In the beginning, we were simply taking advantage of the gap in the market for after school clubs that satisfied parents, children and school. It was really by doing it for years, and seeing the response, that we realised there is something quietly revolutionary in it.
We bring a level of culinary experimentation to primary school cooking that a lot of adults wouldn't be comfortable with. The innovation isn't new, it's the oldest subject in history, all of our senses are primed to absorb practical cooking information!
We scale the safety risks, obviously, but from our experience in doing so, we have seen hundreds of students from as young as 4 years old building their own relationship with food.
This relationship is essential for later life health (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27842556/). But rather than simply handcuffing cooking with nutrition education, it is in our view a prime educational medium for almost any subject - maths, science, social studies, languages and more. This is something we incorporate for our clubs but are attempting to break through into the main schooldays also.
The past few years have been a struggle for after school clubs! We are in the major top international schools in HCMC, and have maintained those relationships for the past 5 years. The classes spread themselves whenever other students get a whiff of the food! Our best advertising is also the students leaving school every day with delicious food.
The plan now is to train as many teachers as possible to use our methods in their own classrooms and schools. Nothing we do is technologically innovative, but we are operating in an educational blindspot that for reasons of class, gender and caste has been neglected. The consequences of this can be seen in growing waistlines, increasing numbers of eating disorders, fad diets and the myriad crises facing the agricultural industry.
Watch this space for our Teacher Training Course - How to bring food into the classroom for happier, healthier, more delicious lessons!
