Kitchener library serving life skills in new teaching kitchen

A library in Kitchener is offering programming that may help develop an early love for the culinary arts. CTV’s Karis Mapp reports.

The Kitchener Public Library is giving aspiring chefs an opportunity to go beyond book learning.

The Southwest branch at 100 Rosenberg Way, which opened in March, boasts a long list of innovations, including a net-zero architectural design.

A new teaching kitchen also opened in May where visitors to the library can develop real world skills. The space can be rented for cooking and food literacy programs.

One of those, called Little Chefs, gives children between the ages of two and five a chance to build their confidence in a culinary setting.

“Some people may look at the program and think, ‘Oh, they’re just chopping things. They’re just mixing things.’ But we try to include some social/emotional learning into it,” explained Chanelle Seguin, a children’s programmer for the Kitchener Public Library.

Most people are told not to “eat your feelings,” but that’s exactly what participants were doing in Tuesday’s class.

“Today we’re doing toasties with emojis,” Seguin said. “We’re going to talk about different emotions and how to remain cool when we’re feeling a little hotheaded.”

The kids drew the emotions they were feeling on slices of toast, using a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Seguin hoped the lessons learned in the teaching kitchen will stay with the children as they get older.

“It’s so vital to overall wellbeing to not stigmatize anything surrounding food,” Seguin said. “This is the stuff we need to grow. The stuff we need to remain at our best, both physiologically and psychologically.”

Just outside the kitchen doors is a garden which provides some of the vegetables for the culinary programs, giving participants a full garden-to-table experience.

“The fact that a lot of the vegetables and things are fresh from their garden makes some of them a little more appealing for the kids,” attendee Samantha Jordan said.

Local chefs and community partners, such as Spectrum, have been tapped to facilitate classes.

The library also said it wants to promote recipes from cultures around the world.

Seguin believes the teaching kitchen is just one way libraries are evolving to be more than just a book-borrowing service.

“It’s one of the last remaining places where no matter what your background is, no matter what you are experiencing in your life, you can come to the library and have equitable opportunities,” she explained.

To learn more about the library’s free programming and explore other features, including roller skates and a full recording studio, visit the Kitchener Public Library’s website.