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East Village Kids Get Recipe for Healthy Cooking Skills

Students at the East Village Community School take part in the Food Bank's CookShop program, which teaches young chefs about nutritional cooking.
Students at the East Village Community School take part in the Food Bank's CookShop program, which teaches young chefs about nutritional cooking.
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DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

EAST VILLAGE — The aroma of freshly chopped garlic filled Elizabeth Wanttaja's second-grade classroom at the East Village Community School Wednesday afternoon.

The students were making a healthy version of bruschetta as part of a series of cooking lessons sponsored by the Food Bank for New York City's CookShop program.

"If it becomes ingrained in them now — the choice between white bread and wheat bread, carrot sticks instead of a bag of chips — it'll become second nature," Wanttaja said of her students after they had finished cooking and cleaning up.

"They don't even have to think about it."

Along with students in more than 1,000 other classrooms across the city, the second-graders at the East Village Community School have been learning about food groups and whipping up wholesome snacks, broadening their palates and spreading the word on healthy eating to their parents, Wanttaja said.

On Wednesday afternoon, as part of a unit on grains, the students made snacks of wheat bread and whole-wheat pita topped with a mixture of chopped tomatoes, fresh garlic, olive oil, salt and black pepper.

While several students said they didn't think they liked tomatoes, and one young boy wrinkled his nose at the smell of olive oil, all the students tried the concoction and proclaimed it tasty.

"If it's a dark grain, it's healthy," Leah Solomon, 7, explained afterward. "It's really fun and cool because we get to cook and have fun and eat."

Ayla Huguenot, 8, an East Village resident, said she always shares her CookShop lessons with her mother.

"Whenever my mom makes me food, I say, 'Does it have grains, dairy, fruit, vegetables and protein?'" Ayla said. "I make sure I have all of those whenever I have dinner or lunch."

CookShop started in 1994 to teach the youngest New Yorkers how to make healthy food choices. The program targets students in high-need areas, particularly where many families may be using food stamps, and is designed to show families that nutritious meals can also be affordable, said Jeannie Fournier, director of nutrition and health education at Food Bank.

Food Bank trains teachers at participating schools and provides the ingredients for hands-on cooking classes, along with recipes and other information that students can take home.

Robin Williams, principal of East Village Community School, said some students start school with much more knowledge about nutrition than others.

"We have vegans and vegetarians, and then we have students who come in in the morning eating chips," Williams said. "It's good to get the kids on the same page. It teaches kids about food in a positive way."