Working for Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

It is interesting how things happen for a reason and sometimes, that reason is the starting point of subsequent events. In my case, if I hadn’t met Nick on an Easyjet flight, I wouldn’t have left Spain and I would probably be working as a lawyer for a law firm in Madrid, if lucky. Who knows. But I met this funny, handsome diplomat and decided to live an adventure with him. Since then, my ordinary life in Spain changed for good.

That adventure took me to different countries (Australia, Solomon Islands, Argentina and the Philippines) and interesting jobs. I have learnt many things from the places where Nick and I lived and the work experience I had. Perhaps you wonder why I am not practicing law anymore - this is because :

• cooking is what I love doing, even if I am just an amateur in this field. 
• cooking is portable. We move countries every 3 years.
• I do not miss law, although I wouldn't mind working as a diplomat one day, if I have the chance, or another life!

My enthusiasm for food  helped me to get a job in 2011 as a Kitchen Specialist for Majura Primary school (www.majuraps.act.edu.au), in Canberra, the only school with a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation program.

"The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation is growing a food revolution from the ground up.

Stephanie talking about her program in Canberra 

In 398 schools Australia-wide, around 35,000 children are enthusiastically getting their hands dirty and learning how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food.
The fundamental philosophy that underpins the SAKGP is that by setting good examples and engaging children's curiosity, as well as their energy and their taste buds, we can provide positive and memorable food experiences that will form the basis of positive lifelong eating habits"
www.kitchengardenfoundation.com.au

• The kitchen in Majura school was separated into 4 stations and each station was totally prepared with utensils, pots and other items for the 20-24 children to use during the cooking class. 
• There were sharp knives, hot pots and pans but the kids learnt how to be careful and use them with confidence, as long as the school teacher or me watched them
• They prepared the food harvested from the vegetable garden of the school (the students also had gardening lessons). The Garden Specialist and myself coordinated the menu and the classes so there was a food circle easy for the children to understand. There was no need to talk about the pyramid of food. The cooking lessons spoke by themselves.
• There were kitchen rules that all the students had to respect before, during and after the class. And they usually obeyed because they were a team and no one liked to be left behind.
• They shared tasks, some more enjoyable than others: clean up the station, do the dishes, mop the floor.
• There was a golden rule, everybody had to taste the dishes we prepared. Even those children who were a bit more reluctant, cooperated in the cooking or they got involved in the preparation of the food and enjoyed it themselves.
• Those who were fussy with trying new food, they observed that the rest of the class was having a great time and copied them. We all sat down in beautiful decorated tables and ate the food prepared by the children.
• They learnt from each other. They supported to each other.
• They had FUN. Lots of fun. And that was the point of the program, cooking is fun and also a skill, a process through which we make mistakes sometimes but we move on learning something from them. 

Cooking with amazing talented kids

• The children told me that they cooked at home, even made dinners for their parents. And for this reason and for many others, the program has an incredible positive effect on the children and their families. I was told that some of them changed their eating habits and started to make things from the scratch. They realised that food doesn't always come in a can or a bottle or from the supermarket with a stick on it.
• The children were very proud and I was proud of them.
• The children were the solid base of the cooking class. I wasn't trained as a school teacher, but I had an essential support from the classroom teacher and the local community.

I was a mum who loved cooking and had a Spanish background with lots of family traditions, strong ones, that I carried them with me and put them into practice during my class with the kids. They enjoyed learning how to make croquetas, pasta, zucchini fritters, profiteroles, beetroot muffins... And they were very happy to start the lesson and sad when it was finished. 

The feeling was mutual!!

A few weeks after I started working for the school, I found out I was pregnant. And when I was six months pregnant, Nick and I were posted to Manila. This is the difficult part of being married to a diplomat, that when you finally find something you really enjoy, professionally speaking, suddenly it is cut off your life. But as I began this blog saying "things happen for a reason"...although sometimes it is hard to understand.

The Kitchen Garden Foundation inspired me to do some volunteer work in Philippines, teaching children and  adults to cook and...have fun.  

Paranaque day care center and ECPAT girls making pasta