This fall, IDEA’s Healthy Kids Here Program introduced The Charlie Cart Project at IDEA Eastside in San Antonio, Texas. The Charlie Cart Project is a mobile kitchen and comprehensive food education program with curriculum designed by chefs and educators.
The Charlie Cart Project aims to make food education accessible to students so that they have the knowledge and confidence to make healthy food choices for life. By providing students with the tools and knowledge to choose and prepare healthy food, high school seniors at IDEA Eastside are building community and life skills that will help them thrive independently in college and beyond.
Cooking in the Classroom
Through the Charlie Cart curriculum, students are learning food preparation, cooking techniques, and gaining exposure to new foods. Amanda Krippel, Director of IDEA’s Healthy Kids Here Program, visits the campus every month to facilitate food education lessons that spark newfound curiosities in food.
“In one lesson, we tasted blood orange soda – a flavor many students weren’t familiar with,” Krippel said. “After tasting a blood orange, they made the connection that regular navel oranges and blood oranges come from the same family of citrus. Seeing students excited to try food and ready to explore new flavors gives me ideas and inspiration for what we’ll be cooking next.”
The Charlie Cart is fully equipped with over 170 cooking tools including pots, pans, utensils, cutting mats, child-friendly knives, and kitchen essentials to make snacks, meals, and more. The mobile kitchen is a modern-day chuckwagon, including amenities like work surfaces, storage, water, and of course – wheels.
Building Community
Seniors at IDEA Eastside College Prep are some of the first students on campus to get cooking with the Charlie Cart. Wendy Hernandez, 12th grade teacher, speaks to the positive impact food education is making for her students.
“My students get excited to try something new every time we use the Charlie Cart,” Hernandez said. “It has opened their minds to new experiences and opportunities. Cooking together has united our senior class and helped build a stronger sense of community.”
IDEA Public Schools promotes a healthy and active lifestyle through the Healthy Kids Here Program. As one of America’s healthiest school districts, IDEA engages students and families by increasing access to health, wellness, and nutrition. Through chef-developed cafeteria menus that include fresh produce from our farms and health and wellness education and events, IDEA strives to keep families engaged in health initiatives on campus and in the community.
About the Charlie Cart Project
The Charlie Cart Project provides schools and other community organizations with everything needed to deliver hands-on cooking and nutrition lessons anywhere children gather to learn. The Charlie Cart, a compact mobile kitchen, is fully equipped with tools and appliances. The program includes educator training and a full curriculum reinforcing math, science and English Language arts, and connecting the dots between food, health and the environment. Learn more at www.charliecart.org
