Maya Wilson ’23 received a We Act Grant for the summer of 2021. Read her testimonial below about her experience bringing a taste of community to 5C students through virtual cooking classes.
I used the We Act Grant to teach virtual summer cooking classes to 5C students. Since we’ve been remote for over a year, I thought that it would be a great way to bring the 5C community together. Food has always been a source of connection among people, and teaching cooking classes was a perfect way to foster community as well as help other students gain confidence in the kitchen.
While applying for the grant, I surveyed 5C students to ask them about their attitudes toward cooking. Out of the 74 student responses that I got, 30% of students said that they didn’t regularly cook for themselves (regular meaning 3+ times a week). Out of these people, their top three reasons were 1) They don’t have enough time 2) They’re too tired and 3) It seems difficult or complicated. To address this, I used the We Act Grant to teach 5C students how to make delicious, easy, nutritious, and affordable meals that they could make in very little time. Cooking is an important skill to learn, and making a homemade meal is often healthier and more budget-friendly than eating out at a restaurant. Cooking can also bring pure joy and serve as a creative outlet, and I wanted to share this with the 5C community.
A week and a half after I publicized the classes, they were completely full and I was putting students on waitlists. I was happily surprised to see how many students were interested in taking a class. After the classes filled up, it truly sunk in that I would be teaching cooking classes. It had always been something I wanted to do, and I couldn’t think of a better way I’d want to spend my summer than to be able to combine my passion for cooking with my love for helping and working with others.
Throughout the summer, I taught 9 cooking classes with about 7-9 participants per class. The classes were open to students from all 5 colleges, regardless of prior cooking experience. Each class went over a different food theme, including “Grab and Go Breakfast,” “Pizza and Pasta Galore,” “Bring on the Beans,” “Egg-Cellent Dinners,” and “Sweet Treats”. Examples of dishes that we made together included “Overnight Oats with Chia Seeds,” “Kale Pesto Pizza,” “White Bean & Kale Quesadillas,” “Shakshuka with Beans and Greens,” “Orange and Almond Salad” and “Chickpea Brownies”. While I was a little nervous that the virtual component of the classes would make them more difficult, each of the virtual cooking classes ended up being successful and working well. While nothing quite compares to cooking together in person, cooking together over Zoom was a close second.
To prepare for each class, I practiced each recipe extensively and made tweaks to the original recipe until I was happy with the finished dish. During the class, we made each recipe together step by step, and I gave verbal instructions and cooking demonstrations to assist students with making the recipes. I also shared cooking and nutrition knowledge that was relevant to the recipe that we were making together.
Examples of topics that we covered during class included the difference between red, white, and yellow onions, how to properly cut various vegetables, why it’s important to heat your pan before you throw ingredients into it, what “umami” flavor is and how to achieve it, what the difference between baking soda and baking powder is, and how over-mixing your batter affects gluten development. We also went over the nutrition content of different ingredients we were working with, including kale, beans, chickpeas, and eggs. I loved learning about these topics while I was preparing for the classes, and I was excited to share and discuss them with other students.
I also really enjoyed chatting about things like what cooking shows we’ve been binge watching, our favorite 5C dining halls, and dishes that we like to cook for ourselves. It was a great way to get to know each other better and connect over our shared interest in food. At the end of each class, students walked away with 2-3 new recipes that they knew how to make, some more cooking knowledge, and an experience that they got to share with other 5C students. Even if we were separated by a screen, it was extremely meaningful to have a space to cook together in a welcoming, relaxed environment, and eat some yummy food together along the way.
I sent out an anonymous feedback form to all the participants after the classes to hear their thoughts and feedback, and a few of the comments really warmed my heart. One student wrote, “Thank you so much for the classes! I really appreciated how the dishes were simple but still delicious. I also loved getting to learn a bit about the nutritional value of the different ingredients and the various uses for ingredients like tomato paste. I worried that I’d have trouble keeping up before the classes, but the pace was perfect, and you were so patient and willing to answer questions or repeat parts of the process!” Another student wrote, “The class was wonderful. Even on zoom it was super engaging, and you could tell that Maya was really excited about this project—which resulted in really fantastic teaching (sometimes even better than some actual online classes)…a fantastic and very engaging course. The grocery budget support was also a big help…”
Students also gave me some helpful feedback that will improve future classes, including expanding more on options to modify recipes, offering a knife skills course, and teaching students how to cook with leftovers.
Through teaching cooking classes, I learned some important things about myself and gained valuable leadership skills. The project required many things, including that I recognize an issue and find a way to address it, plan my project and how I would go about completing it, apply for the We Act Grant, publicize the classes, communicate with participants, practice budgeting skills, master the recipes and prepare for each class, teach the classes, and gain valuable feedback along the way. I learned that I am able to carry out a project from initial idea to completion, and this gives me the confidence to continue taking initiative in recognizing issues in my community and finding ways to effectively address them.
Finally, I learned that I really enjoy teaching cooking classes, and I hope to continue teaching them throughout college and beyond. I love getting to be a part of growing people’s confidence in the kitchen, and it’s such a special experience to sit down together and enjoy the food that we made together (even if just virtually). I look forward to seeing what the future brings, and I can only hope that it’s full of cooking delicious, homemade meals with others and fostering community over food.
Thank you to the Scripps Laspa Center for helping make this experience possible!
