Cooking classes for low-income Minnesotans offer healthy, tasty
tipsby Julie Siple, Minnesota Public Radio ST. PAUL, Minn. — In
a fully-equipped kitchen at Johnson Senior High School in St.
Paul, a group of girls surround CeAnn Klug, who is about to try
to change their cooking and eating habits. "We're going to start
today with rice," Klug says, as she preps a stir fry recipe.
"Who has tried brown rice before?" Not one of the girls looks
thrilled. But that doesn't deter Klug, an instructor for Cooking
Matters, a nationwide program run in Minnesota by University of
Minnesota Extension in which local chefs volunteer to provide
free classes to low-income kids and adults. She plunges ahead.
Cooking Matters was recently invited to the school as part of a
health program called Fit Team. All the students in the class
are at risk for diabetes, and this is one of six classes
designed to teach cooking, nutrition, and budgeting skills. Even
though the students appear skeptical as Klug chops vegetables,
the class comes a