What do baked sweet potato fries, Chinese vegetable and rice, and black beans and veggie quesadillas have in common? They all are healthy foods being prepared during a very special cooking class. Knox County Health Department Healthy Weight staff are teaming up with the chefs at the Knoxville Convention Center to present Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals. Made possible by a grant from Share Our Strength ® , a leading national organization working to end childhood hunger, Cooking Matters is a training program for professional child care providers who serve low-income children to help them create a healthy food environment for the kids in their care.
To help raise awareness about the Cooking Matters classes, the media is invited to cover the hands-on cooking demonstration (which is part of the class) this Saturday, March 26, 9:30 a.m. in the kitchen of the Knoxville Convention Center, 701 Henley Street, Knoxville. NOTE: To access the kitchen, visitors first must go to the Administration Office on the third floor of the Convention Center.
Knoxville Convention Center Executive Chef Chris Moore and Sous Chef John Morris will instruct 15 representatives from eight area day care facilities using food supplied by Three Rivers Market. Saturday's training could impact potentially 238 children.
An additional Cooking Matter series is being offered on April 2 and 9, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the same location. Child care professionals interested in participating should contact Cheryl Hill at Knox County Health Department at 215-5062 or
[email protected]. The training is free, but space is limited.
Child care providers often face many of the same challenges as parents in creating healthy meals with limited resources. That's why Share Our Strength's Cooking MattersT launched Cooking Matters for Child Care ProfessionalsT, a professional training program designed to empower providers to plan, prepare, and serve healthy meals. Each of its five, two-hour modules offer child care providers hands-on practice in the kitchen, interactive discussions on ways to make healthy choices about food served to kids, and strategies to promote positive attitudes about food among kids.
Funding for these grants was made possible with the generous support of the Wal-Mart Foundation and the Pritzker Early Childhood Foundation.