I don’t remember how old I was but it may have been single digits.
But my mother, Miss Mollie, took the time to teach me how to cook breakfast. Bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. Nothing fancy but certainly delicious and belly filling and a great way to start any day.
My daddy, Bill, liked his fried eggs broken and cooked hard. I don’t know why but she taught me how to get that done. Using the bacon grease in the metal coffee pot kept on the stove, I learned to create this four-course meal for my father every Saturday morning. I would hop out of bed and head to the kitchen when I heard him stirring and got it all going so he could be out the door to work or to the Co-Op or the Napa Parts House or fishing or hunting and got to accompany him on the latter most days.
My mother would be cutting some Zs and I was happy and proud of my efforts. It wasn’t until my adult days hit that I figured out my mother was using child labor to her benefit…lol. Well, I learned a skill that I’ve added to and have a pretty good reputation in the kitchen and with my outdoor cooking playground (Blackstone griddle, Broilmaster grill, Masterbuilt smoker and a fryer.)
These days, if your momma is too busy running the household to sleep in, there’s a cool camp created by the Mississippi State Extension Service. The weeklong Culinary Arts Kids Camp for junior high and high school students takes place from June 26-30 in Starkville. Campers will be focused on learning about local foods, kitchen basics and easy recipes. There’s also food science, culinary arts and food preparation.
“Research has shown the importance of hands-on experiences with foods and how, especially in children, it improves the consumption of fruits and vegetables,” said Courtney Crist, camp organizer and MSU Extension food safety specialist in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion.
Goals of the program include introducing new foods and flavors, seeing the science behind food, gaining culinary skills, following recipes, learning the importance of food safety and making food products. Participants will work with breads, sweets, dairy products and more.
The five-day camp costs $300 per participant and includes lunch and snacks. Enrollment is limited to 18 students. Register at https://www.fsnhp.msstate.edu/workshops/camp. I wonder how much better of a cook I’d be if this would have been around when I was a kid? I hope they get to fry some deer meat, go pick their own peas, tomatoes, corn and okra, and even a watermelon or two, and figure out how to size it all up with a couple of cast iron skillets.
Seems like a good investment and momma gets to sleep in a whole lot more.
