Using modernist techniques from the world’s best chefs to teach basic cookery skills to Key Stage...

Using modernist techniques from the world’s best chefs to teach basic cookery skills to Key Stage 2 pupils

Jeffrey David Gill

Using modernist techniques from the world’s best chefs to teach basic cookery skills to Key Stage 2 pupils

Jeffrey David Gill,96420, Candidate for BA Culinary Arts, Coleg Llandrillo

Submitted 6 May 2014

Supervisor: Susan Bush

Word count: 10.098

AbstractThere is currently a renewed government focus on teaching cookery in schools.

There are also barriers which hinder the success of government objectives. Pu-

pils often do not transfer the skills they learn from school to home. Key Stage 2

cooking projects rarely include enough cooking time for skills to be acquired to

a useful level. Modernist cookery pioneered by chefs like Heston Blumenthal and

Ferran Adrià has had a major impact on the restaurant industry. The creations

of these chefs amaze and delight their customers, yet their techniques have not

often been used to amaze and delight pupils who are learning cookery. No pre-

vious instances in which modernist cookery was taught in primary schools have

been found. An action research project with Key Stage 2 pupils was created and

implemented to explore the potential of using modernist cooking techniques to

create interest in cooking, to teach basic cooking skills and to inspire cooking at

home. The project was highly effective in creating interest, effective in teaching

skills and showed some promise in facilitating a transfer of skills from school

to home. This was a small project and the concept would benefit from further

study in concert with critical exploration of cookery teaching at Key Stage 2.

Contents1. Introduction – 9

Photo: Using salt to reduce bitterness

2. Literature review – 15Photo: Jelly oranges

Table 1: Recipes for Key Stage 2 in TES Connect Resources – 18

3. Methodology – 25Photos: Reinventing salad

4. Findings – 33Photo: Potato stones

Table 2: Pupils’ self-reported cooking experience – 34

Table 3: Pupils’ journal entries – 38

Table 4: Parents’ post project questionnaire – 42

Table 5: Cost of ingredients – 43

4. Discussion – 45Photo: Rolling out dough for air bread

5. Conclusion – 53Photos: Cutting dough for air bread, finished air bread

References – 57

Bibliography – 70

Appendix A: Project log – 73

Appendix B: Letters, forms and hand outs – 74

Appendix C: Recipes – 82

Appendix D: Why not Jamie Oliver or spherification? – 87

Thank you,

Christine for being my best friend, for your love and

encouragement, for singlehandedly keeping the family

afloat while I spent so many hours reading and writing,

and for finding the air bread,

Callum, Freya and Nina for putting up with an absent

father for too long,

Sue Bush for inviting me onto this course, for inspiring me

always along the way, and for stoking my determination to

help children eat well,

Brian Hansen and Craig Hindley for your infectious love of

cooking and for giving me the confidence in the kitchen

that I needed to do this project,

Steve and Gill Houghton for your generous flexibility that

freed me to return to education and keep a full time job,

Caroline and Tom Gravett for your proofreading which

helped me tremendously as I struggled to improve the

words that follow, and,

certainly not least, the pupils, teachers and kitchen staff at

Ysgol San Siôr for warmly welcoming my intrusion into

your school.

JG

April 2014

INTRODUCTION 9

1. IntroductionThe demand for clarity and conciseness requires that some parts of this deeply

immersive project are described and analysed in the first person. Somekh (1995,

p.347) states that ‘Action research reports are nearly always written in the first

person. To do otherwise is difficult to defend methodologically’ because ‘The prac-

titioner researcher examines his or her own role, behaviour and relationships in

a particular social situation as part of the investigation’.

In January and February 2014 I ran a six-week action research project to explore

the potential for using techniques of the world’s leading chefs to teach primary

school pupils how to cook. Eight pupils and I cooked recipes inspired by some

of the world’s leading chefs to see if the science-based cooking that they have

10 INTRODUCTION

pioneered can be useful in education. The question I was trying to answer is:

Can culinary techniques of the world’s best chefs be used with Key

Stage 2 pupils at Ysgol San Siôr to create interest in cookery and

effectively teach basic cookery skills?

It may be asked why there is an interest in combining the work of elite chefs

with primary education in the first place. The simple answer is that what leading

chefs cook is amazing and delightful. Amazement and delight should be wel-

come in every area of learning, especially one that is as ordinary and essential as

cooking. This study adds to existing research by exploring an unusual teaching

method – cooking in every project session – combined with novel content to

deliver the practical skills required by the national curriculum. The thinking

behind this approach is developed more fully below. First, some groundwork

should be laid.

Background information and terminology

The project was located in Ysgol San Siôr, Llandudno, North Wales. The eight

pupils who took part were Key Stage 2 pupils in Year 4. They were all eight or

nine years old. Key Stage 2 refers to the second half of primary school, Years

3–6 for pupils aged 7–11 (Education Act 2002).

‘Modernist’ is the shorthand used throughout this dissertation to describe the

cookery practised by the chefs whose work inspired this project. Other names

have been given to the cuisine that has developed in elite restaurants over the

past 20 years. Perhaps the most common label is ‘molecular gastronomy’, but

it is rejected by some leading chefs (Adrià et al, 2006; Rayner, nd) and fails to

encompass the breadth of what is happening at the top of the culinary world.

‘Modernist’ is also inadequate, but it is succinct and has the right feel.

The chefs whose work inspired the techniques I taught, Ferran Adrià, Adoni

Luis Aduriz, José Andrés, Heston Blumethal, Jean-George Vongerichten and

INTRODUCTION 11

others, are at the forefront of cookery innovation but they are not necessarily

well-known outside elite culinary circles.

Why this research?

There is an acknowledged cooking skills gap (Esnor, 2013) that the government

has chosen to attempt filling through school cookery lessons containing a strong

emphasis on healthy food. From September 2014 schools in England will have

a mandatory focus on ensuring that pupils have good practical cooking skills

(DfE, 2013). The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG, 2009, p.47) have required

schools in Wales to teach ‘Practical food preparation skills’ since 2008. Cooking

skills are seen as an important tool to combat overweight and obesity (Esnor,

2013) and, more generally, to help children have good health and well-being

throughout their lives (WAG, 2009, p.3).

At the same time, research shows that children do much more cooking of sweet

food than savoury food (Gatenby, Donnelly and Connell, 2011, p.110; Gill, 2012).

This should not be surprising. It is easy to think of cooking healthy meals as

a daily drudgery and cooking desserts as a fun treat. This project attempts to

find a way to bring the excitement of cooking sweet food to the cooking of

savoury food. Some modernist culinary techniques are fun and intriguing in a

way that is not regularly associated with everyday cookery. This study tests the

hypothesis that these techniques can be used to raise Key Stage 2 pupils’ levels

of interest in cooking which may in turn increase the likelihood that they will

acquire and retain basic cookery skills.

Hoped-for achievements

Illeris (2003, p.402) writes about learning that ‘breaks down (parts of) an ex-

isting scheme and transforms it so that the new situation can be linked in…

The result of the learning is characterized by the fact that it can be recalled and

12 INTRODUCTION

applied in many different, relevant contexts.’ Ferran Adrià (in Husband, 2012),

reflecting on his groundbreaking El Bulli restaurant, stated:

We wanted to inspire positive and negative reactions, and humour, things that

had never existed in cuisine before... It had to be thought-provoking, even

violent at times, so you would reflect upon life in all its aspects.

The hope of this project was that by introducing pupils to food prepared by

chefs like Adrià they might experience transformative learning and discover

an adventurous attitude towards cooking. Warren et al (2008) document the

deeply conservative unhealthy food choices that children tend to make when

given the opportunity. But this trait need not be fixed for life. Wardle and Cooke

(2008, p.S19) state: ‘The advantage of the malleability of human food preferences

is that dislike for a food can be reduced or even reversed by a combination of

modelling and taste exposure.’ Perhaps modernist cuisine’s amazement and de-

light can be used to make enough of an impact that pupils will want to develop

more healthful tastes and the skills to satisfy them.

Even though the larger goal of teaching children to cook is healthier eating, no

particular emphasis was made on using healthy recipes for the project. The focus

was kept solely on generating interest and teaching basic skills. This is atypical

of current practice. A key idea behind this study was that a love of cooking is

more likely to result in better eating than promoting healthy food is to result

in a love of cooking. An analogy can be drawn from the teaching of reading. If

children can be convinced to read a lot – of anything – for pleasure, it is likely

that they will read more, read more widely and read with a sense of purpose

(Clark and Rumbold, 2006, p.9–10). Research which supports this approach is

discussed in the following chapter.

INTRODUCTION 13

Dissertation structure

Chapter two reviews relevant literature and current practice. Because govern-

ments have prioritised a cultural change in how people eat, attention is given to

what is effective in making lasting change in children’s dietary habits. Current

teaching practice is considered, as are notable after school and out of school

initiatives. Two projects which bear useful similarities to this one are noted.

Chapter three describes and justifies the methodology and the methods em-

ployed, Chapter four provides a detailed explanation of the findings. Chapter

five discusss what the project accomplished in the context of existing knowledge

and practice and notes potential for improving this or a similar study. Chapter

six presents avenues of further application and study. All the sources and re-

sources used in this project are listed in the reference section. Further reading

and resources with notes about their relevance are found in the bibliography.

Four appendices contain a project log, questionnaires and other paperwork

from the study, the recipes from the cooking sessions and a note about Jamie

Oliver and spherification.

