Essay Contest
In March 2009, Cooking with Kids conducted our first annual essay contest. The essay topic was: Explore the connection between cooking and healthy eating.
5th and 6th graders from all SFPS that participate in Cooking with Kids were invited to submit essays. More than 125 essays were submitted, and one winner from each school was chosen (Salazar Elementary had a tie), for a total of 6 winners. Winners each received a framed certificate, and a Cooking with Kids gift bag that included $20 in Farmer's Market tokens, a personalized apron, and locally grown dried apples.
Special thanks to our essay contest judges:
Rocky Durham, Culinary Director, Santa Fe School of Cooking
Lynn Walters, Executive Director, Cooking with Kids
Pat West-Barker, Freelance Editor and Journalist
2009 Winning Essays
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Gonzales Community School
Marc Senteney (Ms. Pino, grade 5)
How Do You Think Your Eating Habits Affect Your Future?
No one knows for sure what the future will bring, but building good habits when you are young, like eating healthy, will make your life more fun and make you live longer. Eating healthy foods gives you more energy. Eating junk food makes you feel tired all the time. Eating does affect your future because if you don't eat foods that are good for you, your body does not have what it needs to work the way it is supposed to.
I am eleven years old. I don't know where I will be in 30 years. I don't know if I will buy a winning lottery ticket or discover some new invention, but I know what I want to be doing. I want to play basketball like my dad does. I want to swim every day like my uncle does. I have a lot of fun playing outside everyday. I am not allowed to stay inside watching TV. My dad always tells me that the habits I form today will be the habits I have tomorrow. He is a basketball coach. He tells me that if I want to be good at shooting, then I have to practice. It is the same with eating. If I want to be a healthy adult, then I have to form good eating habits when I am young.
I know that when I eat healthy foods, I have more energy. I feel stronger, and I can play all day without getting tired. I love to eat fruit. No one has to talk me into eating strawberries. Vegetables are a little harder for me to choose on my own. My grandpa likes to have me help him plant vegetables in his garden. He knows that if I help grow the vegetables, then I am more likely to eat them. He's right. I love tomatoes. We have planted a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers. They are fun to watch grow. My grandfather is 80 years old and he is still in really good shape. He still has a lot of energy. He likes to go on long walks. I know that eating good foods gives him the energy he needs to exercise. Exercising makes him feel good about himself, just like playing makes me feel good.
Eating junk food makes me feel tired. I have less energy when I eat foods that have a lot of junk in them. My coaches remind me that Cokes are bad for me because they have a lot of sugar. They tell me to drink water because it is good for me. They try to help me take care of my body. When I eat junk food, I end up feeling hungrier. Then I eat more, which isn't good for me either.
Eating does affect your future because if you eat healthy, you will live longer. Your body will be in better shape and it will function the way it is supposed to. If you eat junk food all the time, you will gain weight. It will be hard to exercise, and a lot of your body will not work the way it is supposed to. Having extra weight is hard on the body. It is harder to exercise, and without exercise your body slows down. The future will be easier to predict. There will be more trips to the doctor and maybe even the hospital.
I know I can't predict the future, but I can guide it. I can eat healthy and make sure I have a lot of energy to do all the things I want to do. I'm only eleven years old, but I want to live a long life like my grandpa has. I like helping my mom cook because I learn a lot about food. She shows me how I can decide what to cook for dinner. I'm also learning a lot about cooking from my Cooking with Kids class. I've learned how to measure and mix different foods, and how to be open to trying new foods. I have also learned how to follow a recipe. I know that I have a choice about what kinds of foods to eat. What I have learned in Cooking with Kids and from my family will guide me today and in the future. I choose to eat healthy.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Sweeney Elementary School
By Elissa Fernando (Ms. Sena, grade 5)
Healthy Eating
I believe you don't have to know how to cook in order to eat healthy because you could just eat some fruits. For example, you could eat an apple, a banana, grapes, strawberries, a pear, or an orange. You can also eat vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, corn, peas, or green beans. When I get home from school, I always want a snack to eat. My sister usually tells me to eat fruits or vegetables.
