As these kids get hands-on with food, they're also learning about climate change
A simple tomato can inspire deeper conversations, says food systems scholar
Jaela Villalobos originally signed onto the after-school cooking class she's currently taking to spend time with a friend, but the 10-year-old says the experience has been enriching and eye-opening.
"Whatever we eat can also affect the planet," said the Vancouver student, who's enrolled in an eight-week workshop with EcoCooks in Vancouver. "I had no idea that agriculture could actually release greenhouse gasses, so that was surprising."
The meals she and the other preteen participants cook are all plant-based. She hadn't really tried plant-based dishes much before, but has become a fan, especially after making yummy breakfast burritos, lentil-filled tacos and a colourful veggie-and-tofu stir-fry.
"It tastes delicious," said Villalobos, who has occasionally brought what she's learned, both food and information, home to family and friends.
Taking hands-on lessons about food — cooked or grown by students themselves — and mixing in environmental education, has been a recipe for success for some Canadian educators and advocates. It helps spark valuable connections, they say, and offers young people practical, personal steps for tackling climate change.
EcoCooks grew from a desire to teach students about the link between food and climate change, while also building their cooking skills and empowering them to take action, according to Laura Bamsey, manager of the EcoCooks Club program in Metro Vancouver.
Organizers with the non-profit run after-school club programs in Vancouver and Kelowna, B.C., as well as in-school sessions with elementary and secondary students in Vancouver and Calgary.
Instructors teach topics like food systems, land use, biodiversity, water usage and food waste. Then, students dig into plant-based cooking that focusses on whole foods — as well as affordable, commonly found ingredients — to make it easier for youngsters to bring their budding skills and new knowledge home.
"When kids feel empowered or excited about something, their parents often follow their lead, so it's a really great way for them to say 'I want to help out or I want to do this…' and maybe influence their parents to make some changes or try something new," Bamsey said.
"We often get pictures and [notes] saying that they made some of the meals with their family and they've really enjoyed them."
Zahira Tasabehji, one of the program's Vancouver instructors, says though students may not start out knowing how their food choices impact the environment, it's not long before they're linking the climate lessons — about the carbon footprint of different foods, for instance — to the recipes they whip up.
"They're starting to bring it together and understand that all of those activities... are actually tied to the cooking," she noted.
"Last week, we [made] a veggie burger... One kid, I remember, was like 'Oh, I know why we're eating veggie burgers. Because this actually helps the environment.'"
Food opens doors for discussions
Experiential learning involving food indeed opens the door for a wide range of learning, says Michael Classens, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto's School of the Environment. Climate change, economics, politics, inequity or countless other topics can be explored, he says.
"You can hold a tomato and say 'Where did this tomato come from? Do we know? Was it grown in our school garden? Did we get it from the grocery store? Where was it imported [from]?" he said.
"With what kind of environmental impact? With what kind of social justice impact? ... You can expand out and have these really sort of penetrating conversations."
In one of his courses, Classens and his post-secondary students harvest tomatoes grown in designated garden spaces on campus.
They cook with the bounty while covering topics like transnational trade and corporatization of agriculture, he says. For students, coming together to harvest, prepare and share food also can be a soothing way to counteract the climate anxiety many young people feel.
"It's very easy to sort of be deactivated in the face of the enormity of the challenges, but if you feel that you can... start where you are, with what you have access to, I think that's empowering to students," he said.
"It inspires students to get involved and just start doing something that will be of some benefit."
Cross-curricular learning
Through their school and community gardening group Green Thumbs Growing Kids, Sunday Harrison has seen understanding flash in the eyes of thousands of students over the years. They say all of a child's senses are engaged while planting, weeding, harvesting, tasting and preparing meals with produce grown in their downtown Toronto neighbourhood.
In addition to the mental health benefits of connecting with the natural world, Harrison also believes growing food can support children learning about a wide variety of subjects.
Teaching about soil life and composting, for instance, links easily into age-appropriate science lessons on carbon sequestration and water retention, they noted, while planning out school garden plots could be part of geometry class.
Learning about the Canada Food Guide resonates differently, Harrison says, if rather than getting a handout showing fruits and veggies on a plate, students munch on salad made from produce they grew, picked and prepared themselves.
"It just never gets old having little kids, you know, have the light bulb go on. It's like: 'Oh my goodness! What a great taste! What an amazing flavour,'" they said.
With Green Thumbs in operation for 26 years, Harrison's also seeing longer-term impacts from this hands-on approach.
Her group's board of directors includes former participants, some who've enrolled their own children. One board member is now a school teacher bringing this learning to her students. Another who helped build a rainwater collection system for a school garden as a kid, eventually studied hydrology and became an environmental engineer.
Back in Vancouver, 12-year-old budding chef Zachary Ho says though he signed up for EcoCooks because he loves to cook, along with picking up new culinary experiences he's also learning to consider the impact of his choices.
"I learned that we shouldn't waste food and we shouldn't waste, like, skins of food," he said. His favourite recipe so far is the plant-based tacos.
"I loved how we use lentils in order to save the planet, instead of heavy meat."
Vancouver interviews produced by Nick Logan
