Foto: Arif Bovenkamp The Chef in the Classroom class was organised by the Taste Training Team of Wageningen Economic Research. This team studies the eating behaviour of (young) consumers. The knowledge gained from this research is applied in projects such as Taste Training and EU-school fruit. ‘The goal of the Taste Training is to get children interested in food and to teach them about healthy choices’, says Marlies Willemsen-Regelink, the project leader of EU-school fruit and vegetables and Taste Training.
Early adopters
Children who learn to cook are later better able to prepare a healthy meal, they expect. Willemsen-Regelink: ‘With this initiative, we hope to contribute towards a conscientious consumer, who will choose sustainable options more frequently.’
Thus, groups 6, 7 and 8 of 80 primary schools in the Netherlands will receive an online class hosted by chef Dick Middelweerd of the two-star restaurant de Treeswijkhoeve in Waalre. He talks about a day in a cook’s life, teaches children how to taste properly and how to make a Vietnamese spring roll.
Taste training
The Chef in the classroom is an additional activity in the Taste Training: a course for groups 1 to and including 8 of primary education. In this course, children discover food through tasting, smelling, feeling, seeing and hearing. Topics discussed in the course include flavour, health, origin, consumer skills and cooking. During previous editions, a cook would visit the classroom. This activity has now been moved online due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
