Young Danes lag behind the rest of the population in terms of expertise and redundancy in the kitchen. That image could change, however, for the quarter of young Danes who choose to study in post-secondary school.
In post-secondary colleges, mandatory kitchen duties are included as part of housekeeping. If students are given shared responsibility and decision-making authority in the kitchen, this could result in higher consumption habits and essential kitchen expertise on the way into teenage life. That is the conclusion of a new report that the Center for the Study of Youth (CeFU) has produced for Food Culture with support from the Nordea Foundation.
“We all know that young people are big consumers of ready-made meals and spend significantly less time in the kitchen than the rest of the Danish population. Extracurriculars are a perfect place to However, students should not focus more on cooking than just peeling potatoes. They should take an active role as proud co-creators of meals that they serve,” said Judith Kyst, director of Madkulturen know.
Potato peeler or apprentice chef
3 out of 4 university students in CeFU’s survey have little or no interest in cooking and the conditions are not good to escape the kitchen. Even so, 70% of scholars responded that they would use what they discovered in the kitchen in post-secondary school. 36% think they have become better at cooking, while 45% say they eat more vegetables after school.
However, the goodness of culinary expertise depends largely on whether kitchen staff see student participation as reasonable assistance or as part of the course where students assist in creating meals. or not.
Professor Noemi Katznelson from CeFU said in the report: “An after-school kitchen, which must serve students, requires kitchen staff to also consider themselves as academic staff, and the kitchen must is an open part, associated with students’ after-school lives.”
170 skilled kitchen staff supervise cuisine
The position of kitchen staff can be emphasized at Madkulturen and Afterschool Affiliation, with the support of Nordea Basis, has implemented programs for 170 staff in the kitchens of 60 of the 240 after-school schools of nation. The mission, Eftersskolerne köktentjans, equipped the kitchen staff with a pedagogical position as cooking tutor to academics and used the kitchen as a dynamic learning area.
“What’s unique about after-school programs is that we now have scholars in the kitchen for a number of weeks at a time – at the same time, they build strong relationships with the staff throughout the entire year. year. In fact, this is an opportunity to combine kitchen work with great team experiences and take responsibility together. With these programs, we strive to make great kitchen expertise It becomes a daily part of the learning journey at a school post-secondary colleges,” said Torben Association of Post-Secondary Colleges president Vind Rasmussen.
He found that the kitchen staff benefited greatly from the programs. This in turn affects the more than 8,000 students who participated in after-school programs, while kitchen staff were trained – and on future generations of scholars.
New programs may be offered in 2022, where more post-secondary colleges have the opportunity to participate.
Details: Meal traditions of young people
According to Madkulturen’s research, young people aged 18 to 25 lag behind the rest of the population in terms of eating habits and cooking skills:
7 out of 10 people are not able to cook their own meals at home compared to the other half of Danes (Meal Traditions: Unges mad- og åbøllsvaner, 2020).
Nearly 4 in 10 young people spend less than 15 minutes preparing dinner (Madkulturen: Madkultur 2018).
Only about a third of young people’s dinners are cooked entirely at home compared to half of the entire population (Food Culture: Culinary Culture 2018).
More than a quarter of young people think their cooking skills are really inadequate. (Food culture: Culinary culture 2019).
Details: New report on high school meal traditions
The brand new report was written by researchers Noemi Katznelson, Maria Bruselius-Jensen & Rikke Kjærsgaard Amtoft from the Center for the Analysis of the Heart of Youth (CeFU) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen. It was created for Madkulturen with support from Nordea Campus.
This report is based on 40 interviews and 268 questionnaire responses from young individuals at three postsecondary colleges who participated in after-school kitchen services.