JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
Marion County High School was recently the site for the county’s 4-H Youth Development Program’s fourth ever cooking camp, with the theme centering on the different cultures of the world.
Wesley Brewer and Anna Belk of the Marion County UT Extension Office of Agriculture served as teachers for this year’s cooking camp, with participating students learning to bake various culinary dishes and add-ons from Hispanic and Asian cultures. Brewer explained how on the first day, students participating are given the opportunity to make different dishes , including learning to bake homemade flour tortillas, guacamole, fajitas, salsa and tres leches cake. Tres leche cake (three milks cake) is a form of dessert made with three separate milks; regular, evaporated, and sweetened condensed.
The following day, the class focused primarily on Asian dishes, making sushi from scratch while also creating homemade Wontons and boba.
Students from fifth grade to eight grade were welcomed to participate in the event with limited enrollment. The cooking camp’s purpose is to help educate students with vital culinary skills , providing them with the ability to make food for the table while at home, whether for themselves when older or for their families. The camp also helps teach students about proper food safety and the skills needed to use a variety of kitchenware, such as how to safely use a knife when prepping different dishes.
“4-H Youth Development is all about making the best better and giving these students real-life solutions. And so our goal is to provide these students with not only basic culinary skills, but also give them the tools and resources that they can have to go home and make these meals for their families. And to see that you really can eat dinner on a dime,” explained Brewer.
Previous cooking camps hosted featured separate themes of their own, ranging from cast iron cooking to canning and food preservation. Each camp taught students a variety of different lessons and recipes alike, all of which combines to help students be better prepared for the wider world ahead of them.
