The ABCs of Breaking Bread

By Lisa McLaughlin

How do you get today's kids excited about sitting down to a balanced meal with their family instead of in front of the TV or computer with some chips? That was the question nagging at Julia Jordan, a professor of hospitality management at New York City College of Technology. Her answer: the Dinner Party Project. Jordan helped create the school-based program for fifth- through seventh-graders five years ago to teach students all about throwing the perfect dinner party. Its goal is not to turn the kids into mini Martha Stewarts. Instead, it aims to get kids involved and excited about the possibilities of sharing a meal. "We felt that youngsters had lost the connection to food," says Jordan, who founded Spoons Across America, a nonprofit organization that teaches kids about cooking and nutrition. "Part of that was because their families had lost the connection to food--in particular, the connection to sitting and having conversations at the table."

Together with other food professionals, Jordan cooked up the notion that kids would become more enthusiastic about family dinners if they prepared one themselves. "What better way to get kids involved with dinner than to have them do the planning? And who better to invite than their own parents?" asks Jordan. "We believe in experiential education, the idea that people learn through their senses first and then reflect on what they've experienced. We felt that the way to change things was to take that first bold step and bring children together to design their own dinner."

The first Dinner Party was staged in 2001 in the cafeteria of a New York City school. By the end of this year there will have been 70 such events throughout the country, many of them in low-income areas. Working with a school principal and classroom teachers, Spoons provides an 80-page curriculum and support. The program, which takes about an hour a week for five weeks, is coordinated by a local food professional and a chef, in some cases culinary luminaries such as Tim Love of the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Fort Worth, Texas, and Feliberto Estevez, the executive chef at Gracie Mansion in New York City. The chefs and coordinators all volunteer their time, and many of the ingredients and supplies are donated by local purveyors.

Each week is devoted to a different facet of the plan. Week One emphasizes the importance of sharing meals and culminates in a guest list and handmade invitations delivered to the children's families. Week Two is all about designing a menu and learning basic kitchen skills and safety. The children decide what to serve, with guidance from the pros about how to make a meal well balanced and healthy. Kris Buda recently organized an event in Cleveland for 65 children and their guests. "We decided on chicken surprise," she says, "which allowed each of the kids to bread it the way they wanted. They could choose pretzels or cornflakes or potato chips." (Nutritional compromises are sometimes made in the interest of the larger lesson.) Depending on location, the week could include a visit to a farm to see ingredients at the source. Week Three concentrates on etiquette and table manners. And Week Four features the big night. Children set the tables, greet their parents and politely pull out chairs for them to sit down. Kids prepare as much of the meal as is safe and age-appropriate and then join their families for the first of what is hopefully many successful family dinners. Week Five is all about discussing the event, planning future meals and writing thank-you notes to all who helped.

Jordan has followed up with families after dinner parties. The experience, she says, "changes the way families think about their lives." The project also seems to have a lasting impact on the teachers who help lead it. Many say it inspires them to continue to integrate food and cooking into their curriculum. "We've had teachers from Pennsylvania to California tell us, 'We now cook at home differently. We value food differently.'" And so the next step for Spoons is teacher training. This fall the first group of teachers will attend national training at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio. That way the lessons of the Dinner Party Project might be reinforced all year long.