Katie Pratt, Progressive Farmer Contributor

To wrap up an Agriculture in the Classroom unit titled "What the World Eats," I packed my kitchen and, with the blessing of the "cafeteria lady," spent an afternoon with junior high students in their lunchroom.

After a pep talk about the importance of following the written instructions on the recipe card, the class divided into four groups. Knowing little to no kitchen knowledge existed, I kept things simple with recipes for Italian Cannoli Dip, Indian Cucumber Raita, Namibian Pancakes and Mexican Pizza.

Some students handled measuring cups with ease; others hesitated when the recipe called for two-thirds cup, and all they had was a third cup. With only one hand mixer to share, groups experimented with mixing ingredients with a wooden spoon and a whisk. They washed dishes, monitored the oven and learned not to fear a stove.

While assisting a group with measuring liquids versus powders, I saw another student add a tablespoon of cinnamon to his mixing bowl. His recipe did not require cinnamon. "Wait!" I called. "Does that recipe call for cinnamon?"

He squinted at his card and sighed, "Ugh, it says 2 teaspoons."

"But, does it ask for cinnamon?" I asked again.

He looked harder. "Yea. It's spelled weird, though." I stepped over to the table, pointed to the list of ingredients and read, "2 teaspoons cumin."

After tasting each dish, students packed leftovers to take home and share with other teachers in the building.

At some point, popular thinking must have assumed that cooking and basic life skills would be taught at home, thus the dismantling of home economics in school. This afternoon proved that wrong. Students collaborated, did math, read and problem-solved. They did everything they would do in a classroom and learned how to prepare food to feed themselves and others.

And, by golly, they liked it! Now, that's satisfying.

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Katie Pratt writes and shares her love of agriculture from a north-central Illinois farm. Check out https://theillinoisfarmgirl.com/… to read her blog.

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