TIMMINS - A local chef wants every child to experience the importance and fun of food.
Chef Jessica Bouvier at Red Seal Catering has started sharing her knowledge and love of food with her children’s cooking classes, making everything from brownies to bacon-wrapped chicken with balsamic drizzle.
“Picture this: 30 kids, everyone has a steel bowl in front of them, and they’re whisking. These kids whisked up the best brownies I’ve ever seen,” she said. “They made homemade brownies from scratch.”
She said it’s essential that the children know they can handle it.
“They did it all,” she said. “We taught them components to flavour with salty and sweet, right down to plating presentation. Everything from start to finish.”
Bouvier said that sharing her love of food and cooking is part of her own journey to lead a good life.
“The way I live happy is by doing good things, helping others, by being part of the community, and I really enjoy that, and sometimes kids aren’t given the opportunities to explore the culinary world,” she said. “I really want to see for myself who is out there, what these kids were made of and they’re really good!”
The classes are for ages four to 13 years.
Bouvier’s love of teaching became clear when she first taught a cooking class at a youth shelter in Collingwood eight years ago.
“That’s where it all started,” she said. “So I wanted to bring that to the kids here.”
She hopes the classes will give the students a look at another option, and she’s worked with several children who are now looking into becoming chefs.
The lessons are currently taking place at the Red Seal Catering shop in the PetroCan in South Porcupine, but Bouvier wants to find a more suitable space.
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She said that learning how flavours come together, and about nutritional information is an important life skill and a potential career.
“Maybe somewhere down the line, if they're hands-on learners, we’ll have a new chef,” she said.
Even if the children aren’t looking at a future as a chef, Bouvier said she hopes these skills will serve the kids well as they grow up.
“I want them to be able to go home and cook for their parents, so by the time they’re teenagers, they’re cooking,” she said. “It’s really important that kids learn the importance of nutrition, health carbs, protein,s and healthy fats.”
The goal in the future is to have a full teaching kitchen and, maybe one day, a culinary program. For now, she’s enjoying seeing the students' joy and skill so far.
“The kids are having a blast, and the parents are very happy,” she said,
