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The community of cooking, sharing, learning | My Daughter’s Kitchen

We are starting our 12th season of My Daughter's Kitchen, the after-school cooking program now in 35 urban schools around the region.

Stan Wischnowski, executive editor of Philadelphia Media Network, addresses volunteers at the organizational meeting of the fall semester for My Daughter's Kitchen cooking program.
Stan Wischnowski, executive editor of Philadelphia Media Network, addresses volunteers at the organizational meeting of the fall semester for My Daughter's Kitchen cooking program.Read moreMaureen Fitzgerald

Back in the dark ages, when I was in college and sharing a house with five other girls, we all pitched in $10 a week and took turns grocery shopping, cooking dinner, and doing dishes. Remarkably, my husband did the same with his college roommates (though he is still mocked for how terrible his offerings were and for his lack of dish-washing skills).

I still remember my favorites from those days: the pot roast and potatoes made with onion soup mix; the dish made with frozen halibut, a little vinegar, and lots of melted butter that we convinced ourselves tasted like lobster.

Yes, groceries cost much less in the '70s, when $60 could feed six of us for a week. But what's most interesting is that cooking and sharing meals was the default instead of the exception. We all grew up in households where dinner was cooked, and we weren't intimidated by it. Our college meals were not always award-winning or terribly healthy, but that communal dinner was such a part of our generation that it was second nature to replicate it when living on our own — even with busy college schedules. Of course, it was also born of necessity: There were so few takeout and prepared meal options — and we were all short on cash.

It seems almost quaint to think of college kids sharing chores and cooking meals to save money. None of my own kids took this approach, preferring the ease of dining-hall fare or fast food. Even though they grew up eating home-cooked dinners. And even though they heard me rail about how prepared meals were so high in salt and fat and calories and were causing record numbers of diet-related diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

I'm reminded of that college ritual as we start our 12th season of My Daughter's Kitchen, the after-school cooking program now in 35 urban schools around the region. Because the concept is very much the same: a group of peers sharing the responsibilities of preparing a meal and then enjoying it together.

This program started with a request from my own daughter for healthy, easy, cheap recipes — after she finally realized her mom might be right! But I've added nutrition, with recipes designed not only to teach children how to chop, measure, sauté, and roast, but also how a nutrient-packed meal made with fresh ingredients benefits your body and your mind.

This week, and for the next eight weeks, nearly 200 schoolchildren, mostly in Camden and Philadelphia, will be learning to make a variety of meals that will feed a family of six on a budget of $20 per meal. The mission is to show students how easy it is to cook for themselves and their families; to demonstrate that healthy meals do not have to be bland and boring but can be exciting and pretty delicious. Recipes in the lineup this fall include lime-marinated steak tacos, coconut curry ramen, quick eggplant parm, and tuna pasta salad, to name a few.

Some 70 seasoned home cooks (most of whom are Inquirer and Daily News readers) have generously volunteered to guide students along the way. Each semester since we began in 2013, volunteers have worked with small groups of children for two-hour sessions after school, teaching them to make seven recipes, progressing each week from simple to more difficult, culminating with a meal they prepare for their families. The commitment of these volunteers is so gratifying, with new volunteers signing up as well as veterans who return year after year.

Jane Glatt, one of about 40 volunteers who attended the organizational meeting at Philadelphia Media Network last week, said she had been reading about the program in the Inquirer for years and had wanted to volunteer since the program started. She finally retired and had the time to do it; she'll be teaching at Wissahickon Charter School, Awbury campus. "I love being around kids and I love cooking, so the combination is perfect," she said. "I can't wait!" And then she added: "And my mother would have been really proud."

Sallie Anderson was back for a second year and recruited friend Pat Kelly to join her at Chester Eastside, an after-school program in Chester. Last spring, her all-boy class had its challenges with "normal boy rowdiness," she said. But it all came together for the last meal, when they made turkey burgers for their families and proudly worked together as a team. "It was just so moving to me," she said. "It was such a transformation."

Maureen Dodson, a returning volunteer at Urban Promise in Camden, is grateful not only to have learned better knife skills through the program, but also to have learned from her students how to do the wildly popular "floss dance" by repetitively swinging her hips and arms in opposite directions at amazing speed.

And since her own kids are grown, she's happy to be able to show another group of kids "how much better vegetables taste when they are roasted and not just boiled!"

New schools joining the program this fall in Philadelphia are Robert Pollack Elementary and Mother of Divine Grace, and, in Camden, Mastery McGraw Elementary and Boys and Girls Club Parkside.

As of last spring, we have enrolled nearly 1,500 students since the program began. We've prepared more than 1,400 home-cooked meals and logged more than 7,600 volunteer hours. More than $197,660 has been donated to support this program.

Our most heartfelt thanks to all those who have donated and who continue to give. And, of course, to the staff at Vetri Community Partnership, who make it all possible, handing all the administration.

Having taught these classes for five years, I am heartened to see how many students embrace cooking and are excited to learn how to prepare meals for themselves. And I believe there's hope that they will not only be cooking and sharing meals with their college roommates, but they will be much better cooks than we were.

Indeed, even my husband has learned how to make a mean lasagna that would totally impress his college roommates. His dish-washing skills are still evolving.

mydaughterskitchen@gmail.com