Apron Ties that Bind

Apron Ties that Bind

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2023

Three Generations Cook Up Fun and Learning

San Anselmo - Grandmother/mother/daughter team, Liz de Surville, Donna de Surville and Carly Christensen, prove that the family that cooks together, learns together. Through their weekly cooking class entitled Brain Food: Learning to Cook, Cooking lo Learn, the spirited threesome take their combined I00 years of family cooking experience and share with students, age 4-12, how food, and the loving preparation of it, feeds mind, body and soul.

Donna de Surville came up with the innovative approach to cooking and learning one day while driving home from her sales and marketing job at Gourmet Magazine in San Francisco toward her mother's home in Fairfax where Carly, age 4, came to visit each day after preschool. "Every day I would enter Mom's house to the familiar sights, sounds and smells of home cooking with Carly perched atop a kitchen chair, Mom by her side, happily measuring and stirring the day's concoction," de Surville says. "At the same time, I'd see open math workbooks spread out on the kitchen table and Sesame Street on the television playing backup to the entire scene. Carly was soaking up every bit of it and would greet me with tales of cupcakes and counting in the same breath. With that, I was reminded that everything is a learning experience for a child and cooking provides the unique opportunity to teach in a way that incorporates all five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste!"

Three months later, de Surville left her grownup job at Gourmet Magazine and, with the input of Liz and Carly, began work on a concept for a children's television show as well as a hands-on class curriculum both entitled: Brain Food: Learning to Cook, Cooking to Learn. Today, the threesome teach their 6 week class to 4-12 year-olds who experiment with basic lessons in math, science and culture while creating recipes such as "Change My State Ice Cream" and "Land of the Freeform Apple Pie".

The three banter back and forth and the flour flies as kids feed their insatiable appetites for knowledge, entertainment and creative expression. Kitchen safety, basic cooking and organizational skills, manual dexterity and nutrition are also emphasized while kids practice sharing, taking tums and working in groups.

"After the first class, I learned to have the kids cook up a double batch of whatever we are making," says de Surville. "The amazing smells coming from our kitchen as well as the alluring sight and sound of kids having fun tend to draw a hungry crowd of curious onlookers. Plus, it's a great way for the kids to practice their multiplication tables!"

"Stephie just loves the class." says one pleased mom, "She comes home each week so proud of her creation and eager to make it again at home."

"My kids are so much more willing to experiment with new foods," says another. "They especially enjoy the tidbits of culture and science that are peppered into each class."

The Brain Food television show treatment is also complete and is being shopped to various public and commercial networks and production companies. An accompanying web site is also planned

Brain Food: Learning to Cook, Cooking to Learn is offered through the San Anselmo Recreation Department with summer session beginning June 22-July 27. Hour-long classes take place on Thursday afternoons at 2:15 or 3:30. Cost for the 6-week course is S75 for San Anselmo residents, $83 for non-residents. Registration is available by phone at 415-258-4640. Spring classes are currently in session, Thursday afternoons at 3:30 at the Recreation Center Kitchen, 1000 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, San Anselmo.

Testing all the things