Cunningham Elementary recently received a five-year grant, courtesy of Food Network chef Emeril Lagasse and his Emeril Lagasse Foundation, to build a 1,500-square-foot teaching kitchen. The South Austin public school, which serves pre-K through fifth graders, will be the third site for Emeril’s Culinary Garden & Teaching Kitchen, “a nationwide education initiative created to enrich the lives of elementary and middle school children through a fun, fresh perspective on food.” The foundation hopes to have the program in 10 schools by 2023.
Serving over 400 students with diverse backgrounds, Cunningham Elementary is “dedicated to educating and guiding a community of successful lifelong learners with a global perspective on academic excellence, a healthy mind and body, and a creative passion as an information leader.” One way it’s doing this is by providing students opportunities to grow and cook food (including some of Lagasse’s own recipes!). In 2011, a group of parents installed a community garden; in 2012, the school was one of the first recipients of a Whole Kids Foundation grant. Adding a new teaching kitchen and expanded culinary garden will build on this effort, sparking students’ imaginations and helping them learn core school subjects through food.
Under the management of Austin Ed Fund, construction on the new kitchen will begin later this year, and the school is hoping that it will be ready sometime in 2020. The project will represent the culmination of years of collaboration and partnership among Cunningham Elementary educators, students, parents and community members to make the school place where innovation, healthy living and community intersect.