How did you learn to cook? I know many people in their early 20s who never learned how to make bread, cook steak, breakfast, pasta…the list goes on. I investigated this because it saddens me that younger generations are potentially growing up without basic cooking skills.  

A national survey by Impulse Research shows that 1/3 of U.S. adults do not know how to cook. It is so important that children learn this skill so they can live a healthy, conscientious, and relational life through the meals they make. It’s not enough, however, for a child to watch a parent cook.  

A study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, found that children are less likely to learn cooking skills by simply watching their parents’ food skills. Instead, an adult must create opportunities for students to have active participation in meal prepping. This is exactly what Johnson Elementary set out to do by providing after school cooking classes for their students.  

These students’ commitment to education remained strong – even when class fee posed a challenge. To help offset the cost of the cooking class, Walker Baptist Church stepped up and covered every single child’s tuition. Students learned to make burgers, parfaits, carrot fries, and so much more. We thank Walker Baptist Church for supporting such an important initiative at Johnson Elementary School and changing the lives of students, one meal at a time.

Below is a picture of Johnson’s cooking class graduates: 

• Statistics: 
• Survey: One-third in U.S. can't cook – UPI.com  
• Sandhya Sahye-Pudaruth. 2025. Longitudinal associations between mothers’ and fathers’ food skills and their children’s cooking skills. Applied Physiology
• Nutrition, and Metabolism. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/apnm-2024-0519 

Written by Marian Campos, United4Hope Program Manager for the Franklin Special District