L ITERATURE REVIEW 15

2. Literature reviewGovernment priorities

Since Jamie Oliver’s 2004–5 Feed Me Better campaign (Belot and James, 2011,

p.489; jamieoliver.com, nd), the quality of food and food education in schools

has regularly been in the public eye. New nutrition standards for school meals

were introduced across the UK in 2006–7 (Children’s Food Trust, 2012a, p.3–6).

More recently the focus has shifted to teaching children to cook.

In the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s Eleventh Report

(2012, p.34) it was recommended that ‘Good food education and skills, such as

cooking and gardening, should be part of the curriculum in all schools’. This

16 LITERATURE REVIEW

recommendation was accepted by the government and cooking lessons will be a

mandatory component in the Department for Education’s (DfE, 2013) national

curriculum in England from September 2014:

[Key Stage 2] Pupils should be taught to:

• understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet,

• prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a

range of cooking techniques,

• understand seasonality, and

• know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught

and processed (DfE, 2013).

The requirement for teaching cooking in Wales is not as prescriptive in its

wording, nevertheless, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG 2009, p.47)

states that ‘Practical food preparation skills have been made compulsory at

Key Stages 2 and 3’.

[Key Stage 2] Pupils should be given opportunities to:

• plan and carry out a broad range of practical food preparation tasks

safely and hygienically

• apply current healthy eating messages and consider nutritional needs

when undertaking food preparation tasks

• classify food by commodity/group and understand the characteristics of

a broad range of ingredients, including their nutritional, functional and

sensory properties, e.g. meat, fish, fruit, vegetables (WAG 2009, p.47).

There is significant evidence which can be used to justify the governments’

approach. Research shows that cooking skills matter for longer term healthy

eating. Larson et al (2007) found that ‘Young adults who reported frequent

food preparation reported less frequent fast-food use and were more likely to

meet dietary objectives for fat, calcium, fruit, vegetable, and whole-grain con-

sumption’. Fisher, Nicholas and Marshall (2011) cite a number of studies which


show that children who learn good cooking skills tend to eat more healthily as

adults. Mikkilä’s (2004, p.1044) 21 year study found a ‘clear association between

childhood intakes of fat and the consumption of vegetables and fruit and quality

of diet’. The evidence supporting the importance of learning good cooking and

eating habits in childhood is not new. In an American study from 1994, Kelder

et al (p.1121) concluded: ‘The early consolidation of health behaviors implies that

interventions should begin prior to sixth grade [ages 11–12], before behavioral

patterns are resistant to change’.

Cookery education now

In light of changes to the curriculum and government priorities, it is important

to understand how cookery is currently being taught at Key Stage 2, specifically at

Ysgol San Siôr, to see where there are opportunities for change and improvement.

Cooking is taught as part of the Design and Technology curriculum. At San

Siôr it involves one or two cooking projects per year, which meets national

curriculum requirements (Lewis, 2014). Typical projects are smoothies, pizza,

bread and biscuits. Sometimes classes do smaller cooking activities as part of

another subject, such as making historic food during a history lesson. This is

consistent with current practice in primary schools in Wales (Lewis, 2014).

Cooking projects usually take place over several lessons, generally filling a half-

term, with one lesson devoted to actual food preparation. Lewis (nd) gives an

example of what is involved in a Year 3 smoothie project:

• looking at what’s on the market,

• trying different taste combinations,

• designing a smoothie,

• making a smoothie,

• evaluating the process and the result, and

• creating advertising for the smoothie.


An extreme example of the extended cooking project is the Nuffield Foundation’s

(1997) bread rolls module which takes nine lessons to complete.

To get a broader understanding of the cooking projects that are undertaken,

256 recipes for Key Stage 2 on the TES Connect (2014) website were categorised

(Table 1). TES Connect was chosen for its wide range of contributors including

individual teachers, schools, charities and industry outreach groups. Savoury

dishes that could be a main course or side dish in a meal comprised the largest

single category with 25.6% of the recipes. These recipes are culturally diverse and

tend to be healthful, in line with government objectives. However, the recipe

collection as a whole is weighted towards ‘treats’. Sweets and desserts together

with baking, excluding bread and biscuits, comprise 36% of the recipes. Bread

and biscuits are heavily represent-

ed because schools usually make

these as major design and technology

projects (Department for Children,

Schools and Families, 2009). A large

number of the recipes would no

doubt be interesting and engaging

to pupils and would teach valuable

cooking skills, but only a handful

would likely be considered adven-

turous. None appear to be inspired

by modernist chefs.

The lack of influence that today’s

leading chefs have on recipes for

teaching pupils is notable. The top

of the restaurant industry is burst-

ing with fascinating and innovative

developments. So-called ‘molecular

gastronomy’, which draws inspira-

Table 1: Recipes for Key Stage 2 in TES Connect Resources (2014).

Type of recipe No. of recipes

% of recipes

Baking, bread 17 6.6%

Baking, non-bread

45 17.6%

Biscuits 17 6.6%

Drinks, sweet 14 5.5%

Non-recipes* 26 items 10.2%

Pizza 10 3.9%

Salads 13 5.1%

Savoury dishes 66 25.8%

Sweets/desserts 48 18.8%

Total 256

*Includes toast, sandwiches, fruit kebabs, etc. While these can teach valuable food preparation skills, they do not involve significant preparation of basic ingredients or cooking.


tion and knowledge from the science lab, has lately had a major influence on

elite fine dining (see Roosth, 2013, p.4–16), but it is not the totality. Chef Mag-

nus Nilsson’s (Fäviken, nd) commitment to traditional foods, seasonality and

foraging could be placed at the opposite end of the spectrum from molecular

gastronomy, yet he too is at the forefront of fine dining innovation. More exam-

ples could be given, but these two will suffice to show the breadth of modern

culinary practice from which educators can draw.

Even so, research for this project found only three examples of modernist cookery

in high schools and none in primary schools. The Royal Society of Chemistry

collaborated with Heston Blumenthal to create a food-based chemistry resource

for high school pupils (Lister, 2005). This resource uses food, but the subject

is chemistry, not cookery. The Head of Food Technology at Ashby School,

Leicestershire has written a nine lesson module for Year 10 pupils called ‘How

to cook like Heston Blumenthal’ (Middleton, 2012). In a modernist cuisine fo-

rum a US high school teacher asked for help with her plans to teach molecular

gastronomy to her advanced culinary techniques class (Katie, 2009). It is almost

certain that there are other similar examples, but modernist cookery’s influence

in schools seems mostly restricted to the work of a few enterprising teachers.

The exact reasons for the lack of connection between the ideas of leading chefs

and schools are unknown. Five possibilities deserve consideration. First, it may

seem that the way leading chefs cook is too difficult for most adults to do, let

alone children. Second, there may be fear that children will not like eating the

type of food that leading chefs cook. Third, there is a popular perception that

fine dining is unhealthy (Kingstone, 2008; Robertson, 2012; Stark, 2010). Fourth,

the bar of entry may be set artificially high by expensive molecular gastronomy

kits (Modernist Cuisine, nd) and parties (Glock, nd; Splat Cooking, nd). Fifth,

it is likely that primary schools do not have staff with the necessary training

to translate the techniques of leading chefs to a classroom environment. These

potential reasons are discussed in chapter five.


Barriers to success

Healthy cooking lessons in the curriculum are not a guarantee that children will

become healthy cooks at home. There is a natural tension between government

good nutrition priorities and the fact that children tend to be more interested

in the ‘sensory and aesthetics aspects of food’ than its nutritional qualities

(Keane, in Jonsson, Ekström and Gustafsson, 2005, p.78). Multiple studies

have shown that children prefer unhealthy food over healthy food, even when

they understand what food is healthy (Noble et al, 2003, p.202). The evidence

suggests that education about healthy food and providing healthy school meal

options is not enough.

Additionally, short term interventions are relatively ineffective. Peterson (2010)

demonstrated that a single intervention in nutrition education can have a neutral

or negative effect on pupils’ attitudes towards learning about nutrition. Caraher

et al (2013) found that even an exciting activity in which pupils make food with

a visiting chef rather than their teacher resulted in only minor changes in the

foods pupils chose to eat. In practice, typical cookery projects in schools are

short interventions. Though several weeks may be spent on the project, actual

cooking only takes place during one lesson.

Longer term interventions do not automatically translate into lifestyle changes

outside school either. Food for Life Partnership (nd1) take a ‘whole school’ ap-

proach to healthy, sustainable food practices. But their focus appears to be solely

on what happens inside schools (nd2). In a study of the effectiveness of Food

for Life Partnership’s approach, Jones et al (2012, p.455) found that the number

of pupils in the study group cooking at school was more than double that of

the control group (37.5% vs 17.3%). However, the amount of cooking at home

practiced by the study group was slightly lower than the control group (48.5%

vs 51.5%). This result is supported by Illeris’ (2010) work on learning theory:


By far the most common form of learning is termed assimilative or learning by

addition, meaning that the new element is linked as an addition to a scheme

or pattern that is already established. One typical example could be learning

in school subjects that are precisely built up by means of constant additions

to what has already been learned, but assimilative learning also takes place

in all contexts where one gradually develops one’s capacities of a cognitive,

emotional or social-societal nature. The results of learning are characterized

by being linked to the scheme or pattern in question in such a manner that it is

relatively easy to recall and apply them when one is mentally oriented towards

the field in question, for example a school subject, while they may be hard

to access in other contexts. This is why problems are frequently experienced in

applying knowledge from a school subject in other subjects or in contexts outside

school (Illeris, 2010, p.402; emphasis added).

