Chef Kester Robinson is organizing cooking classes for children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 15, through an initiative, known as the 2023 Kids Cooking Academy which aims to develop culinary skills and foster an interest in culinary careers among young participants.
As the Executive Chef of The Pergola Experience, Chef Robinson is passionate about bringing children closer to the art of cooking and equipping them with practical culinary skills applicable to their daily lives.
The classes will expose young learners to a variety of simple recipes, allowing them to recreate these dishes at home. The hands-on experience will provide them with valuable insights into cooking techniques and food preparation.
Chef Robinson believes that introducing cooking skills at an early age can have a positive impact, nurturing the next generation of culinary enthusiasts.
“What we are doing is teaching them some of the basics. The first week we are doing some of the basics knife skills, [and] we are doing also breakfast making. Tomorrow we will be doing liquid diet for smoothie, so we want to get them very familiar with every type of diet. So within our class, we have vegetarian, among others, we want to make sure that everybody is inclusive as we preparing these meals,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the children shared their experiences in the kitchen with NCN Guyana.
“I’ve learned a lot lately and is a nice experience because my dream is to be a chef and travel the world and cook in different restaurants so this is a very good experience for me,” Emanuel James said.
“Yesterday I learned how to cook over-easy eggs and today we did French toasts and pancakes and waffles and I just feel really glad about it and it also makes me very hungry,” Kailan Wong, another student added.
Daniel Butts also said “Since I start to come here since yesterday, I’ve learned quite a lot, like basics knife skills, cutting skills, how to make different breakfast items like waffles and it is a great experience.”
And finally, Sorfina James voiced her belief that the cooking program will help her in her goals to become a chef. “I think it will help me a lot and I think I can be a chef when I grow up with this experience.”
For those interested in enrolling their children in the 2023 Kids Cooking Academy classes, they can message 592-644-2221 for more information.
The classes will run for six weeks.