The Wilton Board of Education is currently reviewing a proposal for “Culinary Arts: a Lifetime of Wellness,” a prospective new offering for students of Middlebrook School.
The course will be for eighth grade students involved in the school’s family and consumer science program.
“Middlebrook School adheres to the middle school philosophy of providing a full exploratory curriculum to its students,” the proposal says, which was written by Janet Nobles, Catherine Hanna and Jamie Peterson. “Middle school curriculum should be challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant.”
The class will be designed to promote healthy eating and food preparation habits in the face of an ongoing obesity and cholesterol problem in the United States.
The program will be similar to the culinary arts program offered for seventh grade students, and would replace the eighth grade sewing course. It would be offered for 22 days during each academic quarter, and each student would have an opportunity to take the class for one quarter.
Standards set by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences served as a model upon which to conform the course’s curriculum goals.
The objective is to teach students safe, sanitary, and environmentally friendly food preparation routines, and to promote healthy dietary habits.
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate knowledge of complex recipes, have a basic understanding of nutrition, and be able to understand food marketing techniques used today.
The learning environment would be project-based and would offer food labs, group activities and a variety of healthy shopping guidelines and budgeting tips.
This is an “exploratory course” that may help shape an elective program at the high school.
The total program cost has been estimated at $11,380, which includes training and instructional materials, kitchen upgrades and food costs.
Greenwich public schools currently offer similar courses, as do Middlesex Middle School in Darien and Ridgefield’s middle schools, according to the proposal.
