CTC's Culinary Boot Camps help children cook up a healthy future

Each summer, the Community & Technical College's Culinary Arts, Hospitality, Dietetics & Nutrition Division hosts Culinary and Bakery Boot Camps for children ages 11 to 17. These weeklong day camps are taught on UAA's campus by a culinary arts faculty member.

Participants are instructed in cooking and baking at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. They are taught kitchen safety and sanitation practices, how to read a recipe and use cooking techniques, as well as how to make yummy dishes such as hummus with vegetable crudité and mouth-watering baked goods such as muffins and scones. Campers are outfitted in true culinary attire with a chef jacket, toque and apron, which they must wear each day they attend camp.

"Just as people need to know how to read and write and think critically, they need to know basic cooking skills to nourish and care for themselves," said Tim Doebler, the division's director. "Childhood obesity in this country is a crisis. Our industrialized food chain has led to the rise of a generation of 'reheaters' who don't know how to process food in its raw state. Culinary Boot Camp teaches children skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives."

Head over to the CTC Insider to learn more about the camp and meet some of this year's students.

July Archive