My grandfather Willie has a garden, but we do not live near my grandparents' house. So instead of driving all the way to our grandparents' house, my sister goes to the store to buy fruits and vegetables. My sister is always making salad. At dinnertime, my sister always makes sure there are vegetables with the meal.
When I grow up, I plan to have my own garden. I also plan to teach my children about healthy eating and what food is healthy and the foods that are not healthy for their bodies.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Cesar Chavez Community School
Sandip Rai (Mr. Rueda, grade 5)
Eating Healthy and Fresh
There are a wide variety of foods to eat. The best choices are the healthy choices. I think a healthy body means eating healthy. The desserts out there, like chocolate banana sundaes, might look good with the cream and extra sprinkles, but they are very unhealthy for your body. I am not saying, "Never eat sweets!" I am just saying not to eat them a lot. This is what eating healthy means to me.
I think the best way to eat is to cook at home. You can make yourself something that is good and healthy. If I eat fast foods there are things that are unhealthy in them. If I eat salad but add ranch dressing, it's going to be unhealthy. That's why I want to learn how to cook.
I learned about eating healthy and cooking from J.B.I. and Cooking with Kids. I was in Cooking with Kids in 3rd and 4th grade. I learned about reading labels and vitamins from J.B.I., a health and nutrition program. That's how I learned about healthy eating from both.
I think eating habits will affect my future very much. If I eat things that have too much fat and sugar it will make my body unhealthy. The best way to know what's in food is to read the food label. The food label tells you how much fat, sugar, and vitamins there are. That is why I think eating habits will affect my future.
My family has taught me a lot about eating healthy. My mom is great at cooking. My mom usually makes us something like lentils, chicken curry, and a lot of chili. That is what I smell when I come to my house after school. Those are some of the things I learned from my family.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay (TIE)
Salazar Elementary School
Marlen Niebla and Grecia Morales Vega (Mr. Peluso, grade 6)
Cooking with Kids by Marlen Niebla
Cooking with Kids is one of my favorite specials. There are many things that I like about it.
Every time we have Cooking with Kids we always try new foods, not just any kind of new foods--healthy new foods. They have plenty of protein, vitamins, and calcium, which I love because it's good for me.
What I really like about this program is cooking the food. You get to mix the ingredients together, like the spices. You also get to cut food, such as onions and measure liquids, like water. Once you're done cooking and tasting you can take the recipe so you can make it at home.
It's also fun to read about the food's culture. Where is it from? Why do we eat it? Was this a special kind of food used in ceremonies? All in all Cooking with Kids is fun. Everyone gets to participate in something, either in cooking the food or helping to pass it out, and once you leave you always learn something new.
Cooking with Kids by Grecia Morales Vega
One of my favorite things about school this year was Cooking with Kids.
I liked Cooking with Kids because it taught you to eat healthy and not just things like salads but other fun things too. We got the chance to make food from all over the world, like Mexico, Italy, South America, Japan, and Africa.
I also think I really liked this cooking program because it taught me that cooking and healthy eating have a lot to do with each other, like the types of ingredients people use and choosing to bake something instead of frying it.
Also, that is one of the main reasons why people eat junk food--because they don't know how to cook.
This program was very enjoyable also because it combined two of my favorite things: cooking and culture. It teaches how the people from other places eat the food and why. It also teaches us to say "good eating" in diverse languages.
I thinking Cooking with Kids was a great program. I liked it so much I'm now thinking of becoming a chef.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Kearny Elementary School
Jacob Martinez (Mrs. Dickey, grade 5)
Be Healthy for Life*
Eating healthy will help you for life in so many ways. One of the reasons is a clearer thinking mind; to help you do better in school and to help your cognitive thinking; to help you make good decisions, so there will be more rewards and less consequences.
When you eat in a healthy way, you can help your skin and your hair. It can help your skin by stopping acne. I know some people like to use ProActive or some stuff like that, but if you eat greens you don't have to buy all of that. Shiny hair is just divine and you can get that too, just eat your greens.
For healthy eating, there are a couple of ways to help. One of them is Cooking with Kids because they always make good healthy food. To help you stay within a good weight and make you feel great, healthy eating is a must. Cooking with Kids is a fun way to learn how to be healthy for life.
