Spanakopita and roast lemon chicken stuffed with fresh herbs probably don't come to mind when you think of dishes prepared at children's cooking classes. But chef and educator Barbara Finley teaches kids these and more at private culinary schools like Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver. "I don't do kiddie cooking," she insists.

From November 19 to 23, Finley will launch a pilot program called Project CHEF (which stands for Cook Healthy Edible Food) that will introduce students in Vancouver's public elementary schools to the joys of inspired cooking and good nutrition. It will start with one school, and if all goes well, it will expand to 12 others in the new year.

Starting Project CHEF has been a long-term goal for Finley, who left a teaching career in 2000 to pursue professional chef's training. An educator for over 20 years in Vancouver, Langley, and at UBC's faculty of education, Finley felt that she could use her culinary expertise to make a difference in the way children view food. "The mission is that children make healthy food choices and have the ability to make wholesome nutritious meals for themselves, so that they may lead healthy lives," she explains over the phone.

Finley has enjoyed teaching kids at Northwest Culinary Academy, Quince, and Vista d'Oro Organic Farms, but she has come to realize that in many ways, she is "preaching to the choir". "These kids self-select," she says. This project aims to make cooking and nutrition accessible to all children, irrespective of income or family background.

Valerie Overgaard, associate su ­per ­ ­intendent for learning services with the Vancouver school board, was excited when she met with Finley last spring to discuss the project. "There are many issues surrounding obesity and the lack of nutritional knowledge among our children. I think that Project CHEF addresses these issues," she says in a phone interview. Finley's program would fill a great need, as there are currently no nutrition classes in the Vancouver elementary school curriculum.

The pilot will take place at a Vancouver elementary school and will involve Finley teaching a class of Grade 4 students and a class of Grade 5 students each day. Finley will provide six cooking stations, each with a cook-top, electric frying pan, and cooking utensils. Students will cover everything from knife skills to portion sizes to the Canada Food Guide, through theory, culinary demonstrations, and hands-on cooking.

Day 1 will cover kitchen and food safety, as well as fruit and vegetable identification and tasting. The following four days will be themed classes that promote healthy meal choices: Breakfast for Champions, Lunches for Learning, Dynamic Dinners, and Satiating Snacks.

Finley says that designing recipes for the program has been challenging, because she wants to make them healthy, easy to follow, affordable, culturally diverse, and delicious. "I am trying to incorporate as many fruits and vegetables as possible into the meals to develop palates," she says. For example, the lunch class will instruct students on how to make a minestrone soup with cannellini beans, and dinner will get students stir-frying vegetables with tofu.

Finley emphasizes, "I am not dumbing down what I do." Instead, she breaks recipes into steps that students can easily re-create at home by themselves. For example, in a recipe for succotash that she used in a summer cooking class, she provided detailed instructions: "Snap the corn cob in half. Stand each piece up on the cutting board and cut the kernels off by cutting toward the board."

Finley adapts her recipes to the seasons and to the availability of local ingredients. "I can't promote the 100 Mile Diet for economic reasons, but the program will definitely support local eating when possible," she says.

For Finley, cooking is about community and the whole process of a shared meal, from sourcing and preparing to sitting down and eating. The program will incorporate two chef assistants, parent volunteers, and guest chefs.

"I want children to see that food is about community and [that] everyone needs to be involved in bringing people together to eat," she explains.

Overgaard acknowledges that it's a complex program to offer. "And the major challenge is that it does involve additional funding," she says.

School-board finances are limited, so if adopted, the program will have to rely partially on outside donors. Finley currently has the support of the Chefs' Table Society, Les Dames d'Escoffier, and an anonymous foundation, but is still fundraising. Donations can be made care of the Vancouver Public Schools Foundation (call 604-713-5000).

Finley is hopeful that she can create reverberations both inside and outside her classroom. She envisions field trips to local farms, and children cooking for their families. "My experience from teaching children is that if you involve them in the process, they will embrace it. I think we have a good chance of successfully making inroads in changing what they eat," she says.

>Link: Vancouver Public School Foundation