Silver Table teaches kids to cook

Tue, 11/15/2005

You can tell you're at the right house when you smell the aroma of saut/ing garlic wafting out onto the sidewalk. Soon you witness a whirlwind of activity in the windows - kids with spatulas, sounds of pulsing Cuisinarts, and steaming pots simmering on the stove.

It's time for the annual mini-Thanksgiving cooking class for kids at Silver Table Cooking in Arbor Heights. Kyle, 12, crumbles cornbread for the dressing while Lizzy, 15, grates cheddar for a batch of mac and cheese. Alex. 11. chops oranges for the cranberry-orange relish and Charlotte. 13, perfects a pie crust for the sweet potato pie.

The kids work hard in the kitchen for four whole hours in class. But at the end of the day, they all get to sit around the table they set themselves and enjoy their culinary creations. Not to mention, note their favorite dishes so they can prepare them again for their own families on the real turkey day.

But mini-Thanksgiving is just one of the many fun cooking classes for kids at Silver Table. There are also other seasonal themes like fall soups, Halloween snacks, holiday cookies, and a popular summer cooking camp.

Silver Table teaches kids basic cooking skills and teamwork with hands-on experience in the kitchen of founder Michelle Silver. Inspired by volunteering to teach kindergarteners a cooking class at Cooper School, where her husband Ron is a teacher, Silver opened her doors as Silver Table 2002.

She's been gathering a loyal following ever since. Veteran kid cook Alex, 11, can vouch as he has done the Silver Table gamut from sandwich-making class and week-long summer camp to Halloween snacks and multiple mini-Thanksgivings.

Never forgetting to focus on fun, Silver strives to connect cooking to lessons in kitchen safety, math, science, and culture.

"We educate kids on culture and diversity through food using recipes from places like India, France, and Spain," says Silver. "Kids gain a sense of respect for other countries while learning what each country produces in terms of exports and crops. And they are provided with written materials to take home."

Silver also tries to instill a sense of nutritional value in foods they prepare.

"We teach that fresh is better than frozen and frozen is still better than canned," she smiles, "and if they have a tough time understanding the numbers behind nutritional values, we tell them 'the darker the color of the vegetable, the more it feeds your blood system - giving it much needed oxygen.'"

Kids gain knowledge, experience and confidence in the kitchen while parents reap the rewards. Mother Felicia Yap's daughter Sophia is a perfect example.

"The first class Sophia took was on foods of the Southwest," explains Yap. "Not only did she come home and prepare a dish for our family, but she orchestrated an entire meal. We ate well and I didn't have to cook at all! I was really impressed with what she had learned in one class."

Silver Table also offers Family Night where everyone participates.

"We do a fun, family sit-down dinner where kids and parents can learn to make things like spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic and shallots-like a real chef would," she says. "Kids learn to appreciate adult meals and what goes into them."

In fact, according to Silver, the most common comment she hears from kids is that they didn't know they could make a meal from the things they see at grocery store that their parents don't normally buy. For example, she does a class on Asian stir fry where the recipe calls for bean sprouts.

"I hear kids say things like 'my mom would never buy these, but I tasted them when I cooked them myself and I actually liked them,'" beams Silver. "We'll also make things like Thai dipping sauces for spring rolls using ingredients they've never heard of before, like fish sauce and ginger. It broadens their perspective on food and life."

Parents love that their children come home excited about cooking and kids love the recognition not to mention whatever recipe they've chosen to prepare.

Ready for your kids to get cooking? Check out Silver Table's themed Saturday classes throughout the school year and when summer comes, the week-long summer camps are a real treat. Silver Table also offers birthday parties and private lessons.

(Information Box)

What:

Silver Table Cooking for Kids

Where:

Please call for address and directions

206.932.7309

www.silvertablecooking.com

When:

Saturdays from 10am-2pm during the school year

See website for info on Summer Camp

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