Delaware County Cooking Classes Give Kids Educational Cooking Experiences

The chef’s dad’s tableled by Broomall resident Scott Noye, offers culinary classes, camps, parties and special events For kids of all ages, from toddlers to teens. Registration is now open for the school’s summer cooking camp, which runs June through August.

“You can tell people how to do something and give them food so they can eat, but when you teach them a skill, they know they can do it themselves,” Noye said.

Chef Dad’s Table Summer Camp offers kids a curriculum that covers teamwork, confidence building, community involvement, nutrition and, of course, the culinary arts. activities included outdoor games, crafts, games, cooking contests, taste tests, theme days and recipe contests.

The Broomall-based camp runs all day Monday through Thursday from June 19 through August 10, with sessions varying by age group.

“Before (the campers) get out of their cars in the morning, I hear them yell, ‘What are we doing today?’ They all seem so invested in whatever it is we’re learning, or whatever skill we’re talking about, or whatever cuisine or country we’re researching and studying,” Noye said.

Last year the camp sold out all available spots, so interested participants are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.

While the summer camp, now approaching its third year, is a staple of the company’s offerings, Chef Dad’s Table instructors teach classes and host events throughout the year.

Each week Chef Dad’s Table offers cooking and baking classes for age groups 3-4, 5-10, and 11 to teenagers. Adult cooking classes are also offered in association with Main Line School Night, and Noye also conducts one-on-one private lessons.

Noye and her team also host hands-on events and parties — with custom themes like Mexican Fiesta, Princess Party or Brownie Bake — complete with matching snacks.

Along with cooking and baking skills, class and camp attendees learn about smart grocery shopping and the variety of careers available in the culinary arts.

“It’s not just, ‘Let’s make cookies today,'” Noye said. “I mean, that would be fun too, and we do. But there are many other things involved.”

In addition to camps, classes, and events, a central aspect of Noye’s work is giving back to the community.

Chef Dad’s Table partners with the Community Wellness Center at Grace Lutheran Church and Kaiserman JCC in Wynnewood to use space to host company programs. Students also participate in service at these locations, helping with community gardens and volunteer programs at the Community Wellness Center.

Noye works with local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, as well as organizations that work with children and adults who have intellectual and physical disabilities. The team it also collaborates with organizations working to combat food insecurity.

“Food safety is a big problem,” Noye said. “You know, if people know how to shop and how to cook, a lot of times that helps them in their financial environment. And we hope we can help prevent food insecurity.”

Originally from Boston, Noye has lived in the Philadelphia region for more than two decades. He received a bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts and Management from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, and Since then he has worked in the retail, management and customer service areas of the food industry.

Like many people, Noye was forced to take a career turn during the pandemic when he was laid off from his jobs at a university and at a summer camp. Fortunately, he was able to marry his passions for education and the culinary arts to launch an effort that would benefit the youth of the region.

“People thought I was kind of crazy trying to start a new business in the middle of a pandemic,” Noye said. “While everyone was shutting down and couldn’t get in, we got off to a slow start, but things are looking up. And at the end of the day, regardless of the dollars and cents, it’s so gratifying to know that you’re serving so many people.”

After spending time helping local families with virtual education as a group instructor, Noye realized that an unintended consequence of distance learning in the pandemic era was the elimination of extracurricular activities like physical education, art, and classes. of music.

So, she incorporated some of these subjects, in addition to culinary arts, into her instruction, finding that students actually took cooking and baking classes during which they unknowingly learned about other subjects as well.

From there, Noye (a father of three) rented spaces and worked with nonprofits to launch Chef Dad’s Table, developing cooking and baking classes for kids that incorporate nontraditional lessons on the alphabet, math, science, and history. .

“When we’re making different recipes and we’re measuring things, we’re using math,” Noye said. “And when we’re reading recipes and writing recipes, we’re using our language skills and our writing skills. And when we’re making different kinds of recipes and we’re baking, chemical reactions are often taking place. And when we’re learning about different cultures and cuisines, we are talking about geography and world culture. There was a lot of academic stuff that was really going on in our classroom, but for the kids it was just pure fun cooking and eating.”