This year, the number of participating schools has doubled compared with last year. Through this cooking lesson, children learn a lot about taste and food. Sandra Ysbrandy is known, among other things, from the programmes Het Familiediner, Carlo & Irene: Life4You, Tijd voor MAX, Kook mee met MAX and Eigen Huis & Tuin: Lekker Leven.
Few children help in the kitchen
Children are still not often found in the kitchen, as shown by the latest WUR poll conducted in 30 classes at Dutch schools. Half of the children surveyed occasionally help prepare food at home. The other half rarely enter the kitchen to cook. “Even though preparing food teaches you more than just cooking,” says project leader Marlies Willemsen-Regelink (WUR). “Through this cooking lesson, pupils learn how to make a healthy and flavoursome dish, as well as skills such as reading, hygiene, collaboration and planning.”
Healthy eating
The most recent Food Consumption Survey by the RIVM shows that boys between the ages of 4 and 11 eat 99.4 grams of vegetables per day and girls eat 104.2 grams. This is below the recommended daily amount of 100 to 150 grams (up to age 8) and 150 to 200 grams (ages 9–13). But there appears to be an upward trend, as Dutch people have generally started eating more healthily. During the cooking lesson, pupils learn how to incorporate various healthy products into a flavoursome dish.
TV chef Sandra Ysbrandy
Especially for Kok in de Klas, TV chef Sandra Ysbrandy created a recipe: sushicups. Sushi is very popular, but usually not very healthy. It contains a lot of sugar and salt and few vegetables. That is why Sandra came up with a healthy sushi. This sushi contains all the flavours: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. The dish is then ‘well-rounded’. After the pilot cooking lesson, children responded with comments such as “I like radishes now too!” and “By combining flavours, I suddenly find it really tasty!”
Materials – Kok in de Klas live and online
Chefs and teachers can use the teaching materials, which are available free of charge via www.voedseleducatie.nl, to prepare for the cooking lesson. If teachers want to get started themselves at a later time, they can use the online version of Kok in de Klas. This will be available from 27 March. For more information, visit www.kokindeklas.nl. Kok in de Klas is part of the Smaaklessen teaching programme.
Ramadan
This year, Kok in de Klas takes place during Ramadan. Schools that were unable to take part in Kok in de Klas because of Ramadan will receive a voucher for free groceries. They can schedule the lesson for another time.
Organisation of the Kok in de Klas event
The Kok in de Klas event was made possible through the national programme Jong Leren Eten and the Voedseleducatie Platform. The VEP is a collaboration between the government, business community and academia (WUR). An independent Supervisory Board and Review Committee safeguard the policy, independence and objectivity. The Smaaklessen Support Centre of Wageningen University & Research is responsible for managing the Voedseleducatie Platform.