Publish at September 17 2025 Updated September 18 2025
There was a time when cooking lessons at school were reserved for girls, as were household arts in general. Subsequently, anything resembling this was systematically abandoned. Training that was not geared towards the world of work was gradually devalued and discarded.
Only professional culinary training survived, and some countries such as France are now recognized for the high quality of their catering and cookery training, but when it comes to teaching a teenager how to cook a béchamel sauce for a Thursday lunch, we'll take a rain check.
A societal change is taking place in schools and in people's mindsets, because there's more to life than work, and the pleasures of the table bring benefits that go beyond the culinary sphere...
For Allo Prof, cooking is a powerful educational lever, and details its potential:
"Beyond the multiple educational skills that cooking can bring to children, it fosters the development of personal skills such as self-confidence, autonomy, strengthening social bonds, patience, etc. that contribute to academic success."
Her suggestions:
For "C'est moi le Chef", cooking is clearly about developing children's independence, discovering the pleasure of eating well and learning while having fun.
But the most systematic and audacious approach is probably that of Lab-École and one of its co-founders Ricardo Larrivée, chef, animator and ambassador of the Food project. He details his reasons for integrating food and agriculture into schools in his document "Cultiver, cuisiner et manger ensemble à l'école" (.pdf).
For Lab-École, food is fundamentally considered, along with physical activity, as a personal factor influencing young people's school careers and therefore as a determinant of school perseverance.
Food insecurity affects many children, and even more have an unbalanced diet. By providing schools with material, human and financial resources, these schools become living environments where food is no longer a source of concern for children. What's more, every dollar invested in a universal school nutrition program offers a return on investment of between three and ten dollars, thanks in part to reduced health costs in adulthood. The decision to integrate food as a subject and practice in schools is a natural one.
French politicians seem to be lagging behind in their understanding of the potential of food as a political and social lever. On both left and right, the proposal put forward by Olivia Grégoire in 2023 was roundly criticized. A minister from the center-right, she made a rather left-wing proposal, which provoked an essentially partisan reaction from politicians with a mentality from another era. One wonders who are the most "out of touch".
Even the French Ministry of Education's " Programme d'éducation à l'alimentation et au goût" ( Food and Taste Education Program) seems to be lukewarm compared with the local initiatives to be found all over the country. And yet, getting organized to learn and cook is an ecological, economic and healthier solution, offering a concrete alternative to unbridled capitalism.
Coupled with a food, social and agricultural approach, it offers a unifying and politically consequential axis of development.
Illustration: Andrzej Rembowski from Pixabay
References
Using cooking to reinforce academic skills - All Prof
https://www.alloprof.qc.ca/fr/parents/articles/saines-habitudes-vie-activites-pedagogiques/utiliser-cuisine-renforcer-competences-scolaires-k1683
C'est moi le Chef - https://cestmoilechef.ca/
Lab-École - https://www.lab-ecole.com/nos-piliers/alimentation
Edible School - https://www.ecolecomestible.org/
Education Nutrition - https://quebec.educationnutrition.ca/fr/ressources-educatives/types/activites-de-cuisine/
Les Brigades culinaires - https://www.tableedeschefs.org/fr/brigades-culinaires/
L'association québécoise - https://gardescolaire.org/outils/ateliers-culinaires-avec-les-eleves/
100 degrees - https://centdegres.ca/ressources/ateliers-culinaires-educatifs%E2%80%AF-comment-faire-lever-votre-projet-en-7-etapes
APS Circle - https://apprendre-preparer-survivre.com/
Eating the landscape: inspiring initiatives - https://cursus.edu/fr/21684
Incredible Edible - https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/
Reactions to the French proposal for cooking classes in schools
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