Transformative learning

Illeris theorises another type of learning that is more effectively transferred

from one setting to another:

in some cases, situations occur where something takes place that is difficult

to relate immediately to any existing scheme or pattern; this is experienced as

something one cannot really understand or relate to. But if it seems important

or interesting, if it is something one is determined to acquire, this can take place

by means of accommodative or transcendent learning. This type of learning

implies that one breaks down (parts of) an existing scheme and transforms it

so that the new situation can be linked in (Illeris, 2010, p.402).

Though Food for Life Partnership’s (nd1) effects are limited outside school, it

does work towards transcendent learning within school by using ‘food as a

way to improve the whole school experience – making lunchtimes a positive

feature of the day and enriching classroom learning with farm visits and prac-

tical cooking and growing’.


Examples of effectiveness

There are examples of cookery teaching that transforms eating habits beyond

the school. The Let’s Get Cooking programme and Cooking Communities

have had success in getting children to cook at home. One reason for this may

be that they happen outside school hours and so are already one step closer to

home than cooking lessons in school.

Children’s Food Trust’s (2012b, p.4) Let’s Get Cooking programme has launched

over 5,000 cookery clubs throughout England since 2007. They have undertaken

a large study of their work and have found that their clubs are connected with

significant improvements to children’s cooking skills and the amount of cooking

they do at home (p.12). One characteristic of cooking clubs that is markedly

different from school cooking lessons is that participants prepare food during

every session. Regular practice is important for acquiring new skills. Let’s Get

Cooking combines practice with a focus on taking the skills home.

All children and adults who have prepared food in a club session are given a

free copy of the recipe immediately after they have prepared it. Club leaders

actively encourage club members to replicate recipes and skills learnt at home.

Trying recipes at home is quickly established as ‘the norm’ for club members

(Children’s Food Trust, 2012b, p.6).

Children’s Food Trust (2012b, p.5) research shows that ‘92 per cent of Let’s Get

Cooking club members report that they use their new cooking skills at home’

and ‘58 per cent of Let’s Get Cooking club members report eating more healthily

after their involvement with the programme’. Participants say that the changes

last after club activities have finished. It could be argued that their approach

results in transcendent learning.

The second example, Cooking Communities after school clubs in Leeds, is

particularly interesting for its novel way of getting young people interested in


cooking (Gatenby, Donnelly and Connell, 2011, p.108–112). The clubs used mul-

ticultural cooking as a way to draw in Year 8 pupils. ‘Each session concentrated

on a recipe linked to a different cultural event’ (p.108). This should not be seen

as gimmickry. Illeris, (2010, p.401) contends that ‘The value and durability of

the learning result is closely related to the emotional dimension of the learning

process.’ If Illeris is correct, any honest method that deepens engagement and

builds excitement increases the likelihood that lasting change will occur.

Before the clubs began, 65% of participants reported ‘that they sometimes cook

at home with their parents or on their own, highlighting that the majority of

these cooking occasions were to make snacks or cakes’ (Gatenby, Donnelly

and Connell, 2011, p.110). At the end of the 10 week club, pupils reported a 25%

increase in their ability to ‘cook a meal’ (p.110, table 2). Cooking Communities’

combination of an exciting attractor (multicultural food) and a long interven-

tion period (10 weeks) proved to be reasonably effective in promoting useful

cooking skills.

It is interesting to note that the pupils at the start of the Cooking Communities

clubs were doing a similar amount and type of cooking to pupils at San Siôr

(Gill, 2013). Both Cooking Communities and this project use a novel attractor

to get pupils interested. Cooking Communities, Let’s Get Cooking and this

project all involve cooking at every session. Also, the training given by Let’s Get

Cooking (Children’s Food Trust, 2012b, p.6) seems similar to Conwy County

Borough Council’s training for teachers heading up cookery clubs (Lewis,

2014). Though neither of these cooking club examples are exactly analogous

to this project, they are similar enough to allow for interesting comparisons to

be made in chapter five.

Summary

UK governments have prioritised teaching children to cook. Efforts are being

made in schools, but there are significant barriers to success. Actual cooking


within school hours is very limited, thus limiting the potential for lifestyle

change. Even with long-term, holistic food-based interventions there is a struggle

to make positive change outside the school gate. Initiatives that are working

involve cooking every week, using a novel attractor to get children involved,

and encouraging children to cook at home.

METHODOLOGY 25

3. MethodologyWhy action research?

I wanted to contribute by creation and not only observation

This project tried a novel technique with unique content. I could not find any

evidence of modernist cookery being taught in primary schools. Typical cooking

projects in schools involve significant planning, writing and connecting with

other subjects. By contrast the activity of this project was to produce interesting

food every week. It was immediately hands-on with very little theory or writing.

In order to study this way of teaching cookery, I had to do it.

26 METHODOLOGY

I am a learner too

My goal was to equip pupils with basic cooking skills, but teaching is not merely

dispensing knowledge. Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2000, p.227–32) state

repeatedly, citing several theorists, that research must be collaborative to be

action research. The action researcher is a participant as well as a facilitator and

observer. I functioned as a teacher but without formal training. My responsi-

bility was to both pass on knowledge and also to learn from pupils, teachers

and catering staff how to improve my teaching.

Effective teachers continually attempt to learn about their students’ thinking

and understanding… they attempt to assess students’ abilities to link their

current activities to other parts of the curriculum and their lives. (Bransford

et al, 2000, p.140).

Action research is about change

‘The task… is not to merely understand and interpret the world but to change

it’ (Cohen, Manion and Morrison referencing Marx, 2000, p.226). I embarked

on this project not only to answer a research question, but because I wanted

the answer to my research question to be positive. I wanted to inspire the pu-

pils in my group. I hoped that my six sessions with them would be one factor

in inspiring a lifelong love of cooking. I believed that there was a good chance

that the programme I devised could do that.

Change necessarily means moving from one mode of being to another. This

requires an awareness that:

learners construct their own meanings, beginning with the beliefs, under-

standings, and cultural practices they bring to the classroom. If teaching is

conceived as constructing a bridge between the subject matter and the stu-

METHODOLOGY 27

dent, learner-centered teachers keep a constant eye on both ends of the bridge

(Bransford et al, 2000, p.136).

By immersing myself in the teaching and learning process I was able to better

understand the pupils involved and make adjustments to better facilitate the

change I hoped to see.

Action research is about emancipation

Hall (2001, p.173), writing about action research amongst powerless groups, states

that action research should be based on the ‘full and active participation of the

community’ with the ‘goal of radical transformation of social reality’, creating a

‘greater awareness in the people of their own resources’. Children, because they

are young, can be considered a ‘powerless’ group. Described in emancipatory

language, this project is about helping children along their journey from being

passive recipients of food to being active, meaningful participants in planning

and preparing their meals.

I wanted to explore an approach to cookery teaching that would

inspire debate and further study

Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2000, p.227), referring to Stenhouse, state ‘action

research should contribute not only practice but to a theory of education and

teaching which is accessible to other teachers’. I wanted to try teaching centred

around inspiring through doing. The goal was to create a love of cooking and a

love of learning about cooking by engaging pupils in the act of cooking. Given

the current priority on teaching children practical cookery skills and the ex-

isting barriers to success, I hope that this dissertation contributes in some way

to increased effectiveness in cookery teaching.

28 METHODOLOGY

This project was self-funded

The available time and money meant that the study had to be performed by me

alone. This may have posed a problem with other research methodologies, but:

Action research starts small, by working through changes which even a single

person (myself) can try, and works towards extensive changes – even critiques

of ideas or institutions which in turn might lead to more general reforms of

classroom school or system-wide policies and practices (Cohen, Manion and

Morrison, 2000, p.229).

Study Design

The project itself took the form of six weekly practical cookery sessions within

school hours at San Siôr. The participants were Year 4 pupils chosen by their

teacher. San Siôr was an ideal school for the project because of personal con-

nections to the school and because the school has a culture of flexibility and

openness to new ideas (Lewis, 2014).

The main sample size was eight pupils. Because I worked with the children

on my own, the group had to be small enough for me to manage. The study

benefitted from a secondary sample because we were asked to present what we

produced in the kitchen to the rest of the Year 4 class. There was also a tertiary

level of data because the kitchen and the Year 4 classroom are located some

distance from each other. Every week we carried our finished food past the

Year 5 and 6 classrooms at a time when pupils were moving around the school

getting ready to go home.

Four weeks before the study started, I visited the Year 4 class to introduce the

project. Later, the class teacher chose four boys and four girls to participate in

the study. I asked the teacher to choose children with mixed levels of cooking

METHODOLOGY 29

interest so that I could understand more realistically how effective the sessions

were. The chosen pupils’ parents were given permission forms (Appendix B)

to complete before the project started.

During each of the six sessions, the pupils prepared recipes which were developed

or inspired by leading chefs. In the process they also engaged in basic cookery

techniques including measuring, chopping, mixing and cooking. The dishes

were chosen to fit a niche between everyday cooking and science experiments

with food. Everything we made was different from ordinary food but could still

be prepared at home without expensive specialist equipment. Near the end of

each session the pupils made notes about their experience in their personal

cooking research journals (Appendix B).

During the first session, we had a group conversation to learn about the pupils’

cooking interests and abilities. Their existing skills were also observed throughout

the project. Two weeks after the project was finished, a second group conversation

was used to discover if and how the pupils’ interests in cookery had changed.