5th and 6th graders from all SFPS that participate in Cooking with Kids were invited to submit essays. More than 125 essays were submitted, and one winner from each school was chosen (Salazar Elementary had a tie), for a total of 6 winners. Winners each received a framed certificate, and a Cooking with Kids gift bag that included $20 in Farmer's Market tokens, a personalized apron, and locally grown dried apples.
Special thanks to our essay contest judges:
Rocky Durham, Culinary Director, Santa Fe School of Cooking
Lynn Walters, Executive Director, Cooking with Kids
Pat West-Barker, Freelance Editor and Journalist
2009 Winning Essays
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Gonzales Community School
Marc Senteney (Ms. Pino, grade 5)
How Do You Think Your Eating Habits Affect Your Future?
No one knows for sure what the future will bring, but building good habits when you are young, like eating healthy, will make your life more fun and make you live longer. Eating healthy foods gives you more energy. Eating junk food makes you feel tired all the time. Eating does affect your future because if you don't eat foods that are good for you, your body does not have what it needs to work the way it is supposed to.
I am eleven years old. I don't know where I will be in 30 years. I don't know if I will buy a winning lottery ticket or discover some new invention, but I know what I want to be doing. I want to play basketball like my dad does. I want to swim every day like my uncle does. I have a lot of fun playing outside everyday. I am not allowed to stay inside watching TV. My dad always tells me that the habits I form today will be the habits I have tomorrow. He is a basketball coach. He tells me that if I want to be good at shooting, then I have to practice. It is the same with eating. If I want to be a healthy adult, then I have to form good eating habits when I am young.
I know that when I eat healthy foods, I have more energy. I feel stronger, and I can play all day without getting tired. I love to eat fruit. No one has to talk me into eating strawberries. Vegetables are a little harder for me to choose on my own. My grandpa likes to have me help him plant vegetables in his garden. He knows that if I help grow the vegetables, then I am more likely to eat them. He's right. I love tomatoes. We have planted a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers. They are fun to watch grow. My grandfather is 80 years old and he is still in really good shape. He still has a lot of energy. He likes to go on long walks. I know that eating good foods gives him the energy he needs to exercise. Exercising makes him feel good about himself, just like playing makes me feel good.
Eating junk food makes me feel tired. I have less energy when I eat foods that have a lot of junk in them. My coaches remind me that Cokes are bad for me because they have a lot of sugar. They tell me to drink water because it is good for me. They try to help me take care of my body. When I eat junk food, I end up feeling hungrier. Then I eat more, which isn't good for me either.
Eating does affect your future because if you eat healthy, you will live longer. Your body will be in better shape and it will function the way it is supposed to. If you eat junk food all the time, you will gain weight. It will be hard to exercise, and a lot of your body will not work the way it is supposed to. Having extra weight is hard on the body. It is harder to exercise, and without exercise your body slows down. The future will be easier to predict. There will be more trips to the doctor and maybe even the hospital.
I know I can't predict the future, but I can guide it. I can eat healthy and make sure I have a lot of energy to do all the things I want to do. I'm only eleven years old, but I want to live a long life like my grandpa has. I like helping my mom cook because I learn a lot about food. She shows me how I can decide what to cook for dinner. I'm also learning a lot about cooking from my Cooking with Kids class. I've learned how to measure and mix different foods, and how to be open to trying new foods. I have also learned how to follow a recipe. I know that I have a choice about what kinds of foods to eat. What I have learned in Cooking with Kids and from my family will guide me today and in the future. I choose to eat healthy.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Sweeney Elementary School
By Elissa Fernando (Ms. Sena, grade 5)
Healthy Eating
I believe you don't have to know how to cook in order to eat healthy because you could just eat some fruits. For example, you could eat an apple, a banana, grapes, strawberries, a pear, or an orange. You can also eat vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, corn, peas, or green beans. When I get home from school, I always want a snack to eat. My sister usually tells me to eat fruits or vegetables.
My grandfather Willie has a garden, but we do not live near my grandparents' house. So instead of driving all the way to our grandparents' house, my sister goes to the store to buy fruits and vegetables. My sister is always making salad. At dinnertime, my sister always makes sure there are vegetables with the meal.
