Many don't know that one of the coolest clubs at the youth center is the cooking club. At first glance, it might seem like there's nothing special – just cooking and eating. But in reality, there's much more to the cooking club. Read nine reasons what young people gain and learn through cooking club activities:
1. Financial Literacy
During cooking club activities, young people learn about budgeting, saving tips, price comparison, and product quality. We also discuss whether the cheapest product is beneficial for health, or if it's better to buy something slightly more expensive but of higher quality. And conversely, is a more expensive product always better than a cheaper one? Minced meat that seems affordable at first glance turns out to be more expensive after checking the price per kilo. Young people learn to create shopping lists and compare prices to prepare diverse and healthy food within a set budget.
2. Development of digital skills
Searching for recipes online might seem easy, but selecting the best one from the results requires skill. In the cooking club, young people learn to evaluate the reliability of sources and choose appropriate recipes. Additionally, teamwork is practiced through digital channels, where one young person shares a recipe and others must prepare food according to it. This activity develops communication skills and digital competence.
3. Coping, environmental protection, and creativity
In the club, we also use food scraps to prepare new dishes. Young people learn how to preserve food, check "best before" dates, and use creativity in cooking with existing ingredients. For example, if there's some pasta and a few vegetables left in the cupboard, young people can creatively think together about how to make something delicious from them. During cooking, they also learn about waste sorting. Which packaging goes where, where do potato peels and an empty food scale battery go? This develops their environmental awareness and coping skills.
4. Exclusive dishes
Young people get the chance to try more expensive and unique recipes they usually wouldn't dare to attempt, such as pink pancakes or tomato galettes. This experience expands their palates and encourages them to try new things that might otherwise seem too complicated or exotic.
5. Self-Initiative
In the club, young people are encouraged to choose recipes themselves and teach others. They share their skills and prepare various dishes together, such as chebureks, pancakes, pasta carbonara, Chicken Kyiv, and much more. This develops and supports their leadership skills and courage to take initiative.
6. Safety and Hygiene
Food preparation always starts with washing hands! It's basic, but sometimes it needs to be reminded that work surfaces must be kept clean and hygiene is very important in the kitchen. Besides hygiene, it is also necessary and important to know, be able to, and teach how to safely use kitchen tools, e.g., opening an oven without getting burned, peeling, cutting vegetables without injuring a finger, etc.
7. Expanding Cultural Horizons
In the cooking club, participants get acquainted with dishes from various nationalities. Young people gain knowledge about both their own and other cultures' cuisines. We have prepared dishes from, for example, Estonian, Italian, Hungarian, Serbian, Udmurt, Ukrainian, and Israeli cuisines. This broadens their worldview and enriches their cultural awareness.
8. Teamwork and Friendship
Cooking together requires dividing roles, making agreements, time planning, and mutual communication. Young people learn how to cooperate, share tasks, and find compromises. For example, one young person might be responsible for shopping, another prepares ingredients, a third bakes, and a fourth cleans the workspace. Working together strengthens friendships and develops teamwork skills.
9. Mathematics
Mathematics is used daily in the cooking club. Young people learn to measure, weigh, add, and subtract, as well as find alternative solutions when scales or measuring units are unavailable. For example, if a recipe calls for a certain amount of flour but a scale is not at hand, they learn to use cup measurements and recalculate quantities. This develops their practical math skills.
In conclusion, it can be said that the cooking club is an excellent opportunity for young people to learn and develop. Through a simple activity, many essential life skills are learned – cooperation, leadership, argumentation, time management, taking responsibility, and of course, the skill of preparing food.
