Are you interested in getting a cooking, garden, or composting program started at your school? Check out this story from the International School of Kenya for ideas about how to get started!
Nurturing Green Thumbs and Culinary Skills: The Story of the International School of Kenya’s Tupike: Global Dishes Club
At the International School of Kenya (ISK), a unique program intertwines the love of cooking with a commitment to sustainability. This initiative, spearheaded by the school's International Baccalaureate creativity, activity, service (IB CAS) coordinator, Joyce Gacheke-Tall, is a testament to the power of student-driven projects in fostering real-world skills and environmental awareness.
The Genesis of Tupike: Global Dishes
It all began with the vision of two Grade 10 students who aspired to start a cooking club. Their initiative gained momentum with Joyce’s support. Joyce is a passionate advocate for sustainable farming, drawing from her own experiences of growing food on a small farm and at her boarding school. The club, named Tupike: Global Dishes – tupike meaning “let’s cook” in Kiswahili – soon found a home in the newly equipped kitchen in the middle school building.
Gardening and Cooking: A Symbiotic Relationship
At the heart of the club's activities is the school's garden. Each semester, students decide on the herbs and vegetables to plant, with two students responsible for each garden patch. This hands-on approach not only teaches them about sustainable agriculture but also ensures that the recipes they cook are aligned with what is seasonally available from their garden.
Surplus produce is channeled to the school canteen and a monthly farmers’ market at ISK, where parents eagerly purchase produce grown by the students. Funds raised from the sale of produce have been used for impactful projects, such as building a community kitchen with a service partner.
In addition to on-campus activities, the club organizes annual field trips to local farms, including an organic farm and Brown’s Cheese Factory, where students engage in activities like pizza making and learn about sustainable and organic farming practices.
Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum
ISK's commitment to sustainability is not confined to the high school. In the elementary school, students care for chickens, ducks, and rabbits, there is a cooking elective for middle school students, and plans to introduce fish into ponds outside the high school science rooms by the Tupike group in January 2024.
ISK's sustainable food program, embodied in the Tupike: Global Dishes club, serves as an exemplary model for educational institutions worldwide. It demonstrates how schools can play a pivotal role in cultivating sustainable mindsets and actions, practical skills, and a sense of community in students.
As Joyce aptly puts it, "It's about more than just cooking; it's about understanding our connection to the earth and our responsibility towards it." This program offers several concrete ideas for how you can start a sustainable food program at your school.
A grade 10 student’s written reflection offers additional insights into the impact of Tupike.
Check out the video interview with Joyce for specific details about aspects of the sustainable food program at ISK.“Cooking club has become the motivation that keeps me going through the week. On Monday, every morning, I say to myself: ‘Just four more days until cooking club’ and somehow my mood is lifted for a while. One of the significant values of cooking is that it enables individuals to control the ingredients and methods used to prepare food. I have learned the hard way, throughout the course of this year, that there are very few factors in my life that I have the power to control and the only solution to solving this feeling of incompetence is to add things to your life that you have relatively absolute control over. This solution has somehow become cooking club. In one particular session, we were given the leftover ingredients from the club’s farmer’s market booth and given only one direction: make it taste and look good. This generalization and lack of specification allowed my group and I to have full control over the creativity and techniques put into the dish. I can honestly say that it was in this session, where we were given the freedom to control every aspect of our dish, that the execution was the most unique, and fulfilling.”
LeeAnne Lavender is an educational consultant, coach, and facilitator for international educators, and the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA) Service Learning program coordinator. She specializes in storytelling, digital storytelling, service learning, and sustainability, and she loves partnering with schools and teachers to create learning experiences that have impact and lead to deep learning. She’s committed to helping educators build changemaker/change seeker cultures to equip students with skills and mindsets to engage in positive, purposeful action.
Website: https://www.leeannelavender.com/
