Summer Cooking at KDA and Esperanza
At Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Esperanza Elementary in East Oakland, our culinary partnership with BACR continued into summer with five weeks of cooking. The school serves children from TK through fifth grade, and our summer classes brought a practical, creative activity into that elementary learning setting: making something from the ingredients in front of you.
A menu made for summer
Rainbow salad, banana split cups, mango crepe rolls, watermelon smoothies, and DIY ice cream kept the menu colorful and seasonal. Each recipe brought a different task to the table. Salad called for combining ingredients, dessert cups made assembly part of the fun, and mango crepe rolls gave folding and filling their moment. Watermelon smoothies and ice cream rounded out the menu with two fitting summer treats.
Our classes used demonstrations and manageable preparation steps to make the recipes accessible across the groups we served. The point was to give students a meaningful part in the process, from the ingredients to the finished serving.
That is what makes culinary a useful addition to KDA and Esperanza's summer enrichment. A recipe gives children something concrete to work toward while making room for sequence, choices, and creativity along the way. Our continued work with KDA, Esperanza, and BACR brought those opportunities into a familiar school setting, with a fresh menu for the season.