Because the primary research consisted of deeply immersive, busy cookery les-

sons, writing or recording notes during the sessions was not practical. Instead,

I wrote notes as soon as possible after each session while my memory was still

fresh. This is not the ideal method. Curtis, Webb-Dempsey and Shambaugh

(2010, p.32) note: ‘the further away in time and space your reflections are

recorded, the less accurate and detailed your memory will be.’ Nevertheless,

available resources dictated that note-taking after each session was the most

workable solution.

The information gathered from pupils and personal notes from each session

were supplemented by questionnaires completed by their parents and by feed-

back from the Year 4 teachers. I also interviewed the Year 3 teacher, who is

responsible for San Siôr’s after school cooking club.

30 METHODOLOGY

Session overview

All the recipes used in the project are found in Appendix C.

Week one: Sweetness

Four taste experiments were conducted on adding sweetness or reducing

bitterness without using sugar or other sweeteners. Salt was added to tonic

water and eaten with dark chocolate to reduce bitterness. Bread with no added

sweetener was chewed thoroughly to break down complex carbohydrates and

release natural sugars in the mouth. An onion was caramelised to reduce its

sharpness and enhance its sweetness.

Skills: Working safely with knives, sautéing, critical tasting.

Inspired by: Heston Blumenthal (Blumenthal, 2011, p.17; Fat Duck, nd.).

Week two: Jelly oranges, layered drinks

Vegetarian apple jelly was made from apple juice and agar-agar. The jelly was

set in orange peel ‘bowls’ which were sliced into segments once the jelly set.

The juice from the oranges was used with soda water to make layered drinks.

Skills: Attentive tasting, knife skills, juicing, measuring, pouring, presentation.

Inspired by: Jean-George Vongerichten (Jean-Georges, nd; Foodie Finders

NYC, 2011).

Week three: Reinventing salad

An architectural approach was taken to making salad which was topped with

a choice of two foam dressings made using lecithin.

Skills: Knife skills, measuring, food design and presentation.

Inspired by: Ferran Adrià (StarChefs.com, 2011) and many other chefs who have

popularised the use of foams in cookery.

Week four: Potato stones

Small boiled potatoes were made to look like stones by coating them with grey edible

clay. The potatoes were served on a tray with real stones and a cucumber yogurt dip.

METHODOLOGY 31

Skills: Knife skills, using an immersion mixer, handling food carefully, com-

bining flavours, food presentation.

Inspired by: Adoni Luis Aduriz (StarChefs.com, 2009)

Week five: Transparent ravioli

Edible clear films were filled with various sweet and savoury fillings then sealed

to form a ravioli-like pouch.

Skills: Knife skills, fine motor skills, combining flavours

Inspired by: Ferran Adrià (MolecularRecipes.com, 2012).

Week six: Air bread sandwiches

After proving, ordinary bread dough was rolled very thin, cut into squares, and

baked until it puffed up like a pillow. The cooked air breads were filled with

various sweet and savoury fillings.

Skills: Rolling dough, knife skills, timed baking, fine motor skills, combining

flavours.

Inspired by: José Andrés (MolecularRecipes.com, 2011).

Bias

When conducting action research, it is important to acknowledge the impos-

sibility of true objectivity and the potential for data to be obscured by other

information. It is the nature of this methodology to ‘avoid the paradigm of

research that isolates and controls variables’ (Cohen, Manion and Morrison,

2000, p.228). Furthermore,

Action research is open-minded about what counts as evidence (or data) – it

involves not only keeping records… but also collecting and analyzing our

own judgements, reactions and impressions about what is going on (Cohen,

Manion and Morrison, 2000, p.229).

32 METHODOLOGY

Just as wind resistance counters gravity’s effect on a feather, so environment

and teaching affect the pupils’ receptiveness to the concepts being taught. The

kitchen environment, the quality of the equipment, and the teacher’s enthu-

siasm and skill all influence what pupils learn. Nixon (in Cohen, Manion and

Morrison, 2000, p.234) notes that the ‘situations within which teachers work

impose different kinds of constraints’. A feather can be made to fall in a vacuum,

but pupils must be taught in a space that functions as a classroom and by some

type of teacher. In this study, the classroom was a clean, well-equipped kitchen.

I was the teacher. I have 23 years’ experience working with children and young

people in professional and voluntary capacities and can state, hopefully with

humility, that I work well with children. In analysing the research, every attempt

has been made to compensate for the impact of these factors.

Declaration of interest

From 2001 to the present, one or more of my children have attended Ysgol

San Siôr. I have also carried out previous research, given presentations and

volunteered at the school. Before starting this project I did not know the pupils

who were involved.

FINDINGS 33

4. FindingsThe eight pupils involved are not referred to by name. Each has been assigned a

number to protect their anonymity.

General findings

During the first session, the pupils were asked how excited they were about

cooking and what cooking experience they had. All the children verbally ex-

pressed excitement (Table 2). Pupil 5 was so excited she was jumping up and

down. Pupil 7 seemed nervous and somewhat ambivalent. Two pupils reported

having no cooking experience, and two were not sure.

34 FINDINGS

My kitchen trousers, jacket and cap gave the pupils the impression that I was a

chef or food expert and, I believe, communicated the idea that we were going

to do real cooking. Throughout the project I got on very well with the group,

and they seemed to enjoy working with me. Towards the end of the project

pupils 4 and 5 made thank you cards for me.

Unsurprisingly, some of the pupils were reluctant to try new food (see Scaglioni,

Salvioni and Galimberti, 2008). I talked to them about being adventurers and

scientists during our cooking sessions. I also assured them that if they didn’t

like a food they could spit it into the bin. As a result all the children tasted all

the food throughout the six cooking sessions.

All the pupils had a simple journal (Appendix B) and made an entry during

each session. Their journal entries are found in Table 3. The entries do not

provide deep insights into the pupils’ thinking about the project, but they do

show strong levels of interest and positivity.

Throughout the project there was notable excite-

ment among all the junior pupils who came in

contact, whether by sight or taste, with the food

that the pupils had prepared. Every week as we

paraded the finished food from the kitchen to

the Year 4 classroom, pupils in Years 5 and 6 were

very interested to see what we had produced and

often wanted a taste. (Unfortunately, we usually

only had enough for Year 4.)

Missing data

The permission forms given to parents before the

project began were supposed to be accompanied

by a questionnaire. Due to an unintentional

Table 2: Pupils’ self-reported cooking experience and excitement about cooking

Pupil Cooking experience?

Excited about cooking?

1 Unsure Yes

2 Yes Yes

3 No Yes

4 Yes Yes

5 Yes Very excited

6 No Yes

7 Unsure Yes

8 Yes Yes

FINDINGS 35

oversight, the school did not distribute the questionnaire. By the time the forms

were returned to me, it was two-thirds of the way through the project and too

late to remedy the oversight. This means that the only data from parents is from

the second questionnaire completed after the project ended.

Week by week results

Week one: Sweetness

I started by introducing the idea that very interesting and odd things can

happen in the kitchen. We did four demonstrations to show how sweetness in

food can be increased without adding sugar or other sweetener. We added salt

to tonic water and to dark chocolate to take away the bitterness. We chewed

bread with no added sweeteners to taste the naturally occurring sugars as the

complex carbohydrates were broken down in our mouths. We sautéed an onion

to reduce the sharp heat and allow the sweetness to come to the fore. All of

these involved before and after tasting.

The tonic water and bread experiments were successful with four of the pupils.

I was surprised that only half the pupils noticed the reduced bitterness in the

tonic water or the increasing sweetness of the bread. The chocolate experiment

was successful with two of the pupils. The onion experiment was successful with

all of the pupils. I was surprised by how many of the pupils liked the cooked

onion. Pupil 8 even liked the raw onion.

Before chopping the onion, we talked about basic knife safety. Six of the eight

pupils were eager to chop. Pupils 6 and 7 did not want to chop. Because it was

the first session, I did not insist.

36 FINDINGS


We made jelly with concentrated apple juice and agar-agar. I prepared some

jelly orange slices in advance for the group to try. The pupils liked them and

were very excited about making them. Pupil 3 is a vegetarian and was pleased

to discover a jelly she could eat. Pupil 6 did not want to use a knife again this

week, but I insisted that he try. He was actually able to slice the oranges very

well. Pupil 7 was the best at removing the fibre from the peel. While the mixture

was gelling in the freezer, we strained and sweetened the orange juice and used

it to make a layered drink with soda water. To finish, I cut the jelly-filled orange

peel halves into segments, and we took them to share with the rest of the class.

Most of the class thought the jelly was made with orange juice. Almost all of

them liked the jelly.

The session was hurried because it took longer than expected to juice the

oranges and remove the pulp and fibre from the peels. The rush meant that I

had to measure the agar-agar instead of letting the pupils do it. As a result of

this week’s time pressure, the Year 4 teacher suggested that we start subsequent

sessions 15 minutes earlier.


We attempted to ‘reinvent’ a simple garden salad by cutting and arranging veg-

etables on the plate in an architectural way and by topping the salads with foam

dressings. To start I showed them an example which I made of a lengthwise

cucumber slice coiled into a circle and held in place by piercing it with a long,

very thin carrot spear. I believe the pupils may have been more creative if my

example was a complete salad instead of just one idea. There was still plenty of

creativity on show. Pupil 1 made a volcano with dressing foam for lava. Pupil 3

made a face. Pupils 2 and 5 both made geometric designs.

