Children can start helping their parents in the kitchen as young as 18 months old. At this age, supervised by the parents children can do basic kitchen activities such as pouring, sifting and stirring, explains Elena Marre, the owner of The Kid’s Table cooking school in Chicago (kitchendaily.com).

Toddlers can cook

At the Young Chefs Academy, a program called Kindercooks is for children ages 3 to 5. Junior Chefs classes are designed for those ages 6 to 12, and Senior Chefs package is aimed at children 13 and older.

The Young Chefs Academy (YCA) advertised its offers as “cooking classes to children in a safe environment that encourages discovery and creativity. While learning food preparation skills is the main ingredient at YCA, each class adds a heap of kitchen safety, a scoop of etiquette, a handful of table setting, a pinch of menu planning, and laughter to taste.”

The Academy is the brainchild of Julie Fabing Burleson and Suzy Vinson Nettles who combined their expertise in cooking and teaching elementary schools to start a business in Texas. The start up was so successful that the founders franchised the academy.  After 9 years in business there are now YCAs in 13 States of the US and in 10 countries, including Indonesia.

YCA at the archipelago

The YCA Indonesia, owned by Felicia Astrid Tjahjadi, opened last February in Kemang, a residential area in Jakarta popular for many expatriates and known for its selection of bar and restaurants.

As in any Young Chefs Academy, the classes in Jakarta are structured to teach students kitchen safety, proper food handling, food preparation, cooking and baking techniques, food presentation, table setting and manners and to nurture their love for the culinary art. 

Kindercooks and Junior Chefs classes have 6 and 7 slots in a week respectively, whereas senior chefs class is offered once a month except during school holiday when the YCA offered weeklong classes.

Classes for younger children get the most media attention as they make impressive stories and cute pictures featured in traditional and social media. Senior chefs classes with a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 8 students prove to be equally popular especially during school holiday.

International cuisine

YCA’s College Survival Summer Cooking Program in June offered prospective college students a five-day class on how to prepare Western food, Chinese food, Japanese food, Thai food and Indonesian Food. A chef trained the senior chefs in cooking one ethnic food with 3 dishes in a half day. On day 4, for example, from 1.30 to 4.30 PM students learn how to make Thai Food comprising Tom Yum Goong, pineapple fried rice and chicken in pandan leaf.

Another senior chef class is Basic Italian Cooking, 5 days of classes chocked full of Italian cooking from appetizer to main course and dessert.

Maira (18) who attended the Italian classes said spinach stuffed cannelloni with tomato sauce, cheese and garlic Stromboli, and sausage calzone were among the main courses that she learned to prepare. Choices of desserts include strawberries in balsamic vinegar, tiramisu and dessert crostini.

Teenagers love the giveaways from YCA, especially the personalized apron, an YCA tote bag and a binder with “my private recipe collection” brightly written on it. inside are 15 recipes printed in pages with colorful border.

Recipe collection

The recipe page has practical tips read: Read It! Read your recipe all the way through before you begin and Place It! Get everything out and ready to cook. It also lists ingredients and equipment required to prepare Italian food followed by Create It! that outlines the cooking method.

Behind the recipe page is the Notes, with lines where the young chefs can fill in details for: What I liked about this recipe, what I would change in this recipe, and things I have done to change the recipe. On the bottom of the Notes page, there are spaces to write down My Rating. A picture of one chef cap means: “Don’t think I’ll make it again.” Two chef caps express “Not bad!” and three chef caps can be interpreted  “I can’t get enough of this stuff.”

Each day the young chefs bring their food home in containers, provided for free by YCA, so that families get to taste their creations.

Quality chef instructors

The structured program at YCA helps keep students interested, with chef instructors coming from professionals who have extensive culinary experience.

Chef Yuda Bustara who led the College Survival Summer Cooking Program graduated from a hospitality school and has worked in Malaysia and Australia. Yuda is a regular at cooking events in Jakarta and Singapore (melbudiman.tumblr.com). 

Elena Marre, mentioned in the beginning of this article believes that letting young children learn to cook broaden their palates and make them more adventurous because it is shifting the focus from 'You need to eat this' to 'Oh how fun, we're making something exciting together.'"

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Photo: Young Chefs Academy Jakarta, Maira Niode

Click here to see the activities at the Young Chefs Academy in Jakarta