Culinary high school programs could solve multiple food issues

Those of generations before me (I'm not that old) remember home economics as an option for high-school students to learn the basics of running a house.

Grist recently linked to an article about culinary students at Jasper Place High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To show surprise, the author then said, "(yes, Canada apparently has culinary programs in high school)."

I did not know that.

The article talked about how the students were raising 100 tilapia in such a way that the fish add leftover vegetables and scraps and how the fish waste helped the plants grow above the fish tank. Talk about a life cycle.

Though I am much more into food than I would have been in high school, I still would have loved the idea of taking culinary classes in high school. The folks at Grist and I agree on one thing: we would love to know if this type of program exists throughout much of Canada or if this is a rare occurrence.

The original article via the Winnipeg Free Press noted that the kids cook in a commercial-style kitchen, fixing lunches each day for 2,500 students and staff. Having some students cook for other students would make cooking and food into a teaching moment on both sides of the cafeteria. Students learn a valuable skill in cooking the food and those who eat the food would appreciate the food more if it came from their peers.

This isn't some kind of left-wing warm-weather place such as Berkeley, CA. This is Edmonton in Alberta, the most conservative province, at a latitude of 53°34', slightly south of Juneau, Alaska.

Comments

[Selah Beth]

I don't know if there are culinary programs country-wide, however my highschool in Ontario had a cooking and nutrition class. It was nowhere near like this one in Edmonton, we didn't have fish, or grow our own food, nor did we cook for the whole school. (we didn't have a cafeteria at the school, you brought your own lunch or went elsewhere for it). We learned about nutrition, and how to cook and bake different foods and meals. Then we in the class got to eat it. The class was an elective, so you didn't have to take it, and most of the ones who did were girls. Also most of the students who went to my hs grew up on farms, so they already had the knowledge of where there food came from.

[Chad]

Thanks for weighing in on this. The idea seems pretty simple: having some idea what to do with food. And you're right: kids who grow up on farms have a much better idea. If I had that option in high school, I would have taken it. And I would have been one of the few guys in the class.