School Cooks Will Study with the Best Cooks of Bishkek

Bishkek – IPF “Roza Otunbayeva’s Initiative,” with the support of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP UN), will be running culinary master-classes for schools cooks from the Chui region. The participants will be 30 cooks from schools who are not part of the Ministry of Education and Science’s/Ministry of Health/WFP UN’s pilot program for the optimization of school meals, yet still managed to independently organize hot meals for their younger students thanks to the support of local parents and organizers.

 “For the cooks who are participating in the project to improve school meals, this culinary training will be treated like any accredited cooking class, and will focus on acquainting them with new recipes for school meals” said the representative of WFP UN and director of the Program for the Optimization of School Meals in the Kyrgyz Republic, Nadezhda Frank.. “During this project we have accumulated new detailed plans for progress as well as a huge amount of experience, which we want to share with any schools that are interested in changing their meals.”

According to the rules, schools are mandated to hire cooks with professional knowledge and an adequate education. However, it all too often happens that in rural schools anyone who is willing to work for a minimal salary is hired It stands to reason that not every school cook will possess a diploma or have a background in feeding large amounts of people..

The goal of the master-class is to give help spread knowledge “about the correct role of the school cook in preparing healthy school meals.”

“Every master-class is a unique opportunity for school cooks to perfect their abilities and learn how to make dishes like a professional” remarked the Executive Director of the IPF “Roza Otunbayeva’s Initiative.”

School cooks from different parts of the Chui region were invited to the capital to learn under the tutelage of celebrated culinary experts, including: Shukhrat Sharipov, chairman of the Association of Cooks of the Kyrgyz Republic, Furkhat Abduraxmanov, known for his work at the “Prego” restaurants, Berik Erinbaev, from the restaurant “12 Fireplaces,” and teachers from Professiional Lycee #10.

It is worth mentioning, that the training of these school cooks will include the usage of technological cards, which have been created by the WPF UN, with the support of the Russian Institute of Industrial Cooking. WPF UN has created more than 130 of these cards, each with a school meal that includes local ingredients and is geared for locals. Additionally, the cooks will be able to show their own recipes and dishes, with a chance to enter them into the standardized menu.

As part of the training, the school cooks will study the theoretical foundations of school meals, including the caloric value of school dishes, techniques for their preparation, new ways to cook, how to adhere to sanitary norms, preservation of ingredients, and so on. Additionally, as part of the hands-on lessons, the cooks will learn how to make 25 different meals, including sups, main dishes, salads, and various baked items. Special attention will be paid to the usage of legume and pumpkin-based ingredients in school meals.

The spread of knowledge about how to prepare school meals, including new models for school meals and betters recipes for their preparation, will allow for the creation of more schools than can adequately serve hot meals.

The goal of the WPF UN “Optimization of School Meals in the Kyrgyz Republic” program is to impact national policy and programs for school meals, as well as create sustainable and effective models for feeding school children, strengthen models for feeding in pilot schools (as of today 261 schools have moved to a hot meals program), modernize the infrastructure and equipment used by pilot schools, and reform the process for buying ingredients for schools.

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For more information, please refer to the press-office of IPF “Roza Otunbayeva’s Initiative” at: (tel) 0772 855 710

 

For more information about the work of the WPF UN in the Kyrgyz Republic, please refer to Elizaveta Zalkind at: (tel) 0555 940 4200 or (email) Elizabeth.zalkind@wfp.org