2010-07-23

If you’ve been fortunate enough to sample Chef G. Garvin’s scrumptious cooking first-hand, you’ve probably wished that you could duplicate his efforts in your own kitchen. Well, that might cost you an appearance fee, but Garvin is all about sharing the wealth and teaching your child in the way that they should go. Last year Garvin established the Chef G. Garvin Culinary Boot Camp, specifically designed to encourage inner city youth to pursue careers in the culinary industry.

This year’s camp, which starts Saturday, will once again be held in Atlanta. Not only will the kids learn how to whip up some delicious grub, but they’ll also be taught entrepreneurial skills so that they, too, might one day own their own restaurant or host a cooking show. Already a success, Garvin is planning on expanding the program to Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina. He spoke exclusively with MyJet247.com about the challenges of teaching teens to cook and how he gets them to eat their veggies!

Q/ How did you come up with this concept to teach inner city kids how to cook?

A/ The idea was simple but the execution was unbelievably difficult. About five years ago I was doing a radio show in Chicago on WVON-AM, which nobody listened to. I loved it because it was a show about life. It was called Real Life, Real Talk, Real Radio with G. Garvin. Doing it I started to see what was going on in our communities — the gangs, Black-on-Black crime and all the violence. So, I started looking at my life, my career and seeing the blessings and knew that I needed to try and do something for these kids. That’s how the idea really started. It was about trying to educate kids on how cool it is to work in the culinary industry, and trusting that the culinary business was also a good way out.

Q/ What kinds of things do you teach them to cook?

A/ It’s a seven-day, sleepover course so you really have to streamline what you do. It’s a lot of information. What I’ve done is that I’ve basically done a little show just like if you were producing a play. Day 1 is the orientation meet-and-greet where my mother will make a really big meal for all 30 kids. Day 2 they get their uniforms, knife sets, books and we talk about what to expect for the week. First day we’ll go through what I consider one of the most important food groups — soups, sauces and vinaigrettes. Then we go through vegetables, seafood and meats on the ensuing days.

Q/ How challenging is it teaching kids to cook? And what are their ages?

A/ They are 16-19. I can say this, being a restaurant owner and a chef, it’s challenging teaching adults. So, with children it’s tough. There’s an attention span situation, it’s having to deal with being embarrassed and being shy.

Q/ With Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood obesity with healthy eating, how much are your efforts geared toward teaching these kids how to make nutritionally balanced meals?

A/ I’ve been doing that my whole career so it’s not new. I appreciate what she’s doing but it’s unfortunate that it takes her to really raise this issue that I’ve been working on my entire career with children. One of the final components I’m trying to add to the camp is I’m hoping to add a trainer before breakfast so that for one hour each morning there is actual exercising. Throughout the week there will be educational sessions on baking as opposed to frying chicken or grilling vegetables. So, yes, we will be conscious of that as well.

Q/ Any problems getting kids to try new things or to even eat what they cook?

A/ If you come from a household where your parents don’t eat asparagus, more than likely you won’t eat asparagus either. One of the things I’m proud of is that I connect with people because I’m cool. They’re going to look to me and say, ‘OK, he’s cool, he’s cool.’ What it comes down to is that you have to know the people in the room. I know my demo. There isn’t much that you can do to get me to eat squash. But if I’m in a room with kids who have grown up eating catfish and chicken, brussel sprouts might be a little complicated but if I add some candied walnuts to it…Hmm! You just have to introduce things in creative ways.//

To find out more about G. Garvin’s Culinary Boot Camp, please go to: www.chefgarvin.com