FINDINGS 37

The pupils were very excited about the salads. I was surprised by how much

they talked about liking various vegetables and how much snacking they did

throughout the session. They showed about the same enthusiasm for the salad as

they did for the Nutella two weeks later. It was clearly established in chapter two

that children will choose unhealthy over healthy food, but the pupils’ response

to this session shows that it is possible for children to be truly enthusiastic about

healthy food, especially when it is the only option.

The pupils chopped several kinds of vegetables plus bread and cheese. All the

knife work was done properly, and there were no injuries. I observed growing

confidence around knives and food.

Both the foam dressings used lecithin as a stabiliser. The lemon foam was made

by vigorously pumping the juice and lecithin mixture in a cafetière. The honey

mustard foam was made using an immersion mixer. The pupils were quite en-

thusiastic about making the foams. They especially liked using the immersion

mixer, with the exception of pupil 7.

Pupil 8 missed this session because he was ill.

The pupils were given a recipe handout for week one during this session.


This week made the biggest impression during the project thus far. The pupils

loved coating the potatoes with clay, and everyone who saw the stones was very

impressed. About one third of the people who tasted the potato stones liked

them. When making the dip, everyone gave taste input. This week everyone,

including pupil 7, wanted to use the immersion mixer. When preparing the

food for presenting to the class, the pupils came up with the idea on their own

to wipe the rims of the bowls to make sure they were well presented.

38 FINDINGS

Table 3: Pupils’ journal entries. (Notes: Words have not been changed, but spellings have been corrected. Pupil 5’s journal is missing.)

Pupil 1 2 3

Week1

Interesting Onion Eating onion Bread, fizzy water, onion raw, onion sweet

What I learned Turning tonic water sweet

Raw onion was [like a] chilli

Onions are nice

Week 2

Interesting Making jelly

Making the Jelly You can make vegetarian jelly

What I learned If you make orange sweet and add soda water you will get a layer

How to make orange juice

How to make jelly

Week 3

Interesting Making salad Salad When Mr Gill made foam

What I learned How to make foam About [how] to make salad

How to make foam

Week 4

Interesting Tasting Stones Make fake stones

What I learned How to make stones About [how] to make stones

How to make stones

Week 5

Interesting The making Chocolatety

What I learned How to make see through ravioli

[How] to make ravioli

Week 6

Interesting The making Air bread

What I learned How to make mini sandwiches

How to do air bread

FINDINGS 39

4 6 7 8

Week1

Eating onion

Onions, bread Onions, bread Onion frying

Raw onion tastes like chilli but cooked is nice

Onions cooked Onions cooked People eat chocolate with salt

Week1

Eating jelly Hot apple juice, orange juice, ice water

Hot apple juice, orange, ice water

Eating the jelly

That soda water and orange juice is nice

Jelly, hot apple juice Jelly, hot apple juice Seaweed can make jelly

Week1

Toast Salad Salad

Foam salad Salad Salad

Week1

Everything Stones Stones Eating the stones

A lot Stones Stones You can’t eat stones

Week1

Everything Chocolate, bags Chocolate, bags Eating chocolate

Bags Bags Bags You can get edible plastic

Week1

Everything Cheese, jam Jam Eating it

Dough puffs up Sandwiches Sandwiches Dough puffs up

40 FINDINGS

At the beginning of this session, three of the pupils reported having tried at

home some of the techniques they were learning.


The end results of this session were impressive again, but we came close to failure

this week. I struggled to make the transparent film seal with the iron, so I spent

much of the session with my back to the pupils trying to seal their raviolis. The

pupils also struggled with the fine motor skills involved in filling the raviolis.

These issues created some boredom among the pupils. I had to reprimand some

of them for running around the kitchen, and I had to make pupil 5 sit down just

outside the kitchen for a few minutes to get her to calm down. She found this

quite upsetting. Just before the bell rang we managed to finish enough raviolis

for the class. The pupils were not very interested in the savoury fillings. Nutella

was by far the favourite. Honey was second. No one used the peanut butter.


This was a good finish. The pupils really enjoyed all aspects of making the

bread and filling it. The pupils and the rest of Year 4 found the results both

interesting and tasty.

About half the air breads did not puff up due to a combination of the pupils’ less

than perfect rolling skills and the fact that the school oven was not hot enough.

We did manage to make enough to share with the rest of the class.

Pupil 7 has definitely improved his confidence and skill throughout the six weeks.

He is now happy to use a knife, and this week rolled his dough out confidently.

Pupil 3 missed this session because she was ill. Both this session and week three

were easier to run. With seven pupils there was less noise in the kitchen and I

had a bit more time for each pupil.

FINDINGS 41

The pupils were given a recipe handout for this session.

Clean up

Cleaning the kitchen after each session was time-consuming. Week one required

about 20 minutes’ clean up time. Clean up in week three took over an hour.

Clean up of the other sessions took about 45 minutes.

Follow up

During the group conversation session after the project ended, all the pupils

reported that they were more excited about cooking than at the beginning. All

the pupils reported that their favourite foods of the project were the jelly and

the air bread. Pupils 6 and 7 also mentioned the salad as a favourite. Pupils 1

and 8 said that everything was their favourite.

When asked if they learned anything which they thought was useful, some of

the pupils mentioned the ‘claw’ and ‘bridge’ knife safety techniques. Pupil 6 said

making air bread was useful. Pupil 5 said, ‘If I was drinking bitter water and I

didn’t like it, I could make it less bitter by using the salt’.

I asked the pupils what they didn’t like about the sessions: ‘Your least favourite

part – was there any part that you thought, this wasn’t so great?’ Rather than

saying that they found anything boring about the sessions, they gave respons-

es solely about specific food that they didn’t like. Olives and tonic water were

especially unpopular.

The child in which I observed the most obvious progress was pupil 7. I asked,

‘Would you say that you are more comfortable doing stuff in the kitchen than

you were at the beginning?’ He replied with a definite ‘yes’.

42 FINDINGS

Table 4: Parents’ post project questionnaire

Pupil

1. Following the six cookery ses-sions in school, what is your child’s interest in cooking (on a scale of 1–5 with 1 = not interested and 5 = very interested)?

2. Have you noticed a change in your child’s interest in cooking? Yes. If yes, please describe the change:

3. Have you noticed a change in your child’s involvement in cooking at home? If yes, please describe the change

1 4

Yes. [Pupil 1] has always liked the idea of cooking for others. Since the cookery lessons his interest and requests to cook have increased and he has shown an interest in trying to cook more adventurously.

No. If yes, please describe the change: Sadly it still seems to be just the idea of cooking that appeals. However, given his increased interest, I would expect him to get involved when we invite friends around.

2 5

Yes. [Pupil 2] loves helping in the kitchen. She has always shown and interest but now she always wants an active role. [Pupil 2] has shared things she has learnt like now we leave the skin on the potato’s [sic], having to buy some agar crystals for the orange jelly. [Pupil 2] eats really well but now understands that she is eating healthy. She makes us fruit cocktails on the sticks for pudding. She is a lot better than me.

As above. But the tidying up needs focusing on [smiley face][Pupil 2] has been having difficulty coming to school. Cookery has been a focus. Thank you.

3 3Asks re: times – how long things take to cook. What ingredients used.

Asks to help prepared foods. Cuts foods. Offers to make simple foods – sandwiches.

4 1Yes. [No further response.] Yes. Much more willing to help!

And has a better understanding

5 5

Yes. [Pupil 5] was very excited about the whole cookery course. She enjoyed the trickery and the way it was science based cooking. She’s passionate about cooking.

Yes. [Pupil 5] does ask was ingredients I use and is very interested. She made me a poached egg on toast with a cup of tea last week. Completely unsupervised! I was very impressed!

6 5

Asking more about what’s in the meals he eats at home. Willing to try more dishes.

Yes. Wants to help me chop up the veg and now want to invent his own lunches and more importantly he makes them healthy.

7 1Yes. [Pupil 7] is now more willing to try new things, instead of saying no straight away.

No.

8 4

Yes. He was very keen to do the recipes he did with you, at home.

He talks about food and different ideas we cold do, including very imaginative mixes of food, like what to put on his pancakes etc. He really enjoyed the sessions. Thank you.

FINDINGS 43

Finally, we talked about whether or not they were doing any cooking at home

since the project started. Pupil 5 had made the jelly and the air bread. Pupil 4

said she had done some cooking. Pupils 3, 6 and 7 said that they wanted to but

hadn’t done any yet. Pupil 7 said he might do some that evening.

The pupils’ increased interest in cooking was confirmed by the parents’ ques-

tionnaire (Table 4) in which all the parents reported an increased engagement

with the children on the subject of cooking. They were more interested in the

ingredients and process of preparing food. Four pupils’ parents reported that

their children had a more open, adventurous or imaginative attitude towards

food. Six out of eight parents reported a positive change in their child’s involve-

ment in cooking at home.

The Year 4 teacher reported after the project ended that there had been genuine

excitement in the whole class about the cooking project and especially with the

eight children who were involved. She said that some of them told her they

were sorry it had finished.

Costs

During the primary research phase no

particular attention was paid to budget-

ing other than keeping records of each

week’s costs. It was pleasant and unex-

pected to discover that total spending

was £1.90 per child per session. This

compares favourably with the £3 San Siôr

charges each child per session for the

school’s cookery club (Lewis 2014). Scaling the sessions up to a full class would

probably make the sessions even more cost-effective because the small number

of children involved meant that some ingredients had to be over-purchased.

