Youth Nelson
When Mandy Barns started at Youth Nelson, she could barely boil an egg. Now, with a new kitchen to practice in, the 15-year-old can make shepherd’s pie from scratch and serve up a cheese cake for dessert.
The Nelson student displayed her new-found cooking skills this week as the Youth Nelson team made lunch to thank those who made their new kitchen possible
Nelson Marlborough District Health Board’s Nutrition and Physical Activity programme (NPA) and the Nelson City Council contributed $5000 each to build a new kitchen.
NPA programme manager Richard Butler said it was a delight to see the kitchen getting put to such good use.
“Judging by the lunch they served up, they’re fast becoming top cooks,” Richard said.
“The kitchen will allow them to further develop these vital life skills and even has the potential to open up new career paths.”
Top chefs: Youth Nelson students Tiana Winiata, Mandy Barns, Lucy Mason
Youth Nelson co-ordinator Maree Shalders said the kitchen allowed the students to participate in home economics correspondence classes as well as ensuring that they ate well.
“Each day they make their own breakfast and they bring in their own food from home to make lunch,” Maree said.
“And once a week they learn a new recipe and cook up a shared lunch for the whole class.”
Maree also said the students had participated in the Get Cooking programme since the kitchen was built.
The new kitchen includes two cooking stations which the class uses to create challenges.
“The new kitchen is way better … we take more pride in it because it’s new,” said Tiana Winiata, 14.
“We have cook-off competitions in it where we split into teams and compete to cook up the best recipe.
“It makes cooking more fun.”
