This has a knock on effect and most of us now just get on with the task at hand, basically its easier to do it ourselves than it is to teach our children. 

 

Many children now do not have a clue when it comes to preparing and cooking a meal for the family. Thankfully this is where the schools have intervened and cookery classes are still taking place in many primary classes as part of their school week. 

 

I had the absolute pleasure of leading one of these sessions on mass, 60 children, 10 cookery stations and lots and lots of woks. 

 

The morning started with a group chat and cooking demonstration where I talked about the history of Fried Rice and how it came to be, cooking equipment and how to use them. Knife skills, temperature control of the wok and the importance of reheating rice. 

After the demo the children went off to their workstations and formed into two groups of three, they were then asked to choose a head chef, the head chef then came and collected a shopping bag and the recipe sheet from myself. The groups then had two minutes to discuss what they wanted in their fried rice from the list that was printed on the sheets. 

 

We had set up a make shift market in the corner of the hall and once the groups knew what they wanted in their rice they came over to the market to shop for their ingredients. Some items were essential so they had to ensure that these items were collected. 

Once they had shopped it was all hands on deck as the children got on with preparing the ingredients ready to be cooked, it was then woks on and they all began to cook following the method on the sheets. 

 

Once cooked the children served up the rice and it was then time to sit down and enjoy their spoils. 

 

An occurring phenomenon always happens whenever I teach a group of children, we always have a couple of children who point blank do not want to eat what we are cooking, but by the time they have created the dish they are always the ones literally licking the plate clean. This is the power of letting your children do it themselves. 

 

Until next time “Wok On”