Table 5: Cost of ingredients, week by week.

Week Content Cost

1 Sweetness £5

2 Jelly oranges, layered drinks £10

3 Reinventing salad £30

4 Potato stones £25

5 Transparent ravioli £13

6 Air bread sandwiches £8

Average price of ingredients per child per session: £1.90

DISCUSSION 45

5. DiscussionThis was a small study based on a very small sample, yet enough useful data

has been collected to conclude that modernist culinary techniques used by the

world’s leading chefs can be used to teach basic cookery skills to junior school

pupils at Ysgol San Siôr. Of course, the answer is not that simple. There are

several factors and qualifiers to consider.

Clarifying the data

The school’s ethos, the well-equipped facilities and the way the pupils and I got

on surely had a positive effect on skill acquisition. Nevertheless, it seems clear

by the pupils’ responses that the unique dishes themselves were compelling

46 DISCUSSION

enough to create interest and enthusiasm during the project and up to two

weeks after completion.

It is worth noting that the chefs who invented or popularised the techniques

used were never mentioned, so in the unlikely event that the pupils are familiar

with any leading chefs, this would not have been a factor in this project.

Old enough

At eight and nine years old, Year 4 pupils seemed just ready to manage the cooking

tasks competently. As children grow they gain better fine motor skills, potentially

more sophisticated taste vocabularies and potentially more competencies. Using

top chefs’ techniques in high school cookery lessons may be a fruitful research area.

Scalability

With eight pupils I felt that I was at my maximum teaching capacity. Lewis (2014)

stated that she finds cooking with a full class of 30 pupils ‘a bit stressful’, but

with the help of a teaching assistant she is able to cope. Week five, transparent

raviolis, was by far the most challenging. It would have worked better if I had

an assistant to do the film sealing.

My cooking sessions took place in the school kitchen. The kitchen is not large

enough for a full class, but the sessions could have worked easily in a classroom

with access to a portable hob and oven.

Session length

There was just enough time each week to complete the cooking task. Clean up

was an unforeseen factor, requiring significant time after each session. Lewis

(2014) stated that the teachers at the school are not generally able to clean up

afterwards, and so they must build clean up time into their lessons. During

DISCUSSION 47

school hours, cooking projects have to be completed and cleaned up in 90

minutes or less. The after school cookery club has only an hour to prepare a

dish and clean up. Fitting a 75 minute session plus clean up into these times

would be a challenge and would require some of the sessions to be modified.

Six reasons and four counterarguments

Chapter two introduced five potential reasons to avoid using modernist tech-

niques in cookery lessons. Existing literature and this project’s results will

show that four of the reasons need not be a concern. The fifth reason poses

a significant but surmountable problem. The literature review brought one

further problem to light.

1. The way leading chefs cook is too difficult for children

Key Stage 2 pupils could never replicate a great chef ’s work, yet this does not

mean they cannot learn from their techniques. Many techniques behind the

spectacular dishes served at the best restaurants are wonderfully simple. And

complex recipes can often be simplified and still be exciting. An example of

simplification can be seen by comparing the potato stones recipe used in this

project (Appendix C, week four) with the source recipe from Chef Aduriz of

Mugaritz (StarChefs.com, 2009). The fact that each week the pupils in this

project produced food that impressed their schoolmates and teachers shows

that they can successfully use some leading chefs’ techniques.

2. Many children are afraid of new tastes

A Swedish trial of tasting lessons for 12 year-old pupils indicates that contem-

porary chefs’ use of unusual tastes and ingredients need not be a barrier to

bringing their techniques into cookery lessons. Jonsson, Ekström and Gustafsson

(2005, p.78–85) describe lessons in which pupils try a variety of foods, engage

all their senses and gain a vocabulary to talk about tasting. The trial showed

48 DISCUSSION

that children were open to tasting new foods and the teaching ‘methods used

seemed appropriate for expanding the food repertoire of pupils’ (p.82).

All eight pupils in this project tried everything we made. Though they found

things they did not like, they also found some new tastes they did like, such as

cooked onion.

3. Top chefs produce unhealthy food

While it is true that leading chefs do not typically focus on healthy food, they

do tend to focus on using high quality, seasonal ingredients (Adrià et al, 2006;

Fäviken, nd). In addition, research by Larson et al (2007) suggests that people

who prepare their own food are more likely to eat healthily than people who

buy prepared food. It could be argued that the most important priority is to

teach children to cook a meal from basic ingredients, and that if they learn to

cook, healthy eating will follow.

The fact that we produced some food which was not particularly healthy (e.g.

layered drink and Nutella ravioli) is not a good fit with the prioritisation of

healthy food in schools. However, most of the dishes were healthful. The others

could be modified to fit healthy guidelines without making them less interesting.

4. Expense

Branded specialist ingredients and experiences are expensive. The costs of equip-

ment such as water baths and specialist food processors can be prohibitive, yet

cost does not need to be a barrier. Often inexpensive unbranded alternatives to

branded ingredients can be found. This project used four specialist ingredients:

agar-agar, kaolin clay, lactose and lecithin. All are available as expensive branded

products, but the only brand I bought was Kaolin by Mugaritz Experiences.

Less expensive kaolin was available, but it was sold as cosmetic grade rather

than food grade. It seemed unwise to risk using it with children. The other

DISCUSSION 49

three ingredients are readily and cheaply available from online retailers. The

only specialist equipment required was an inexpensive immersion mixer, some

medicine syringes and an iron. With an average ingredients cost per pupil per

session of only £1.90, modernist cooking at this level seems very cost effective.

5. Teachers are not trained to do this kind of cooking

This is a significant issue. I had the knowledge and confidence to design and

run this project because my undergraduate studies included a practice-based

module on the ideas and techniques of leading chefs. It is unlikely that primary

school teachers will have similar training. It seems that without the work of

enterprising teachers or the involvement of chefs, modernist cookery in junior

schools will remain scarce.

6. Short interventions

Even if teachers were given training in modernist cookery, questions would

remain about how effective they would be in teaching basic skills. A half-term

food project with only one cooking session is, as shown in chapter two, a short

intervention. A recipe that yields a dramatic or unusual result will likely create

interest, but repeatedly practising techniques is what enables skills to develop.

It is possible that a teacher could design a module of weekly cooking sessions,

but it would require a significant deviation from the norm. If a teacher’s goal is

developing skills, not just creating interest, perhaps a cooking club is a better

setting for modernist cookery.

92% of Let’s Get Cooking club members reported using the skills they learned

at home (Children’s Food Trust, 2012b, p.12). This is higher than the result

reported by parents in this project. Five of the eight pupils (63%) were more

involved in cooking at home. It should be noted that this is not a like for like

comparison. The pupils in this project were assigned to be involved and de-

liberately chosen for their variable cookery interest levels. Children choose to

50 DISCUSSION

join cooking clubs, meaning that their baseline interest in cooking is likely to

be higher than some of the pupils in this project. Cooking clubs also tend to

last longer than six weeks, allowing more time for skills learned at the club to

migrate to the home. When these factors are considered, this project compares

more favourably to Let’s Get Cooking.

Cooking Communities multicultural cooking clubs in Leeds saw a 25% increase

in Year 8 pupils’ ability to prepare a meal after 10 weeks. With only eight pupils,

who were assigned to be involved with this project, it is impossible to meaning-

fully compare the attraction influence of modernist and multicultural cooking.

Nevertheless modernist techniques were attractive to the pupils involved, and the

pupils’ basic skills, especially knife skills, improved over the six weeks. With both

a novel attractor and skills improvement in common, it is reasonable to assume

that a modernist cooking club is likely to be at least as interesting and effective

as a multicultural cooking club. The drawbacks of relegating effective lessons to

cooking clubs are that taking part is optional and there is often a cost involved. This

means that the children who would benefit most may be less likely to take part.

Improving the project

Other than extending the sessions by 15 minutes, I did not make significant

changes throughout the research phase, though, as Lewin (in Cohen, Manion

and Morrison, 2000, p.234) suggested, I was open to the idea that my plans

might need to be modified. The main reason why all the sessions, with the par-

tial exception of week five, worked well was that I conducted advance research

during the summer of 2013 (i61 Church, 2013). The problems experienced in

week five were likely due to the fact that this was the technique with which I

had least familiarity.

In two instances important basic cooking skills were left untaught. In week four

the time required to coat the potatoes in clay meant that the potatoes had to

be cooked before the session. Other skills were taught during the session, and

DISCUSSION 51

great excitement was generated by the potato stones, but it is disappointing that

the pupils missed out on learning the basic skill of cooking new potatoes. The

pupils also missed out on making the dough for the air bread in week six. This

was not because of a time-consuming modernist technique but because the

dough needed time to prove. Lewis (2014) gets around this problem by doing

a split cooking lesson when she teaches a bread project.

The pupils participating in the project may have had an increased rate of skill

transfer from school to home if they had been given a recipe handout for all

six sessions instead of just two. Children’s Food Trust (2012b, p.6) cite recipes

to take home as an important factor in their success in getting children to use

new cooking skills at home.

The potential for analysing this project was diminished by the fact that the first

parents’ questionnaire was not distributed and, to a lesser extent, by the loss of

pupil 5’s journal. It could have been enhanced by having a means of collecting

data during the sessions. An assistant taking notes and a video recording of

the sessions would have enabled much more information to be collected and

allowed for deeper analysis of the project.

