and cook everything from Italian cookies to meatballs and sauce, she said, using the well-equipped BOCES institutional kitchens. They will work under the watchful eyes of BOCES culinary instructors. This is the fourth year of the program, and the enrollment has been “steady,” Conley said.
Interestingly, she added that the BOCES classes also stress a vocational component.
“This is really career exploration,” she said.
Even in the Wegmans program, which began in Rochester three years ago, several students are already scouting out professional cooking schools such as the CIA — the Culinary Institute of America.
‘Kids like to eat’
Sometimes there are even ulterior motives to cooking classes.
“We try to go with healthy,” said Mike Frysz, youth center director of the Amherst Youth Board Summer Camp Program, which holds Monday cooking classes as part of the program in several locations. The program is designed for both elementary and middle school kids.
“And there’s a lot of science and math in the program. We also aim to empower children, give them confidence and enable independence,” Frysz said.
That doesn’t mean that students don’t have fun. They prepared flag cake with strawberries or spaceships made from Lucky Charms for the Fourth of July.
“What it all comes down to,” Frysz said, “is that kids like to eat.”
But kids can learn to be adventurous, as well. Angela Volta, Wegmans Cooking School manager based in Rochester, talked about what she calls “the no-thank-you bite.” In other words, try it — then decide what you think.
It seems to work. When adding tofu to a stir fry in a cooking session earlier this week, a lot of the students were wary.
“It doesn’t taste like anything,” complained Andrew Marino. (And then he polished his plate.)
Kids come to the Wegmans program, Volta added, at all levels of cooking experience. Maya Schulefand, 14, of Las Vegas, also visiting family this summer, actually has her own Web site ( www.kidchefonline.com ) on which she says she “teaches kids to cook.” Others, such as Martha Walch of Wilson, said they often cook at home. The price of kid cooking classes varies widely. The $450 week at Wegmans may be the Cadillac in the area. At BOCES, it costs full-time students $165 a week for the program, which also contains other educational components.
At the Amherst Youth Board Summer Camp Program, prices vary by income, reaching a high of about $159 a week.
Once you go nationwide, though, prices escalate sharply. Parents pay more than $2,650 a week to send their kids to the sleepover Kids Culinary Cooking Camp in Highgate, Vt.
Actually, the kids-cooking thing has become so popular that smart retailers are zooming in on the trend. Williams- Sonoma has offered a whole line of professional-looking, kid-size utensils since last year aimed at younger kids.
A set of two pink personalized spatula sets ($12.95), perhaps? Or how about a complete set of kitchen utensils (bowl, whisk, grater) for $39?
