THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

What I found most interesting over the three weeks of changing groups and changing dynamics depending on who was in which group, whether there was flirtatious interaction happening, some students brought great concentration and sincerity to the kitchen others came with a mischievious glint in their eye, was that
the days where the whole class cooked exactly the same thing with the same ingredients, with no gluten free or spice variations etc., were the days that were most successful. For example the gingerbread man days meant they all started with the same basic mixture they all had the same range of ingredients to chose from to decorate their gingerbread man though at this point their pieces varied with what they decorated their gingerbread man, the shapes varied etc.

When we cooked pizza the dough we made was the same for everyone – how thin they rolled it, what shape their pizza was and what combination they could make for the top of their pizza varied - they got to experiment with different cheeses, salami, ham or tempeh – tomato etc.

At the end of this style of class- the gingerbread and pizza style, each student ended up with what they had made for themselves their individual version of the same thing so to speak.

On these days they were most satisfied, munching away outside looking at each others creations, trying a little of each others, some had made extra for a staff or family member.

I learnt from their comments and feedback.