CONCLUSION 53

6. ConclusionThe literature review highlighted a gap between government goals of teaching

children to cook and both the time available to teach cookery and the transfer

of skills from school to home. This project trialled a novel method of filling that

gap by using modernist cooking techniques practised by leading chefs to create

interest in cooking among Key Stage 2 pupils and as an exciting way to teach

basic cooking skills. The project was highly effective in generating interest in

cooking among the pupils involved. It showed success in teaching basic skills,

especially knife skills. It also showed success in inspiring most of the pupils to

be interested and some to be involved in cooking at home.

54 CONCLUSION

Further study

Whether or not this project will have a long-term impact on the pupils is of

particular interest. Unfortunately, the time available to complete the project

did not allow for a longitudinal element to be included. It remains a question

for future research.

Having experience with cooking and working with children gave me the con-

fidence to take on this project. It would be helpful to understand how much

training would be required for a teacher with very little cooking experience to

teach the techniques of leading chefs. Conversely, if a chef or skilled amateur

cook was to volunteer their time to teach cookery in a school or club, what skills

and training would they require to communicate their knowledge intelligibly

to children?

Because it has rarely been tried, it is not known how receptive schools in gen-

eral are to teaching modernist cooking techniques. The recipes found in the

literature tend to be conservative and traditional. Would schools be interested

in teaching a different style of cooking? Middleton, Keegan and Henderson

(2012, p.548, citing Power et al, 2010) noted that ‘different schools bring unique

challenges relating to resources, status, previous experiences and capabilities’.

How would modernist cooking lessons work in schools that have a different

ethos or socioeconomic make-up from San Siôr? There is also a question about

how receptive schools are to teaching with a focus on doing cooking. Could

a design and technology module which included cooking in every session

instead of just one achieve the necessary learning outcomes and stay within

available budgets? Or is this way of teaching cookery better suited to cookery

clubs outside school hours?

Modernist cookery has educational potential beyond the scope of this project.

This study has shown that pupils as young as age 8 can successfully perform

these techniques, suggesting that teaching modernist cookery could be used

CONCLUSION 55

effectively in Years 4 to 13. Exploring the use of modernist cooking to teach sci-

ence and possibly other subjects, would also surely be a fruitful area of research.

A place to begin

Though this study was small and far from perfect, it may prove useful to cookery

educators as a first step towards connecting primary education and modernist

cooking. With additional trials and study, leading chefs’ modernist techniques

may prove to be an effective complement to existing cookery teaching.

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APPENDICES 73

Appendix A: Project Log17/9/13 Initial topic decision.

7/10/13 Meeting with Ian Jones, head teacher at San Siôr, about proposed

research. Permission is given to carry out research.

8/10/13 Culinary arts group proposal meeting with Susan Bush.

25/11/13 Worked on lesson ideas.

29/11/13 Submitted background check details and documents to school.

10/12/13 Meeting with Ian Jones to finalise details of research in school.

17/12/13 Spent an hour with the Year 4 class at San Siôr to get to know them

and introduce the research I will be doing.

3/1/14 Wrote explanation letter, permission form and first questionnaire for

parents.

7/1/14 Explanation letter, permission form and first questionnaire for parents

was distributed to students.

16/1/14 Led first of six cookery sessions with 8 pupils. This continued weekly

through 20 February. All available dissertation work time during

this period was taken preparing for or writing notes on the cookery

sessions.

30/1/14 Scheduled a meeting for Friday 7 February with Miss Lewis, year 3

teacher and head of San Siôr’s SNAG group. Will interview her re:

school’s cookery teaching methods, feasibility of scaling up what I

am doing.

3/3/14 Second questionnaire was distributed to parents.

6/3/14 Met with Miss Lewis (after cancellations by both of us due to schedule

conflicts and illness). Conducted final debrief meeting with the eight

Year 4 pupils.

74 APPENDICES

!7 January 2014 !Dear Parents, !Re: Cookery research with year four pupils !My name is Jeff Gill. I am Freya Gill’s (year six) dad and also a student at Llandrillo College working on a BA(Hons) in Culinary Arts. For my dissertation project I am trying to determine whether or not some of the techniques used by the world’s top chefs (e.g. Heston Blumenthal, Tom Kerridge) can be used to excite and teach children about everyday cooking. !Mr Jones has kindly invited me to work with eight year four pupils, including your child, during this half term. Over six weeks we will

• explore novel ways to turn bitter to sweet,

• make vegetarian jelly from seaweed extract,

• reinvent the garden salad,

• make edible stones,

• make transparent ravioli and

• bake air bread.

The sessions will run once-a-week for six weeks beginning Thursday 16 January and ending 20 February. They will take place in the school kitchen from 2–3.30 PM. !A health and safety note: I have worked professionally with children for 20 years as a children’s and youth minister. I have volunteered at both Tŷ Llywelyn and Reverb youth drop-ins. I have been in charge of two children’s cookery clubs within the last two years. In addition to police background checks for my job, the school has arranged the necessary checks for me to do this project. Your child will not be identified by name in my research !I really hope that you will be happy your child to participate in our cooking adventure. I have attached a permission form which needs to be returned to the school by Monday 13 February. If you would not like your child to participate, could you inform the school as soon as possible so that another pupil can take their place? !While we are having lots of fun creating in the kitchen I will also be evaluating the trajectory of their interest and skills. To assist my information gathering, I would be grateful if you could complete and return short questionnaires at the beginning and end of the sessions. The first questionnaire is attached. !Thank you very much! !Jeff Gill

+

Appendix B: Letters, forms and hand outsLetter one, permission form and questionnaire one

APPENDICES 75

Cookery research permission form !I give permission for ___________________________________________

to participate in Jeff Gill’s cookery research at Ysgol San Siôr.

!Photographs (tick appropriate box)

☐ I give permission for Jeff Gill to use photographs of my child in his

dissertation

☐ I DO NOT give permission for Jeff Gill to use photographs of my child

in his dissertation

!Parent/Guardian signature

____________________________________________________________

!Date

____________________________________________________________

!

Letter one, permission form and questionnaire one, continued

76 APPENDICES

Cookery research parents’ questionnaire 1 !!Name of child ________________________________________________

(NB. In my dissertation, your child will not be identified in any way other

than in unnamed photos if you have granted permission.)

!!1. On average, how many days per week is a home-cooked main meal

served in your household? ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7

!!2. What is your child’s interest in cooking?

☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

Not interested —————————————————————— Very interested

!!3. Does your child help with cooking family meals? ☐ Yes ☐ No

If yes, about how often? ________________________________________

!!4. Does your child help with special cooking or baking projects?☐ Yes ☐ No

If yes, about how often? ________________________________________

Letter one, permission form and questionnaire one, continued

APPENDICES 77

!3 March 2014 !Dear Parents, !Re: Cookery research with year four pupils !Thank you so much for allowing your children to participate in my research. It was a very fun and fruitful six weeks. On the back of this letter is a second short questionnaire. I would be very grateful if you could complete it and return it to the school this week. !When my dissertation is completed, I will make it available for you to read if you are interested (although I certainly wouldn’t want you to feel obligated to do so). !Thanks again! !Jeff Gill

+

Letter two and questionnaire two

78 APPENDICES

Cookery research parents’ questionnaire 2 !!Name of child ________________________________________________

(NB. In my dissertation, your child will not be identified in any way other

than in unnamed photos if you have granted permission.)

!!1. Following the six cookery sessions in school, what is your child’s

interest in cooking?

☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

Not interested —————————————————————— Very interested

!!2. Have you noticed a change in your child’s interest in cooking?

☐ Yes ☐ No If yes, please describe the change___________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

!!3. Have you noticed a change in your child’s involvement in cooking at

home? ☐ Yes ☐ No If yes, please describe the change____________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Letter two and questionnaire two

APPENDICES 79

Pupil journal (unfolded)

80 APPENDICES

Cooking research: quick and simple healthy agar jelly Agar (or agar-agar) is a vegetarian gelling agent made from red algae. There are lots of interesting agar recipes online. You can buy agar cheaply from: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/minerals-water.ltd/

—

Fruit juice, choose any flavour you want.

Put the juice in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for a while to reduce the juice and make the flavour more intense.

Measure your reduced juice. Put it back in the sauce pan and add ½ teaspoon / 2 grams agar powder for every 9 ounces / 250 ml of juice.

Whisk the agar into the juice while bringing the juice to a simmer.

Pour the mixture into a container and place in the refrigerator until the jelly is set (20–30 minutes).

Week 2 pupil hand out

APPENDICES 81

Cooking research: air bread This recipe is really easy to make, but the results are dramatic and lots of fun to eat. (I’ve taken the method from molecular recipes.com1 and the dough recipe from Nigel Slater2.)

!Ingredients

500g white bread flour7g sachet instant dried yeast10g salt350ml warm water

Method

Mix the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add almost all the water and mix to a sticky dough.

Continue to mix for a further minute or so - the dough will gradually become less sticky. Add a touch more flour or water until you are left with a dough that is soft and springy, yet slightly sticky to the touch.

Flour a large work surface and gently knead the dough for 10 minutes without treating it aggressively. It should feel soft, smooth, light and springy.

Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover it with cling film and leave it to prove for an hour in a warm place.

When the dough has doubled in size, tip it back onto a floured surface. Knead it again for a minute. Return the dough to the bowl and leave in a warm place under a tea towel for about 45 minutes until it has risen generously.

Preheat oven to 230°C / gas mark 8.

