Students in San Diego are swapping screen time for stove time through a special after-school program that teaches them essential life skills.
KRIS 6 News visited the Jr. Chef program, which puts kids in the kitchen and gives this small community something to be proud of. For these students, cooking is not just a class, but a skill they can carry into their homes and futures.
Rural towns like San Diego are known for having only a few restaurants and little to no access to delivery services like Uber Eats or DoorDash.
"I think it's important to know how to cook from a small community because there's not very many restaurants, and if you know how to cook, you now have more food choices," fifth grader Layla Rodriguez said.
Before the cooking begins, Rodriguez must learn the recipe and wash her hands. During the lesson, the junior chefs made an Irish breakfast by cutting sausage, buttering bread, and cooking eggs and veggies.
Eleven-year-old Jackson Vega is learning how to make meals from scratch with a purpose. As the youngest in his family, he said it is important he knows how to cook.
"There's not a lot of places for my family to eat here in San Diego, and we got to make use of what we have," Vega said.
"Cooking is a big step in life. So learning how to cook when I'm 11-years-old, it's pretty big," Vega said.
For Rodriguez, the cooking lessons span far beyond the classroom.
"Cause one day my parents are not going to be here," Rodriguez said. "And I just really like cooking."
Program leaders hope the initiative sparks a passion that lasts a lifetime.
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