27/09/2021
Inspiration can strike anywhere. For Nadine Silverberg it was in Noarlunga when she took her nieces to Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food pop-up cooking school. They loved it so much she immediately began looking for other similar classes but was surprised when she couldn’t find anything in Adelaide. “There were very serious classes and TAFE courses,” she discovered, “but nowhere could you just cook for fun.”
Naturally, Nadine saw a chance to combine her twin passions of food and people and before long she and her partner had started Scoffed Cooking School. Their goal: “to make cooking accessible and fun for everybody no matter their age or ability.” Five and a half years later, Scoffed has introduced thousands of young (and plenty of older) chefs to the kitchen and Nadine has lost count of the recipes they’ve worked on.
“If you’re in a restaurant or a cafe you might reinvent your menu every season; we’re doing it every week,” she says with a laugh, and in the school holidays that ramps up further with three classes a day. As well as equipping kids with the fundamental skills they need to develop a healthy relationship with food, Scoffed helps them develop mathematical and time management skills along the way.
And it all relies on finding ways to get kids excited about cooking. One secret is incorporating things they’re already interested in, which is why the school holidays program includes themed Harry Potter and Marvel classes. Here are Nadine’s other tips for getting your kids into the kitchen.
Make It Hands On
We have a saying at Scoffed – sticky fingers and mucky faces – and that’s absolutely what kids want in the kitchen. No kid’s ever done well watching and not getting involved, so choose a recipe that lets your kids do as much as possible. Kids love making meatballs, pasta or pizza from scratch because they can get their hands stuck in when they’re kneading and it’s very tactile. A follow-up tip; wear aprons.
Be As Prepared As Possible
Measure everything that you’ll need for your recipe before you start cooking so your attention is not divided. And do it with your kids so they see what’s involved; in the classes for those eleven and under we prepare everything for them but by the teenage program they do it themselves so they can learn how to prepare a meal independently.
Start With A Dish They Already Like
This sounds obvious but they’ll be more engaged if they’re looking forward to eating what they’re cooking. Start with simple stuff, then you can start to introduce more complex dishes. During the school holidays we have dishes like spring rolls and dumplings that we know the kids will like but our regular students become a bit more adventurous so last term we cooked pierogi, beef stroganoff and blinis with smoked salmon and horseradish cream.
Book your kids in to one of Scoffed’s school holiday cooking classes now
