Summer Cooking Camps for Kids [General]

2014 May 29
Partly an FYI, and partly looking to see what else is available in the city! :)

Chef Jason Laurin (Essence Catering) is looking at doing a summer cooking camp and has asked any interested families to contact him.

www.essencecatering.ca

Are there any other cooking camps up and running this summer? (Specifically, non-grocery store ones!)

2014 May 29
refashionista The Urban Element usually has summer cooking camps for kids. I have also seen the OCDSB offer cooking classes for teens. C'est Bon Cooking also offers cooking classes for teens. If I hear of anything else I can post here.

2014 May 29
Great idea.

The best thing you can do for their future health is to teach them to cook nutritious food.


2014 May 31
I'm not sure about Independent Grocers in the city but Brown's in Stittsville offers some amazing cooking Classes and camps for children and adults (and birthday parties also). They have a really great kitchen. (I shop there, am not affiliated)

2014 May 31
Oops just read non grocery store-but personally if I wanted to send 2 or 3 kids the price is reasonable at grocery stores.

2014 Jun 24
Algonquin College does two camps for 12-17 year olds. One is cuisine, the other is cake boss. Camps are 1 week each and are sold as a Career Sampler, a chance for kids to get hands on in a college environment, taught by real college instructors. It was a real confidence builder for our kids and they have had an amazing time each year. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

2014 Jul 20
Our 10 year old starts camp tomorrow morning at Essence Catering - I am not sure who is more excited, him or me :-) I can't wait to see how the week unfolds for him.

2014 Jul 25
Well I am pretty impressed with the camp this week. My 10 year old loved it every day. Not only did they cook, but they also went to the market several times during the week to shop for veg, they had a visit by a food critic to talk to them about tasting food and writing about it, and the also got to visit a commercial kitchen during lunch time to see how it operates ( shout out to Back Lane Café ).

And today at 2pm was the grand finale - the big buffet of many of the foods they made this week. It was a huge spread put on for the families, where the kids learned all about the catering side of things, plating their food, and in general making it look nice.

An added benefit of the week as well is that the 10 year old is a lot less of a picky eater than he was at the first of the week. Here's hoping that sticks.

2014 Jul 25
They cake is ready but waiting for the toppings

2014 Jul 25
Two of the chefs ...

2014 Jul 25
Gazpacho

2014 Jul 25
My little chef and his little brother

2014 Jul 25
Same 2 ...

2014 Jul 25
The table is filling up ... Salmon on top of whatever that stuff is under it :-)

2014 Jul 25
Pilaf! It was pilaf under the salmon!

2014 Jul 25
Thai salad topped with steak ... half way through the process of topping them

2014 Jul 25
Topping the Thai salad

2014 Jul 25
Carrot soup ... my little chef finally became a fan of soup this week!

2014 Jul 25
Topping the carrot soup with tahini and chick peas

2014 Jul 25
A nice full table ...

2014 Jul 25
My guy getting the tacos ready

2014 Jul 25
More taco shots ...

2014 Jul 25
The lemon curd dessert was to die for!

2014 Jul 25
Finally some home made ice cream for that award winning chocolate cake!

2014 Jul 26
FYI Jason at Essence Catering is now talking about doing another Little Chefs day camp during March break ... I definitely recommend it for aforementioned reasons.

2014 Jul 26
Shhhh! Don't tell people that! There will only be 10 spots, and we need two of them for our boys! ;)

2016 May 16
3 spots left in the Essence Catering Little Chef's camp 1st week of July.

www.essencecatering.ca

I'd be sending one of my kids but we'll be on a canoe trip at that time.