Allergic to Salad - Kids Get Cooking

Free healthy cooking classes for children ages 4 to 15! -- and adults.

In hands-on, activity-filled cooking lessons we explore local, seasonal, vegetarian, nut-free, and often soy- and lactose-free international cuisine with children. We're less concentrated on drilling in "what's good for us" and more on finding out that cooking is fun (by cooking healthy recipes)! Together we develop basic kitchen skills: kitchen safety, knife skills, how to measure ingredients properly, explore kitchen tools, and more (parents often learn a thing or two too!). Through this process, the hope is we realize cooking nourishing food that is good for us doesn't have to be labeled "healthy," but is still tasty.

At the end of every lesson we have the opportunity to taste the dish we've made together and take home the recipe.

Two children cooking classes and supplies to get cooking were already funded through ioby. In this funding round we are raising money for ONE adult class and FOUR more children classes, in addition to some outreach/ media materials (postcards and updated website). This round of funding mostly covers labor and food costs for the FIVE upcoming classes.

We currently have a number of interested parent and local groups, as well as site locations interested to host free of charge. We have also reached out to the local councilman and a few other groups for more support. Researching food donations at the moment.

Once funding is complete We reach out to our host sites and hold more cooking classes! Looking to complete all cooking classes on weekends, before the end of July.

Since 2007 we have taught healthy cooking to NYC public school students at after-school programs, summer camps and with the Greening Libraries Initiative at Queens Library. Our desire is to bring the message closer to home through hands-on cooking classes for kids we have developed through our years of experience.

Classes are offered free of charge to allow all income levels to participate. The language of food is universal and we often work with non-English speakers with little problem. Cooking often engages children that don't have a proper outlet in a traditional classroom and allows them the freedom to express delicious creativity and share it with their loved ones.

The classes address healthy eating, obesity, local food systems, food justice, and more.