PUMPKIN was the star veggie at Calare Public School on Thursday, as students from years 3 and 4 celebrated the 'grand opening' of their brand new cooking hub.
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Flour-covered fingers delved into the art of mixing, stirring and measuring during the kitchen's debut cooking lesson, with 'Kitchen Garden Program' coordinator, Mikayla Riley saying it's been a long-awaited day.
"With us moving into a new kitchen and the kids knowing it was coming soon, they kept saying 'when are we going to move into our new kitchen, when is it going to be ready, are we moving, are we moving', and now that it's finally here - they just love it," Ms Riley said.
"They think it's awesome, they think it's big, they think it's cool and because they already loved the kitchen program, they're feeling really, really lucky."
From year 4, Alice Duerden busied herself amidst the grateful and eager buzz, measuring out just the right amount of flour for an American pumpkin pie recipe.
"It's a good opportunity for us to have this kitchen because these are good skills to have for the future - and I love cooking with my friends, it's very fun," Miss Duerden said.
"One week we do library and the next week we do kitchen - but I look forward to this one, definitely."
What's also known as the 'Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program', the syllabus engages around 200 students across years 3 and 4 at Calare on a fortnightly basis.
Previously held in a regular classroom, the "fully-dedicated" kitchen hub now adjoins to the school's large garden and chicken pen, with lessons now helping students to make even better links between fresh produce, cooking and foods from a range of different cultures.
"It's really cool having this building, because we get to learn how to cook heaps of new recipes and learn from the food we cook," year 4's Jacob Farrell said.
"Some recipes come from other places in the world, too - we've tried some food from India, like curry and rice, and that was really yum."
Children and students also don't have to run from the top quadrangle to collect ingredients from the other side of the school anymore either.
"Before, if we needed anything out of the garden, we would have to be proactive and harvest it before class for them to use," Ms Riley said.
"Whereas now, we can watch them go in and out of the garden and it's so easy to just say hey, can you go and grab this from that garden bed or harvest some of these - and if they've finished cooking or finished an activity early, they can go and feed the chickens or help with composting or water the garden."
Along with modern appliances to deck out the new area - which includes blenders, Mixmasters, ovens, stove tops and dough blades - there's also regular tools to help the students get familiar with everyday cooking items.
"A lot of the stuff we use is hands-on, like our peelers, graters, knives; things that the kids would have access to at-home," Ms Riley said.
"We also love to use the pasta maker to make fettucine or gnocchi and roll it with the end of a fork, so, they're learning those simple skills that they can also take home with them, because not everyone necessarily has the 'fancy' appliances and there's different ways and techniques to cook really great food."
Year 3 Charlie Law says there's "way more space to put stuff like cutlery, plates and bowls" when he looked around the new space, while Hannah Thuku says she also loves trying food from other countries - with eating the finished product being "the best part."
Another student from year 4, Lian Rudman thought fondly of the sweeter recipes, while saying he felt a sense of "accomplishment" in knowing the ingredients were grown and harvested on-site.
"We've made desserts, like a big chocolate mousse and biscuits, so it's pretty cool having a cooking building and I like the dessert recipes," Mr Rudman said.
"It's also fun with gardening, because all [or most] of the food that we cook with comes from our garden - it feels more like an accomplishment and also, the chickens are cool, because the eggs that we use are from them."
External supporters of the school's program, its coordinator gave special mentions to Orange Coles for its ongoing support and sponsorship, amidst help from other locally-based companies.
"The wonderful people at Coles kindly provide us with all the essential ingredients we need to continually run such a successful program here at Calare Public School," Makayla Riley said.
"Bunnings [in Orange] has also played an integral part in helping us to set-up our kitchen, with many donations being made to both the kitchen and garden.
"We are also running a fantastic breakfast program out of the kitchen each day now, thanks to Cadia for their support in launching this - the program is a very popular addition to our school."
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