Tilden Career Academy on Chicago's South Side is a culinary machine. They are past winners of the Cooking up Change competition, which took them to Washington, D.C., to cook for members of Congress. They also got a tour of the White House. The students in the culinary program at Tilden are also winners of a citywide competition sponsored by the Healthy Schools Campaign. Chef and instructor Keith Morris takes Tilden pride to heart. He started the healthy eating program at the school.
"Every year, sophomores, juniors, seniors… we do a piece on nutrition. We try to reiterate, try to re-teach, give them prior knowledge points for what they know about nutrition," Morris said.
The culinary program at Tilden is more than just teaching kids how to cook.. It's about giving them skills that can affect their health for a lifetime.
"A lot them I see in schools, in general, they come to school first thing in the morning with a bottle of juice and a bag of potato chips for their breakfast," said Daniel Leszczewicz, chef and instructor. "And we always discourage that and try to get them to learn why they need to eat the right foods and eat more healthful and make better choices."
