Kids started cooking on Zoom with their teachers when schools closed. Then it took off

Kate Schrock missed her students when school closed in response to the pandemic.

“I got stir crazy and I missed the kids,” she said. “I needed an excuse to say: ‘Let’s hang out.’”

They were studying ancient Greece in her Key Peninsula Middle School social studies class, and someone had the idea to make tzatziki sauce together on Zoom.

“It was so much fun that we kind of just kept going,” Schrock said.

The virtual cooking sessions were a way to stay connected, she said. Soon fellow teacher Leah Smith and her students joined. High school siblings started showing up, and younger siblings helped, too.

Nearly two years in, it’s a club close to 100 Peninsula School District students are part of.

Students from all Peninsula schools are welcome. And for the two nights a month that the Cooking Crew club meets on Zoom, many parents get a break from making dinner.

There are frequent reminders about hand-washing, what temperature to preheat the oven, and cleaning up the kitchen as they go.

“Our parents aren’t going to let us cook in the kitchen if we don’t clean up after ourselves,” Schrock told the students last week, as the club made meatloaf.

For students who can’t make the Zoom calls, she and Smith post recordings later. Kids also share photos of their final products.

The club sends cooking kits to students who want them and helps connect students with ingredients, when needed. For the meatloaf, they included an oven mitt and a pan.

They’ve also gotten some recent grants and plan to bring in guest chefs this year from local restaurants to cook with the kids. For instance, a local baker plans to show the kids how to decorate cupcakes.

“The kids have fun outside of school in such a different way that I just loved seeing it,” Smith said about the club.

Is it making her a better cook?

“I’m more aware of what it is I’m doing,” she said. “… Honestly, I do watch way more cooking shows than I used to.”

She showed students how to safely dice an onion for the meatloaf.

“It’s like woodshop,” she told them. “You don’t want to get your fingernails in there.”

One student used swim goggles as she chopped. Another used an automatic dicer.

“That is music,” Smith said. “That just sounds so great.”

The students used the Zoom chat or gave a thumbs up when their onion was ready.

They also talked about substitutions.

No breadcrumbs? No problem. A couple slices of bread will work.

Is it okay to add oregano, even though the recipe doesn’t call for it?

Go ahead and try it.

As they mixed ingredients, they discussed the many pronunciations of Worcestershire sauce.

“My mom calls it ‘wash-your-sister’ sauce,” someone said, laughing.

As Schrock poured ingredients for one of the steps, a student spotted a tablespoon vs. teaspoon mix-up.

“Good job on catching that,” Schrock said.

‘It’s a cool meal, and they get to share it’

Kari McAnally said her eighth grader, Audrey Derr, had Schrock as a sixth grade teacher when the cooking club started.

It was a good activity to keep busy during the pandemic, McAnally said.

“This is like a life skill, and she’s interested in learning that,” she said. “And I think when you do something with your peers, people that you can relate to, learn together, and then when you have a teacher that you really like and respect, it helps everybody get along and enjoy the activity.”

McAnally said their family particularly liked dill pickle soup the club made.

“Audrey has enjoyed making them, and you can tell she’s proud of the product,” she said about the meals.

Derr said an alfredo the club made has been one of her favorite dishes.

“I kind of off-roaded a little bit and I used zucchini zoodles,” she said. “I loved it so much.”

It’s fun, she said, to see pictures of other students’ final products on the club’s website.

“It gives kids a chance to, like, express how they feel or what they want to do through cooking,” Derr said about the club. “Because when they come out with a result, it makes them feel accomplished. … So when kids get to feel they actually got a result, no matter what it is, and it’s a cool meal and they get to share it, that makes them feel good.”

She said it’s a safe place to learn and occasionally mess up.

“When everyone joins on the Zoom, you get to hear everyone else, what they’re experiencing, and it’s kind of fun to see the other ways they’re branching out,” Derr said. “And, not going to lie, it’s kind of funny to see the way that people make mistakes and feel they’re able to share it. Being able to say: ‘I kind of just burned my pancake’ or something like that, it makes the Zoom call just feel a bit lighter.”

Like a Julia Child cooking show, recovering from setbacks is part of the club.

Schrock’s smoke detector went off once. When a student’s can opener broke during a meeting, Mom improvised with a screwdriver. A family rushed to the grocery store during a bread-making session to replace yeast that looked like it had expired.

At the recent meeting, a student rigged an oven door that didn’t want to stay shut.

“I don’t know if that’s safe,” Schrock worried.

The fix was Mom-approved, the student assured her.

When the meatloafs were in the oven, after reminders from Schrock to use an oven mitt and be careful not to touch the rack, the students talked about side dishes.

Someone had plans to make mashed potatoes. Another student wanted to make a salad. Someone else planned to make fries.

They also talked about what they might want to cook at their future meetings.

Sixth grader Cloud Smith’s eyes got big at the suggestion of lasagna.

“We’ll put that on the list,” Schrock said.

Others suggested biscuits and gravy and homemade macaroni and cheese.

Like many Zoom calls, family pets make appearances. So does a young magician – a student’s little brother who practices magic tricks to share with the club. He patiently waited until the meatloaf was in the oven to make pennies disappear and reappear.

“I am very impressed,” Schrock told him.

They start the meetings early and keep them open after the meal is done to give everyone time to visit. The club is about more than cooking.

‘They’re learning a lot’

Jamie Shipman is a parent and also teaches at Evergreen Elementary.

“We were always talking about: ‘How can we connect with kids over Zoom, over the computer when we can’t see them?’” she said. “And this was just an amazing way to do it.”

Her son Carson, a seventh grader, tends to be quiet on the calls, she said.

“But he’s always cooking and wanting to do it, and kind of serious about his cooking when he’s doing it,” Shipman said.

The family has made the club’s hummus recipe quite a bit.

“It’s fun for me, too,” she said. “They can show it off, they can share it with their families. They get to connect with other kids in a non-academic way. They get to connect with their teachers outside of the classroom. Their teacher is at home cooking. They’re seeing them in a different light.”

Carson said it’s been a fun way to spend time, and that he thinks he’s getting better in the kitchen.

“I thought it would be fun just to see the teachers and have something to do during online school,” Carson said. “… I’m not very good at cooking, and now I kind of know more about it.”

Dara Anderson said it’s been neat to have her eighth grade son, Ryan, ask from time to time if he can make the club’s chili for dinner.

“They’re learning a lot, they use math skills, they get some cooking skills under their belt,” she said. “It frees me up from dinners, and they get to visit with some of their schoolmates.”

The middle schools don’t have cooking classes, she pointed out.

“I think there’s something to be said for the advisors,” she said. “They’re very, very good with kids. They’re caring and they take the time with them. They visit, but they keep it on track. It’s just a good experience for the kids.”

Ryan joined the club when it started, then his younger sister Camrynn, a sixth grader, joined.

“We did cinnamon rolls a while ago, and I really enjoyed that one,” Ryan said. “We’ve done enchiladas a couple times, and those are also really cool.”

He thinks the club’s popularity is that it’s a convenient social activity for kids at a convenient time after school.

“I think everyone enjoys cooking, especially when you get to eat whatever you’ve cooked,” he said.