Children in grades 7/8 at De Bijenkorf primary school in Wageningen cook an Extraordinary Bean Burger. Photo Resource ‘I really don’t like tomatoes, miss. Can we please leave them out?’, a pupil in group 7/8 at De Bijenkorf primary school in Wageningen asks teacher Suzanne. Today, the group is having a cooking lesson from none other than Djoelan Bovenschen, head chef at restaurant Novum in Omnia.
This morning, Bovenschen is teaching them how to make the ‘extraordinary bean burger’. It is the third and final day of the national ‘Chef in the Classroom’ event. During this event, coordinated by WUR’s Team Smaaklessen (Tast Lessons) chefs give cooking lessons at primary schools and special education schools. Over the past few days, many children from grades 6, 7, and 8 have already rolled up their sleeves. ‘Kneading those beans was really gross and it stinks.’
Negotiating
A pupil walks up to teacher Suzanne. ‘Can I just have one small bite? Then I’ll have tasted enough. I don’t think I’ll like it.’ The teacher is not easily persuaded. ‘I think the two of you have only one burger to eat together. But okay: I want you to eat at least a quarter of it, which is just a few more bites.’
She turns around and winks. ‘Ever since he found out what ingredients we’re using today, he’s suddenly allergic to all of them or thinks everything is disgusting.’ More children try to negotiate with the teacher this Wednesday morning. To the pupil who says she doesn’t like tomatoes, she says, ‘then cut them into very thin slices, so you can hardly taste them.’ The clever pupil immediately had a retort ready: ‘But then there’s no point in putting it in, is there?’
Skills
A thirty-three-step plan helps the children make their own burgers from beans, various vegetables, and a sauce. Cutting. Grating. Frying. They have to do it all themselves today before they can taste it. It’s also a lesson in reading comprehension—if you don’t read the recipe carefully, you won’t get a tasty end result.
They learn about the cat’s paw—holding the onion like a cat scratching—and how to strip herbs from the sprig, what salmonella is, and why they need to wash their hands thoroughly when cooking with raw eggs.
The goal of Chef in the Classroom is to introduce children to new ingredients and teach them food skills, explains project leader Sanne Peeters (Wageningen Social & Economic Research). B cooking themselves, skills and knowledge stick better. Not all children are familiar with kidney beans, for example, but the cooking class helps to broaden their taste palette.’
Dishwasher
Two boys have just watched the chef fry their burgers. They tear open a brown bun with their hands and top it with garnish and homemade sauce. Then they add the burger and take a bite. They count down from five to one together and then take a bite at the same time. ‘It is okay, not too bad’, says one. The other makes a face. The girls at their table also take their first bite together. They’re not very enthusiastic, but they don’t think it’s gross either.
Teacher Suzanne comes to taste a bite of each group’s burgers. ‘I think it needs a little more seasoning. It’s also a difficult recipe to get the flavor right. With a little extra sauce, it’s okay.’ Although opinions and tastes differ, by the end of the morning all the burgers have been eaten and the teacher is loading the dishwasher.
Translated with DeepL.com
