Carleton Place Youth Centre launches six-week cooking program for aspiring young chefs

Young people in Carleton Place will have a chance to sharpen their cooking skills and build confidence in the kitchen this winter through a new six-week program at the Carleton Place Youth Centre.

Kidz in the Kitchen, running Wednesdays from Feb. 4 to March 11 from 5 to 7 p.m., invites 12 local youth ages 8 to 18 to take part in hands-on cooking lessons focused on learning basic techniques, kitchen safety and teamwork.

“Beyond basic cooking skills, this program is designed to teach kitchen safety skills that can be translated to adulthood,” said Addie De Sousa of the Carleton Place Youth Centre.

In addition to skill-building, the program aims to foster a social and supportive environment for local youth to look forward to during their after-school hours.

“This program supports the community by offering a place for youth to go in the week, and providing them a nutritious home-cooked meal that they made,” De Sousa told Lanarkist. “It also helps give parents a much-needed break.”

“It also helps build teamwork skills as there are multiple youths working on each recipe at once,” De Sousa continued. “This program is also designed to help the youth understand how to read the recipes, and more importantly, how to read and follow instructions.”

According to organizers, the program costs $60 to attend, and space is limited. Additional photos and updates will be shared once the program gets underway in February.

Participant registration is available at the Youth Centre or online at https://signup.com/go/sjnHQZU. Anyone interested in volunteering can also sign up at https://signup.com/go/rwQOxjf