Culinary education can serve as an antidote to passive consumption. As the modern food industry continues to favor convenience and cheap calories over quality, TSC classes explore this dynamic, arguing that perhaps convenience is not always a benefit and that much can be gained from a measure of thought and effort. In addition to basic cooking techniques (chopping, grating, whisking, kneading, rolling), we teach skills essential for any good cook: kitchen safety, flavor profiles and creative combining, planning and strategizing, and teamwork.

TSC chef instructors are trained to engage children through hands-on activities and lively discussion of essential concepts such as seasonality, plant behavior, food history, and cultural awareness. The children learn, for example, that as recently as fifty years ago, no one in the northeastern United States would have eaten a fresh strawberry during the winter months. A discussion follows about which developments now permit us these extravagances and whether they come at a price.

News from The Sylvia Center, NYC