OHEA to Host Hands-on Cooking Classes for Youth at The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

The Ontario Home Economics Association (OHEA), in partnership with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s (OFA) Six by Sixteen food literacy program and AgScape™ (the voice of Agriculture in the Classroom Ontario), are pleased to be hosting a series of hands-on cooking classes for Ontario secondary school students at the upcoming Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, on November 8-9, 2016, at Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, on the Burnbrae Farms Food & Lifestyle Stage.

Basic food preparation skills and the ability to prepare healthful meals from scratch, while also incorporating local ingredients, are fundamental to the health of our youth and our agriculture system.

Sadly today, culinary skills are rarely passed down from previous generations and processed foods and fast foods frequently replace basic, nutritious, home-cooked meals. Teaching Ontario youth to make nutritious food choices incorporating local ingredients, and giving them hands-on kitchen skills to create meals from scratch, prepares them to lead healthy, independent lives.

Cooking classes will feature a hearty and nutritious recipe from OHEA’s latest cookbook Homegrown – Celebrating the Canadian Foods We Grow, Raise and Produce – currently shortlisted for the Taste Canada Awards and edited by award-winning cookbook author and TV personality Mairlyn Smith, P.H.Ec.

OHEA is a self-regulated body of professional Home Economists that promotes high professional standards among its members so that they may assist families and individuals to achieve and maintain a desirable quality of life. OHEA supports all efforts to improve food literacy in Ontario through advocacy, outreach and partnerships.

The Six by Sixteen food literacy program is an initiative by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to help young people learn to plan and prepare six nutritious, locally sourced meals by the time they are sixteen years old.

AgScape™ is dedicated to enhancing the learning experiences of students by providing high quality, objective and curriculum-linked agriculture and food related learning materials and professional consultative service to Ontario educators.

For further information, please contact: media@ohea.on.ca