Budding chefs

Chef de cuisine, Brian Lumley, has taken the traditional concept of summer camp and given it a delicious culinary twist. Ditching the old ritual of roasting marshmallows, making s'mores and indulging in other campfire treats, the award-winning chef, in partnership with Reggae Jammin', hosted a two-week summer camp designed to teach children ages four to 10, valuable cooking skills and the benefits of eating healthy wholesome meals.

Lumley, along with his sister Stephanie, got the idea to start the Budding Chefs summer camp after observing the upward trend of juvenile diabetes and obesity in children. "It became our answer to tackling these issues, especially since these diseases can be stopped in their tracks by educating not only parents, but children as well, in making healthy food choices," he told Food.

Lumley also noted that it is vital that children learn about choosing wholesome foods from a very young age, as he believes the lessons will have a lifelong impact on their food choices, especially since they are often bombarded with convincing marketing campaigns advertising unhealthy food options.

During the workshop which ended last Friday, the young campers were taught how to make balanced breakfast meals, vegetarian recipes, and different ways of incorporating fruits and vegetables to appeal to even the pickiest of eaters. The activities for the camp also included: dessert day, build-a-burger day, and two field trips, including a supermarket tour at Sovereign and one to the Best Dressed Chicken poultry farm.

Brand manager of Reggae Jammin', Racquel Rowe, said, "We were more than happy to partner with Brian on his latest project and give the children the opportunity to create child-friendly recipes using Reggae Jammin' products such as burgers and chicken franks which they prepared during the course of the workshop." She noted that the Reggae Jammin chicken franks, in particular, are geared towards children, so it created the perfect synergy for the collaboration with the workshop.

The camp was instructed by Lumley's team of certified chefs, including Usain Bolt's Tracks and Records executive sous chef Rochelle Grindley, Nicole Shirley of Nicole's Sweet Temptations, and Greathouse caterers' Theo Smith, known for his fruit and vegetable carvings and edible fruit arrangements. The children were taught theoretical and practical skills on topics spanning kitchen safety, choosing healthy foods, and healthy cooking methods.