Healthy Habits Begin Early

Abraham and Leilani

Abraham was picking up his six-year old daughter Leilani from Flynn Elementary School oneafternoon when a flyer caught his eye. Children’s Council was offering a six-week cooking and nutrition class in Spanish for parents and their kids. “The flyer said children could help prepare nutritious meals,” said Abraham. “I thought it would be fun to do with Leilani.”

We provide these classes – called Cooking Matters! – in partnership with 18 Reasons, a non-profit that offers free cooking and nutrition classes in low-income communities.

Abraham is a dishwasher in a large restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf, so he knows his way around a kitchen. One of the other parents in the class noted, “Everyone was awed by Abraham’s superior chopping skills.” But for Abraham, he was interested in learning healthy recipes that are popular with children and get them involved in cooking.

At first Leilani, a shy 1st grader with big eyes and long brown hair, didn’t seem that interested, but Abraham observed that by the second class “she was learning and preparing the meal with me. By the third class, she was eating everything, including all the vegetables.”

Abraham plans to bring home a lot of what he learned. “Now I know some tricks to putting more vegetables in dishes that kids will eat, like putting spinach in smoothies. I didn’t learn that in a restaurant!”

One major benefit from Cooking Matters! is that every family not only gets the recipe they learn that evening, but also a bag of groceries containing all the ingredients needed to make the meal at home.

Leilani had plenty of fun too. She liked the vegetables, but her favorite treat was the ghosts they made from bananas and bits of chocolate at Halloween. And what budding chef would be complete without a Chef’s hat-another fun surprise in Cooking Matters!

You can help Children’s Council offer more programs like Cooking Matters! Please donate today.