Burlington, Vermont - November 21, 2011
At Hunt Middle School in Burlington the smells of the holiday fill the halls.
Students are cooking turkey and all the fixings. "I like this way better than math," said sixth grader Joe Hall.
This is the Learning Kitchen -- a place where low-income kids learn hands-on how to make healthy choices. "It teaches people how to cook food," Hall said.
Hunger Free Vermont teamed up with local schools to teach good eating habits on a budget. Vermont is the 9th hungriest state in the nation and Hunger Free Vermont says 88-thousand Vermonters don't have enough food to eat at every meal and don't make nutritious choices.
"It happens all around the state. It's a program to provide nutrition education and cooking lessons to teach how to cook healthy meals on a budget," said Laura Fillbach with Hunger Free Vermont.
Officials say hunger is focused on more during the holidays, but it is a year round problem. To stop the cycle -- starting young is key. "Often kids influence what their families eat as well. It's important to teach kids not to be afraid to cook fresh food from scratch," Fillbach said.
And 6th grader Joe Hall is putting his knife skills to use at home. "Sometimes when my mom is still asleep I usually have waffles, but I tried to make an omelet, but it kind of failed," he said.
Hunger officials say frozen and boxed food can be convenient, but they want students to know fresh can be affordable and tasty. For example, instead of canned gravy, they made gravy the old fashioned way.
"If you know how to cook from scratch you can help make the most of that food," Fillbach said.
Making the most of what you have and making it tasty too.
Reporter Gina Bullard: "What's your favorite part about this class?"
Joe Hall: "Eating the stuff."