When I grow up, I plan to have my own garden. I also plan to teach my children about healthy eating and what food is healthy and the foods that are not healthy for their bodies.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Cesar Chavez Community School
Sandip Rai (Mr. Rueda, grade 5)
Eating Healthy and Fresh
There are a wide variety of foods to eat. The best choices are the healthy choices. I think a healthy body means eating healthy. The desserts out there, like chocolate banana sundaes, might look good with the cream and extra sprinkles, but they are very unhealthy for your body. I am not saying, "Never eat sweets!" I am just saying not to eat them a lot. This is what eating healthy means to me.
I think the best way to eat is to cook at home. You can make yourself something that is good and healthy. If I eat fast foods there are things that are unhealthy in them. If I eat salad but add ranch dressing, it's going to be unhealthy. That's why I want to learn how to cook.
I learned about eating healthy and cooking from J.B.I. and Cooking with Kids. I was in Cooking with Kids in 3rd and 4th grade. I learned about reading labels and vitamins from J.B.I., a health and nutrition program. That's how I learned about healthy eating from both.
I think eating habits will affect my future very much. If I eat things that have too much fat and sugar it will make my body unhealthy. The best way to know what's in food is to read the food label. The food label tells you how much fat, sugar, and vitamins there are. That is why I think eating habits will affect my future.
My family has taught me a lot about eating healthy. My mom is great at cooking. My mom usually makes us something like lentils, chicken curry, and a lot of chili. That is what I smell when I come to my house after school. Those are some of the things I learned from my family.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay (TIE)
Salazar Elementary School
Marlen Niebla and Grecia Morales Vega (Mr. Peluso, grade 6)
Cooking with Kids by Marlen Niebla
Cooking with Kids is one of my favorite specials. There are many things that I like about it.
Every time we have Cooking with Kids we always try new foods, not just any kind of new foods--healthy new foods. They have plenty of protein, vitamins, and calcium, which I love because it's good for me.
What I really like about this program is cooking the food. You get to mix the ingredients together, like the spices. You also get to cut food, such as onions and measure liquids, like water. Once you're done cooking and tasting you can take the recipe so you can make it at home.
It's also fun to read about the food's culture. Where is it from? Why do we eat it? Was this a special kind of food used in ceremonies? All in all Cooking with Kids is fun. Everyone gets to participate in something, either in cooking the food or helping to pass it out, and once you leave you always learn something new.
Cooking with Kids by Grecia Morales Vega
One of my favorite things about school this year was Cooking with Kids.
I liked Cooking with Kids because it taught you to eat healthy and not just things like salads but other fun things too. We got the chance to make food from all over the world, like Mexico, Italy, South America, Japan, and Africa.
I also think I really liked this cooking program because it taught me that cooking and healthy eating have a lot to do with each other, like the types of ingredients people use and choosing to bake something instead of frying it.
Also, that is one of the main reasons why people eat junk food--because they don't know how to cook.
This program was very enjoyable also because it combined two of my favorite things: cooking and culture. It teaches how the people from other places eat the food and why. It also teaches us to say "good eating" in diverse languages.
I thinking Cooking with Kids was a great program. I liked it so much I'm now thinking of becoming a chef.
Cooking with Kids First Place Essay
Kearny Elementary School
Jacob Martinez (Mrs. Dickey, grade 5)
Be Healthy for Life*
Eating healthy will help you for life in so many ways. One of the reasons is a clearer thinking mind; to help you do better in school and to help your cognitive thinking; to help you make good decisions, so there will be more rewards and less consequences.
When you eat in a healthy way, you can help your skin and your hair. It can help your skin by stopping acne. I know some people like to use ProActive or some stuff like that, but if you eat greens you don't have to buy all of that. Shiny hair is just divine and you can get that too, just eat your greens.
For healthy eating, there are a couple of ways to help. One of them is Cooking with Kids because they always make good healthy food. To help you stay within a good weight and make you feel great, healthy eating is a must. Cooking with Kids is a fun way to learn how to be healthy for life.