Kids cooking to teach healthy skills

MEREDITH Community Centre has received a grant from VicHealth to teach children and teens about cooking.

The organisation was recently a successful applicant to the JumpStart! grants program, receiving about $22,000 for their upcoming Mini Masterchefs initiative which will aim to entertain and educate young people during the school holidays.

Centre manager Leah Phillips said tutor Jen Jones identified within an art session that kids were keen to take part in a cooking class, and Mini Masterchefs responds to that demand.

“This is all about teaching kids, from 10 to 15 year olds, about preparing healthy food for themselves, and how to eat healthily,” Ms Phillips said.

“They’ll prepare the healthy meals, take them home, and will have learnt all the basic food preparation skills in the kitchen they need.

“There will be eight classes per holidays, and then more over the longer summer break.”

Ms Phillips said offering this type of education, and school holiday entertainment, is important given the town’s remote location.

“All parents are driving to work in Geelong or Ballarat, because we’re right in the middle in Meredith, so to have a program for the kids to stay in their own community and learn here is key.

“It also grounds them to come back to the Community Centre later on, because they’ve been introduced to it, know what we do here, and they might have ideas for programs,” she said.

Mini Masterchefs will run for free throughout each school holiday period for the next 12 months. Bookings will open soon.