Parents, these new cooking classes are just for your kids

Bailey Loosemore | Courier Journal

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These days it seems like everyone wants to be a chef — even kids.

In recent years, a number of cooking schools have popped up across the Louisville area, offering lessons for people who crave the ability to make their own gourmet meals.

Some have opened their doors to tiny hands, providing classes that teach children how to select produce from a farm, how to make complicated courses and even how to design their own restaurants.

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But for the most part, the local schools have been focused on adults, with occasional classes geared toward kids and teens 16 and under.

That changes this month with the opening of Mesa Kids Cooking School, a New Albany, Indiana, business that's been specially designed for kids ages 7 to 14.

The new school comes from the owners of Mesa: A Collaborative Kitchen, which has offered monthly children's classes since it opened last summer at 216 Pearl Street in New Albany.

Co-owner Ysha Bass said the kids' classes are always full, but the kitchen's set-up was never meant for them.

"My husband and I decided the kids needed their own space just for them," Bass said. "The Mesa space isn't really kid-friendly."

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The new kitchen is located less than two blocks from the first, in the Underground Station complex at 154 E. Main Street.

It's a 1,200-square-foot facility with scaled down equipment that can handle up to 20 kids per class, Bass said.

But don't start thinking of Mesa Kids as a fancy daycare. Bass said the cooking school is a serious training center, intended for kids who want to know what it's like to work in a kitchen — before they're old enough to actually get hired in one.

Kids who sign up for one of the school's four-week classes or week-long camps will learn how to use proper knife skills and safety techniques. They'll learn how to make four-course dinners and can sign up for baking competitions.

"(Kids) are very alert and knowledgeable of what's going on in the culinary world," Bass said. "They have a lot of knowledge of what they're making. It's encouraging to see there is a need out there for this."

Outside of the classes, Mesa Kids will also offer a Black Coat Program, which will accept just 10 students biannually.

The year-long program is meant for kids that want to pursue cooking as a career — and local chefs are already hungry for the potential new talent.

"Chefs in the area have shown big interest in working with these kids," Bass said. "We want to build internships at different restaurants."

Ella Foster, 11, of Jeffersonville, said she wants to be the next Gordon Ramsey.

She first got a taste for cooking at Turnip the Beet in Louisville and was officially hooked after taking three more classes at the original Mesa.

She plans to take more classes at the Mesa Kids school, where she hopes to learn how to properly grill a steak and how to make dinners that could feed her family (even her annoying siblings).

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"It's just fun," Ella said of cooking. "I have two other sisters. It calms me when they're like screaming in my ears and stuff."

Ella's mom, MJ Foster, said they're lucky to have something like Mesa in Southern Indiana.

"I'm really glad they're investing in kids," Foster said. "That's really important."

Mesa Kids will offer week-long camps through the end of the summer and will start its four-week classes this fall.

The camps cost $169 for members and $199 for non-members. An annual membership to the school costs $99 and includes discounts for camps, classes and merchandise.

To learn more about the school, visit mesakidscookingschool.com.

Bailey Loosemore: 502-582-4646; bloosemore@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @bloosemore. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/baileyl.

KIDS' COOKING CLASSES

Have a little chef in the making? Take them to one of these Louisville-area businesses, where children as young as 2 can learn to bake, sear and saute.