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READING, WRITING AND ROASTING
Carson Montessori’s culinary program builds students’ cooking — and life — skills.
WRITTEN BY BARBARA TWITCHELL
PHOTOS BY CANDICE NYANDO
If there’s one thing Racquel Abowd knows about, it’s food. How to grow it, buy it, cook it, plate it, serve it … You name it and she can do it. But then, that’s to be expected when you’ve practically grown up in a restaurant.
Abowd is the granddaughter of Adele, namesake of the well-known restaurant that has been a Carson City favorite for nearly 40 years. Her grandparents, Paul and Adele, opened the restaurant in 1977, and her parents, Karen and award-winning chef Charlie Abowd, have continued the legacy.
So when Racquel Abowd was hired as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Carson Montessori School, it was only natural that she would offer some cooking lessons to her students. Five years later, those little cooking lessons have evolved into a comprehensive culinary program for the whole school — all 240 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Seed to table
“I believe so much in bringing the real world, and the community, and the life application into what they’re learning,” Abowd says.
And it turns out the culinary arts are an excellent vehicle for doing that.
The students learn these skills from the ground up, literally. Activities such as field trips to local farms and greenhouses help them learn about sowing and harvesting crops, as well as the role of animals in our food chain. As partners in a Nevada Department of Wildlife program, they hatch 200 trout eggs in their classroom each spring and then release the baby fish in a local fishing pond.
Kindergarteners learn to cut and prepare their daily snacks, as well as mix, measure, and cook simple foods. By second grade, the students know how to bake individual pies. The older students learn to decipher recipes, plan menus, make shopping lists, buy groceries, adhere to a budget, and prepare multi-course meals for up to 300 people. By sixth grade they’ve pretty much done everything there is to do in food prep, Abowd says.
No kitchen
Amazingly, the students do all this in a school without a kitchen. On cooking day, a classroom is sanitized and converted into a temporary kitchen, utilizing hot plates and portable ovens.
Abowd sets up workstations that would be the envy of any commercial kitchen, through which the students rotate. The system, she says, fosters independence as well as interdependence and really builds self-confidence and skill sets for each student.
Another classroom becomes the dining room, which the students decorate for whatever the theme of the particular meal might be. This includes creating centerpieces, wall décor, menus and, when appropriate, costumes and musical entertainment. And if there’s a cultural or ethnic component, they learn about the country and its traditions.
“It is truly all-encompassing,” Abowd says. “It incorporates so many things: art, math, writing, history, culture, science, nutrition, geography, food safety, budgeting, hygiene … there’s hardly any subject or skill it doesn’t touch on. Plus, they learn how to cook in the process.”
An added bonus is that the students regard all this learning as fun. And what do the parents think?
“They absolutely love it!” Abowd says. “They tell me that one or two nights a week, they don’t cook dinner anymore — their kids do.’”
Reno-based freelance writer Barbara Twitchell had a blast spending a morning at Carson Montessori. She’s hoping to score an invitation for lunch the next time they cook a turducken (yes, they even know how to do that!).
