St. James’ cooking club shares international cuisine

GUELPH – Smells of foods from all over the world wafted through the hallways of St. James Catholic High School on Jan. 10.

And the school’s kitchen was a flurry of activity as students in Grades 9 through 12 in the school’s cooking club put the finishing touches on their dishes before sharing them with 40 students and 10 teachers.

The dishes included Jamaican patties made by Emma Ingram and Jocelyn DeCarlow; Nigerian jollof rice from Phoebe Igbina and Esther Sanda; Italian chicken parmesan and cannoli from Sofia Fortuna, Izabel Manuel, Alyssa Geerlings, Juliana Fortuna and Matt Flor; and Argentinian empanadas from Mikayla Sedlack, Olivia Taylor and Hannah Montoya.

Students and teachers then voted on their favourite dishes, and the results of the vote will help determine which team goes on to represent St. James in a later competition.

Sam Fuda, who runs the club, said it offers a great opportunity for kids to learn to make a range of healthy meals from different cultures.

He encouraged students to prepare the dishes as authentically as possible  – not watering down flavours to suit their classmates’ tastes.

Fuda said between 20 and 25 students show up to learn how to cook food at the club’s weekly after-school meetings