Culinary Education at PS 166Q (Astoria)

Cooking is a valuable life-skill known to increase math skills, build self esteem, and much more! Allergic to Salad offers CORE- and STEM- based curricula with seasonally inspired recipes. Students learn about nutritional value and the importance of eating healthy in a hands-on setting.

PS 166Q in Astoria, Queens, is looking to provide hands-on culinary classes for their students. This title 1 PreK thru 5th grade school recently established a Wellness Council, and are looking to partner with Allergic to Salad to bring food education to their 1,200+ students.

Neighborhood restaurants, and like-partners, will serve as the base of our funding. Each restaurant partner will offer a Master Chef's class to the school community. The dish inspired by our students will then appear on the restaurant's menu for up to a month following the class, with proceeds returning to fund our ongoing, in-school program. We hope to hold a class and fundraiser at one restaurant per month until we reach our goal, and taking the funding onus off the school's parents.

Once we have achieved our fundraising goals, Allergic to Salad will purchase equipment for the school and kick-off an ongoing program of culinary classes for the upcoming semester, led by a trained ATS educator.

Culinary Classes:

• Be offered to all first and second graders once a week.

• Offering will include our "Culinary Explorers" curriculum, which focuses on global and diverse cuisines and is CORE-Standards aligned

• Focus on healthy and seasonally based eating.

• Introduce basic life-skills, including safe knife handling, reading a recipe and more.

Family Support:

• Offered school-wide.

• Community-building cooking events.

• Include nutrition education and tips to bring kids to the kitchen and eating better.

All students will

• Develop motor skills and recipe literacy.

• Learn about nutritional value and seasonal eating in a hands on setting.

• Share these skills with siblings, parents and faculty through an annual family cook night.

Allergic to Salad will continue to work with the school, and local restaurants to create a sustainable, ongoing, in-school program for PS 166.

Empowering the youth among us is the key to creating a sustainable future for everyone. Rates of obesity and diabetes, both diet-related preventable diseases are high in New York City at-large. Some startling facts:
1 in 5 kindergarten children in New York City is obese.
Rates of childhood Type-2 Diabetes and hypertension are higher than ever before.
Cooking and nutrition education can change this:

• Better grades and school performance

• Increase in good behavior

• Increase in concentration

• Change in long term health prognosis, lowering obesity, lower BMI, diabetes and heart disease

We can address these health challenges by educating youth about the empowering possibilities of a healthy diet. Allergic to Salad provides engaging and hands-on culinary education to youth in local schools, in partnership with local restaurants. This program strengthens community bonds and empowers youth to make healthy choices and take charge of their own futures!