At the beginning of February, Group 1 in Szentes held a project weekend. This time, food came under the spotlight of awareness. We approached a very important part of our lives, nutrition, from the perspective of tradition and health. On Friday evening, the youngsters learned about traditional meat curing methods in an unusual history lesson. It was a surprise to many that they had to recall what they had learnt in science, physics and chemistry in order to understand the processes involved in these procedures. After learning the history and the theoretical background, the focus turned to practice. The aim is for everyone to bring home their own smoked meats for the Easter table. The first stage was to marinate the meat in the right amount of salt, which we would have to turn and check regularly. After a few weeks, we will take our marinated food to the smoke. To make the Easter surprise a showy one, we also made the packaging: the children made the wooden boxes in which they will take the finished product home.
The next day we worked on modern cuisine. The Borsódi-Kovács cooking team from Szeged were delighted to accept our invitation and led the culinary adventure on Saturday. The boys prepared homemade burgers and the girls processed the ingredients for the self-service salad bar. A lot of interesting facts were revealed along the way. We learned about the interesting history of the hamburger, from its beginnings, through the fast-food versions, to the artisanal varieties that are in vogue today. For both teams, important information was given about each ingredient, why and in what quantities our bodies need them, and how to pay attention to their quality. Not only were the well-known fruits and vegetables used, but also the equally tasty and important seeds, couscous and bulgur were on the table. The young people enthusiastically took part in the work, kneading, pressing and frying meatballs, frying buns and chicken breasts, chopping vegetables and herbs. The results were fantastic tasting home-made meals that were a combination of hearty and quality nutrition. The team came home with a full belly and a wealth of new knowledge.
“Today Kata and Martin came to cook with us. We were divided into two teams: one half of the group made a salad, the other half a burger. Our first task was to prepare the ingredients, then we started to cook the meatballs and the chicken breast, the latter for the salad. It was a lot of work because we made a lot of different things. At the end, everyone put together a burger and salad to their liking, and then we were happy to eat lunch. We would love to have a similar event again at the community centre.” Vanda Horváth and Dávid Rickert, Szentes Group 1.