Use a rolling pin to roll out dough about 2 mm thick. Cut the rolled dough into two inch squares (try other shapes too) and place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Cook for 5–6 minutes until bits of the bread just start to brown.

Dip the bread in melted butter. Or open it up and stuff it with the filling of your choice. (I like black olives and sun dried tomatoes.) Or use a medicine syringe to fill the bread with with jam, Nutella, cheese sauce, etc.

—

1: http://www.molecularrecipes.com/fun/air-bread-

philly-cheesesteak/

2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

simple_white_loaf_and_10070

Photo: MolecularRecipes.com, 2011

Week 6 pupil hand out

82 APPENDICES

Appendix C: RecipesWeek one: Sweetness

Reduce the bitterness in tonic water

Ingredients: Indian tonic water, salt.

Method: Taste the tonic water. Next, gradually stir salt into tonic water. Taste

regularly. The tonic water will reach a point when the quinine can no longer

be tasted but the water does not taste salty.

Taste: Notice the difference between the salted and unsalted tonic water.

Sources: Blumenthal, 2011, p.17; Fat Duck, nd; Lersch, 2006; Breslin and Beau-

champ, 1995.

Reduce the bitterness in dark chocolate

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (70% or more cocoa), sea salt flakes.

Method: Place a few salt flakes on a square of dark chocolate.

Taste: Eat a square of dark chocolate. Next, eat the square of chocolate with

the salt. Notice the difference in the amount of bitterness that can be tasted.

Release the natural sugars in bread

Ingredients: Good quality bread with no added sugar.

Taste: Chew a bite of bread until it is noticeably sweet in the mouth.

Mellow the flavour of an onion

Ingredients: Onion, vegetable or groundnut oil.

Method: Thinly slice an onion. Place in a frying pan a little oil. Cook on low

heat until the onion is soft and translucent.

Taste: Eat some of the raw onion. Next eat some of the cooked onion. Notice

that the sharpness and ‘heat’ is significantly reduced and the sweetness comes

to the fore.

APPENDICES 83


Jelly oranges

Ingredients: Oranges, apple juice which has been simmered and reduced by ⅓

(this concentrates the flavour), agar-agar.

Method: Cut oranges in half. Juice the oranges, taking care to not break the

peel. Remove the pith/fibre from the peel to leave clean orange peel bowls.

Pour juice into a saucepan. Add ½ tsp (2 g) agar-agar powder for every 250 ml

of juice. Whisk the agar-agar into the juice while bringing the juice to a brief

simmer. Ensure that the agar-agar is fully dissolved. Pour the mixture into the

orange peel bowls. Place the filled bowls in the refrigerator until the jelly is set

(20–30 minutes). Cut the bowls into ‘orange slices’.

Taste: If possible, make some orange slices before the session so the pupils can

see and taste what they are making. Ask what flavour the slices are. Often people

believe it is orange flavour because of the appearance.

Sources: Hansen, 2013; Nasi Lemak Lover, 2012.

Layered drink

Ingredients: Soda water, orange juice, sugar, ice cubes.

Method: Strain the orange juice from the jelly oranges recipe. Pour into a saucepan

and gently warm the juice while dissolving some sugar into it. (Sugar makes the

juice denser and easier to layer. Be careful not to boil the orange juice because it

will badly affect the flavour.) Pour the sweetened juice into a tall, narrow glass

until it is about ⅓ full. Fill the rest of the glass with soda water by holding a

dessert spoon upside-down just above the level of the liquid in the glass and

pouring the soda water very gently onto the back of the spoon. Gently add ice.

Taste: The drink can be stirred prior to drinking or either one of the layers can

be drunk first. (To drink the bottom layer first, use a straw.)

Source: Anderson, 2013.

84 APPENDICES


Salad

Ingredients: Lettuce, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, cheese, olives, etc.

Method: Cut desired ingredients into interesting shapes (e.g. cucumber can be

sliced lengthwise into long flexible strips using a carrot peeler or cheese slicer,

carrots can be cut lengthwise into long, very thin spears). Use the ingredients

to build a salad structure.

Toast

Ingredients: Sliced bread, softened butter.

Method: Cut a slice of bread into an interesting shape. Spread butter on both

sides of the bread. Fry until crisp and light-medium brown. Use as part of the

salad structure.

Lemon Foam

Ingredients: 180 ml water, 180 ml lemon juice, 1tsp lecithin.

Method: Add all ingredients to a cafetière. Stir until the lecithin is dissolved. Put

the lid on the cafetière and pump the plunger vigorously until a good portion of

the liquid has turned to foam. Spoon foam onto salad and serve immediately.

Source: Molecular Gastrongomy Network, nd.

Honey Mustard Foam

Ingredients: 1 tbsp clear honey, 1 tbsp French mustard, 2 tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp

lecithin, water.

Method: Add all ingredients except water to a measuring jug. Add water to fill

the jug to 350 ml. Mix, then froth with an immersion mixer. Spoon foam onto

salad and serve immediately.

Sources: BBC, nd1; Rhonda and Worthy, 2011.

APPENDICES 85


Stones

Ingredients: Steamed or boiled small new potatoes, vegetable stock, Mugaritz

edible kaolin clay, lactose, black food colouring, clean round grey stones about

the size of the potatoes

Method: Add three parts kaolin and two parts lactose to a bowl. Add vegetable

stock a bit at a time, mixing as you go, until the mixture is a thin paste. Share

the clay mixture among three bowls. Add different amounts of food colouring

to each bowl to create different shades of grey. (Be generous with the food

colouring; the clay lightens significantly as it dries.) Dip potatoes in the clay

to fully coat them. Carefully place the potatoes on a tray. Place the tray in an

oven or warming cupboard at 50°C until dry (about 30 minutes). Warm the

stones in the oven at the same time as the potatoes. Arrange the potatoes and

stones on a tray or other container (e.g. plastic bucket of the type used at the

seaside.). Serve immediately.

Taste: The clay has very little flavour but is very dry. which is why the ‘stones’

are best served with a dip.

Sources: MrInfusions4chefs, 2012; Mugaritz Experiences, nd; StarChefs.com,

2009.

Cucumber yoghurt dip

Ingredients: Cream cheese, yoghurt, white wine vinegar, finely chopped cucum-

ber, fresh herbs (e.g. chives, basil, coriander), salt, pepper.

Method: With an immersion mixer blend equal parts cream cheese and yoghurt

with 1 tbsp vinegar for every 120 g cream cheese. Add cucumber, herbs and

seasoning. Serve in bowls as a dip for the potatoes stones.

Taste: Allow everyone to be involved in the tasting and adding ingredients until

the mixture tastes just right.

Source: BBC, nd2.

86 APPENDICES


Ravioli

Ingredients: Edible film oblate squares, fillings for the raviolis which do not

contain water (e.g. sun-dried tomatoes, olives and feta cheese in oil, chocolate

hazelnut spread, honey, peanut butter, dried fruit

Method: Fold an oblate square in half diagonally to form a triangle. Form a

pouch by sealing one side of the triangle with a very hot iron. (Ensure that the

iron contains no water and is only in very brief contact with the film. If the iron

is left on the film too long it becomes brittle and starts to disintegrate.) Fill the

pouch with the desired filling. To fill with a liquid or paste, use a syringe. Seal

the open side of the triangle with the iron. Trim any extra film off the sealed

edges of the ravioli. Sweet-filled raviolis can be served with whipped cream or

ice cream.

Taste: The film oblates are completely tasteless, so the only taste is the filling, In

a dry mouth the oblate may not dissolve immediately and momentarily produce

a glue-like substance in the mouth.

Sources: Cream Supplies, nd; MolecularRecipes.com, 2012.


Air bread sandwiches

Ingredients: Proved bread dough, sandwich fillings (e.g. fish paste, béchamel-based

cheese sauce, peanut butter, honey, jam, butter)

Method: Roll out the bread dough until it is very thin, about 2 mm. Cut the

dough into 5 cm squares. (Other shapes work too.) Place the squares on a

tray and bake in a preheated oven at 230°C until puffed up and golden (about

6 minutes). Poke a small hole in one end of the air bread, and inject a filling

using a syringe.

Taste: You can tell your guests what is in the sandwiches or let them be surprised.

Sources: Bread dough – Slater, nd; technique – MolecularRecipes.com, 2011.

APPENDICES 87

Appendix D: Why not Jamie Oliver or spherification?The chef most associated with school meals in the UK is Jamie Oliver. His

2004–5 Feed Me Better campaign to improve the nutritional quality of Britain’s

school meals (Belot and James, 2011, p.489; jamieoliver.com, nd) is seen as the

catalyst for the debate about food in school and subsequent government action

to improve school meals and make cooking lessons mandatory. Oliver’s activism

helped create a climate in which a project like this one could be conceived and

implemented. The only reason that his work in the kitchen does not feature

is that his style of cooking is rooted in classical Italian cuisine (Walker, 2005)

rather than the modernist approach used in this project.

Spherification, on the other hand, is one of modernist cuisine’s most famous

techniques (Modernist Pantry, nd; MolecularRecipes.com, nd). Spherification

is not overly difficult, and it would certainly be very interesting to pupils. It was

not included because the goal of this project was to teach basic cooking skills as

well as create interest. Spherification on its own has only the barest resemblance

to everyday cooking. However, it is quick and fun, and it could easily be used as

one component of a dish which also required more traditional cooking skills,

so it should not be dismissed as a useful technique.

Using modernist techniques from the world’s best chefs to teach basic cookery skills to Key Stage...

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