AboutUs

Chef. Lynda, who studied at Ecole de Varanne in Paris to be a pastry chef, began the
adventure with a company named Apple Lane Baker which commercially
manufactured and sold a series of French fruit tarts that had been created by herself
for her own use. These were a unique product in that they were wheat free, dairy
free, low fat, and sugar free. Cruise lines, health food stores, restaurants, hospitals,
grocery stores, and the Claremont Hotel in Oakland were among the regular
ustomers for this product. Prior to that she had worked as an ultrasonagrapher at
Children's Hospital in Oakland.

In 1997 Chef Lynda began by teaching in one elementary school in Walnut Creek, CA. The
current organization has grown to include classes in both elementary schools and Park and
Recreation facilities. In the schools we are a part of the after school enrichment programs and the
Park and Recs may be in the morning for many of the pre school age children and also in the
afternoons. Over the past 9 years Chef Lynda has developed a curriculum that teaches hands on
life skills with proper nutrition being the basis. Wise food choices, herbs, grains, fruits and
vegetables, and many other types of food items are discussed in worksheets as are shopping,
manners, and many other aspects that impact healthy living. Children learn kitchen safety, food
prep and storage, sometimes foods vs foods for regular consumption, and cleaning up after
themselves. As the children are exposed to a wide variety of foods and cooking styles their minds
and palettes are opened up. During the classes they talk about the ingredients and their
relationships in the new food pyramid, prepare the food, taste it, and then compare their reactions
to each recipe. The classes increase the child’s self esteem as their kitchen skills grow and they
experience a sense of adventure with each new skill learned and food sampled. Math, Geography,
physics, health, and social skills are all learned though the cooking process. While the classes are
about fun and the enjoyment of preparing food so it tastes good they are also learning about long
and short term health issues which can be caused by, or exacerbated by improper diet. We
discuss Juvenile Diabetes, heart disease, and obesity as a regular part of the consideration of
which foods they should be eating and why.

For The Future: The Cooking With Kids Foundation
Our goal is to expand the program to reach out to more organizations, thereby including more
children in learning our approach to healthy eating and good nutrition.   To facilitate this goal we
will need to enable greater consistency when adding new instructors to our staff.    Developing and
documenting Chef Lynda’s curriculum so all instructors are teaching the same recipes, and using
the same worksheets and coloring aids in the same manner will allow for the rapid expansion of
this program while maintaining the quality our clients have come to expect. Once the program is
fully documented it will be provided for free to organizations that reach out to at risk children in
disadvantaged neighborhoods. It is also our plan to offer this curriculum to schools and potential
teachers nationwide so as to reach as many children as possible.

Chef Lynda's Mission is:

To Inspire, Teach, and serve effectively by sharing my wisdom, gifts, and passion.