Cooking Class

Cooking Class may be one way to battle the epidemic of obesity and poor nutrition that is raging through our American culture. Perhaps by teaching about the full cycle of how our food is grown, prepared and cooked we can instill in our children the understanding that “ We are What We Eat”. Many children in the United States no longer have the experience of growing and harvesting food, cooking at a parent or grandparent’s side or sitting down to a meal that is lovingly prepared. Many children even lack the traditions of proper meal etiquette. America has become a fast food nation and her people have lost the pleasures and the community building that home cooked meals provide. Learning about the ingredients in food, how to prepare and share a meal may be some of the lost skills we need to help change the downward spiral of poor physical and mental health that plague people in the United States.

In the Japanese schools that I visited, cooking class was not an elective but a required class for both boys and girls in high school and jr. high. At Tajiri Jr. High, students learned the proper procedures and dangers of cooking with gas, and simply learned how to boil water for tea. In Furukawa High, students had much more responsibility and prepared an entire meal from start to finish. Homework from the night before was to copy the recipe and step by step instructions into their workbook. The teacher began the class by reading the instructions that were written on the board. Over 40 students quietly (and hopefully) listened, though it was apparent later that not all absorbed every step. Once instructions were delivered, students broke into their groups, gathered the utensils (very sharp knives!) and ingredients. The steps in the recipe were quite simple but had many ingredients and all were fresh and many locally grown. The complexity of the recipe became apparent when the students began to prepare each ingredient quite differently. The recipe called for two different kinds of seaweed, one needed to be soaked and then chopped, while the other was shredded and added later in the recipe. One boy, who had not paid close enough attention and dawdled, was unlucky enough to try to carry his soaked seaweed over to his counter while everyone else waited for him. He got nervous with all eyes on him and he dropped the slippery seaweed onto the floor. The whole class and all the visiting teachers laughed while the poor boy sheepishly retrieved his seaweed from the floor. Cucumber needed to be sliced so thinly that one boy took the entire period to finish the job. Raw chicken was cut up, rice was boiled, eggs were beaten and cooked in a bonito broth, soy sauce and oils measured. Finally when everything was ready, the students served up the meal and sat down to eat. Before eating the students say “ Itadamase“ which means thank you for the food I am about to eat. Evidence of green living was found in the compost container placed in the sink for vegetable wastes. The text books for class had sections explaining product logos such as energy star, environmentally friendly, cell phone recycling, Ni-Cd battery recycling. The product logos were a collection from different countries including New Zealand, Germany, EU, and Norway.

Sustainable School Food - A Full Circle
Osaki City boasts two school food centers that supply student lunches with food grown and prepared locally, with plans to add another food center in southern part of the city. To promote their food centers, Osaki City invites visitors from other school districts to observe how healthy and nourishing food can be prepared and delivered at a low cost to the students. The Tajiri Jr. High School Food Center tries to use locally grown food whenever possible; over 50 % of the vegetables including Japanese radish, mushrooms, spinach and lettuce are grown locally and 100 % of the rice is harvested from nearby fields. A JFMF teacher asked our hosts if “ a student looked out the window at the rice fields and wondered “ Am I eating rice that has been grown in that field?” the answer would be yes! In addition, the local food shed provides ham sausages, miso, soy sauce, and tofu.

All the food at Tajiri is prepared on site in a large facility, where food service workers use state of the art machinery to chop, cook and clean. For example, a computerized thermometer is used to check for food temperature in the large vats of Miso soup. However, the human touch is not forsaken; industrial sized ladles are hand stirred to mix the ingredients and the head chef meticulously tastes each step in the food’s preparation where she carefully adjusts the flavors.

Choice of menu is not an option for Tajiri Jr. High school students as everyone eats the same thing. Twice each year, students get to choose their dessert from two options. The only exception to this uniformity is for students with allergies. At Tajiri Jr. High, thirteen students have been diagnosed with an allergy and these students claiming allergies must have a doctor’s note to verify it. The allergies seen in the Tajiri district include allergies to egg, milk and kiwi fruit. Traditionally in the Japanese culture, food substitutions and preferences are not a common practice.

The waste from the food preparation does not end up at the landfill. Instead, the wastes get recycled into compost. The amount is so large that the waste is collected and then transported to a composting facility, which is managed and operated by local farmers, not the municipality. Some of the composted material is then returned to the schools and used in the school’s flower and vegetable gardens.

All students pay for lunch – there are no free lunch programs. According to the authorities, there is no need for free lunches as all families can afford to pay.
The cost for a school lunch each day at Tajiri Jr. High is 299 yen, which roughly equates to $2.99. The cost is slightly less at the elementary school 242 yen and the Kindergarten program 221 yen. Once the food is prepared and ready to be eaten, the students leave their classrooms, don their clean white frocks and hats and come to the food center to retrieve their lunch. Each portion of the lunch is carried in large communal vats. The students carry the heavy food containers back to their classroom where the students take turns serving themselves efficiently from a line. Students eat at their desks with their teacher. The atmosphere is loud and jovial and the students joke and laugh with the teacher. After everyone has eaten the students proceed to clean up the dishes; nothing is made from disposable materials save for the milk cartons which are carefully folded and compacted before being put in the small plastic garbage bag. The students scrape their plates into the compost bucket. Students bring their own chopsticks from home and the rest of the dishes are sent back to the kitchen to be cleaned for the next day. The lunch that I shared with the Tajiri Jr. High school students was both delicious and filling. Obesity and malnutrition do not exist at this Japanese school.