Mixing healthy eating, learning and fun
Cooking club members learn lessons that they will keep their whole lives: organizer
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
APEX
Mamaqtuq Nanook Cooking Club, in its third year, is a winning proposition and schools across the territory have all the ingredients to make such a project work.
Taha Tabish helps Jaden Lewis, left, Jacob Tusaajiapik Stubbing and Karen Mitsima with fresh berries for smoothies, while Franco Buscemi scoops some yogurt into the mix for Cameron Sharpe at Nanook School's Mamaqtuq Nanook Cooking Club in Apex Feb. 3. - Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo
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All it takes, says mom and co-organizer Kerry McCluskey, is a school, a kitchen, some kind of community group, volunteer parents and kids.
"My idea was that I would do it while my son was going to school here," said McCluskey, whose son River attends the K-5 Nanook School in Apex.
"But how can I stop? I really want to grow it. I'd like to create a manual and a blog for cooking club so people in other communities and schools can use the info to set up their own. It would also be great to find funds to help them."
Mamaqtuq Nanook Cooking Club's first priority after classes finish on Friday afternoons at Nanook School has nothing to do with food. It's a group date in the gym.
"The first thing we do is let them run around the gym to burn off some of that energy." said McCluskey.
She and Kootoo Alainga lead the club through culinary adventures, often incorporating learning opportunities via adventures into the community or special guests.
"It's an exciting, vibrant program," said McCluskey, who lists all the benefits, such as confidence and joy.
The students have provided food at the Christmas concert, and fed MLAs and those living at the homeless shelter. Most recently they made many, many meatballs for Iqaluit's Qayuqtuvik Food Centre, where those without access to food can eat a hot meal.
"They learn lessons that they will keep their whole lives," said McCluskey
Plus, they eat the fruits of their labour.
"Fridays, they go home with full bellies whether or not there is food insecurity in the home."
The guests on Feb. 3 were Franco Buscemi and Taha Tabish, who are part of the Qanak Collective based in Iqaluit.
Buscemi and Tabish are part of a group of men within the collective who, every Sunday, get together to collect and deliver fresh water from Apex River.
Before the men discussed their project with the children, it was smoothie time. The frozen fruit selection included mangoes, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, WowButter peanut-butter replacement, yogurt and soy milk. The students got to choose their ingredients and dump them into the blender. It was all fruit-mustache smiles afterwards.
Then everyone gathered in the gym to hear from the guests.
"Every Sunday we get river water," said Buscemi, wielding his tuuq (ice chisel). "When you become old men and old women, it will be very hard for you to chip through the ice and carry it back home."
Buscemi went on to note that in Nunavut, "we're very lucky. The water is so fresh and so clear that we can drink it."
Half the students had been to the river for water.
"It's nice when people help you out - that's why we help out the elders. They really like it, and it's something we can do."
After a question and answer session, the students moved on to making their chicken wraps, with an array of good foods to add to the chicken, such as spinach and cheese.
Next for the club is a field trip to the grocery store soon, where the children will learn about processed food - such as a $40 box of ready-made chicken fingers - and the benefits of making your own from scratch.
