Monument’s Annual Community Grant Recipient Aims to Make Every Ounce Count in Food Prep & Preservation Education
September 28th, 2022
Every year, the Monument Chemical Brandenburg Community Partnership Initiative (CPI) selects a recipe for success for its annual $10,000 Community Partnership Initiative (CPI) grant, which supports the education of youth in the local community. And this year, that recipe for success was found in the kitchen!
As one of three remarkable applicants this year, Meade County Extension Homemakers/Meade County Extension Family and Consumer Sciences was selected for its Edible Education: Food Science in Everyday Life program. And that’s largely because the same passion that’s behind the program was just as clear in front of the judges at presentation time. Grant winners are chosen by the Monument Brandenburg Community Advisory Council (CAC) members.
“The dedication and excitement behind their initiative was really inspiring to see,” Tonya Jeffries, HR Manager at Monument Brandenburg, shared. “We could all see how valuable this program would be to youth in helping them understand the science behind the food they eat and how it’s prepared. Representatives from the Extension Homemakers and FCS educated the CAC specifically on baking with yeast, an ingredient all of us use, but few know anything about its composition and how it reacts when baked — it really gets you thinking differently. We knew this education could not only have a local impact, but also on a national scale, and we wanted to be part of that.”
The Edible Education program is developed with the local extension agent for family and consumer sciences and food scientist from the University of Kentucky and involves a series of cooking sessions for middle school-aged kids that incorporate important skills, such as understanding conductivity, measuring, temperature control, and knife skills. Over the course of a year to 16 months, the program will start with the basics of equipment and cooking education and progressively dive deeper into more advanced cooking methods regarding certain ingredients and techniques.
“There are so many different factors that go into the production of our food and how they’re preserved that a lot of people don’t understand — we just eat!” explained Jennifer Bridge, the county extension family and consumer sciences agent who also serves as the National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS) National VP of Public Affairs. “We’re eager to educate kids at a young age about the science behind the composition of the food they eat, and how it changes when you cook it, slice it, freeze it, etc. And we want to get parents involved too because many simply never learned the basic principles themselves to be able to teach their kids.”
With more people preparing meals at home, extension family and consumer science educators have seen a rising interest in food prep from aspiring chefs of all ages. And as the authority on food preservation in our area, they were motivated by a goal to share their knowledge and enlighten more people in a way they couldn’t before without Monument’s support.
“Our new facilities include a teaching kitchen with 12 different learning stations and a teaching island wired with cameras and screens to zoom in on lessons,” Jennifer explained. “This grant has allowed us to get great equipment for a much more meaningful type of observation. We will purchase new microscopes to observe the composition of ingredients such as herbs and spices as well as bacteria which is present in our food, as well as new thermometers that help us show the importance of food temperature during preparation and calibration to ensure safer cooking. We’ve also purchased food scales that demonstrate how weight can be even more effective than measuring cups in understanding portions and recipes. And we have more equipment on the way!”
The program is already getting raving reviews within the community too. With November’s class on the introduction to yeast rolls and how to make a pie crust — just in time for Thanksgiving — already boasting high numbers in enrollment!
“This grant was exactly what we needed at a time we needed it most,” Jennifer added. “We’ve had a ton of interest already from all ages, and we’re excited to see how we can grow this program in the future. We are so grateful for Monument’s role in helping us share these important lessons in exciting new ways and have a greater impact on our youth and our community.”