Plating with the Pros: The Bittman + Telepan CookCamp
This April, our Wellness in the Schools leadership teamed up with the Mailman School of Public Health to hold a one-day CookCamp at the Institute of Culinary Education for their graduate students. WITS’ Nancy Easton and Chef Bill Telepan and Mailman faculty member (and prominent cookbook author…) Mark Bittman led the CookCamp for 15 participants. Participants learned basic culinary techniques, while also discussing the role of cooking in public health, particularly in efforts to inform, educate, and empower people to prepare healthful meals.
This idea was brought to fruition after a meeting with Julie Kornfeld, the Vice Dean at Mailman, and Mark himself. Philosophically, both organizations want to solve public health issues, for WITS, specifically childhood obesity. What better way to do this than to teach public health graduates how to cook?. It made sense to combine Mark and Bill’s chef expertise with WITS’ programming. By using Mark’s recipes from his well-known How to Cook Everything and by leveraging his knowledge and WITS’ curricula, WITS designed a class.
The day started similarly to a WITS CookCamp, designed for school cooks. After a short reflection, in which participants answered questions on issues surrounding food, health, and the obesity epidemic, everyone gathered into the kitchen. The menu was extensive and ambitious: roast chicken parts, pan-cooked salmon with two different types of drizzles, stir fried tofu, rice and beans, and much more. Before the participants separated into teams to each tackle a recipe, Mark and Bill provided demos and taught fundamentals such as basic knife skills.
The day closed with a final reflection that circled back to the beginning of the day, addressing why it was important to learn how to prepare healthful meals, and why cooking is such an empowering tool. Said one participant, “I can see now how food – more specifically, healthy food – is essential to ending the obesity epidemic.” Said another, “I learned so much about how to cook healthy meals at the CookCamp. I didn’t know how to prepare salmon, or how to make my own salad dressings!” Due to the success of this CookCamp, WITS is excited for further collaboration.