Igniting a passion for cooking through Garden to Table

Before Austin, now 12, started learning to grow and cook his own food at primary school a few years ago, his parents “wouldn't even let me get anywhere near the kitchen,” he says. 

These days he spends much of his time there -- behind his stand mixer making sourdough for the family, sharpening his chef’s knife, and perfecting the spice blend in his signature guacamole. 

Austin’s passion for cooking began when he was about eight years old and his class at Cardinal McKeefry Catholic Primary in Wellington became part of Garden to Table.

For many kids, it’s the first time they’ve had the chance to develop such skills. Austin fell in love almost immediately. 

“The first thing that felt like a proper culinary experience was making a lemon drizzle cake,” he says. “I got a lot of joy out of being able to know I made this from the start, instead of just buying it.”

Austin began to experiment with veggies, bringing home an armful of silver beet from the school garden to use on pizza. 

“You'd expect things that would have vegetables smeared into every little bit of a dish be pretty average,” he says. “But the first time I had that silver beet pizza, I realised that actually this could work.”

When his school started publishing the week’s Garden to Table recipe in its newsletters, he kicked things up a notch at home -- sometimes evicting his parents from the kitchen to prepare the family dinner himself. 

The skills he needed were hard-won. On a memorable day in the school kitchen, Austin and a small group of classmates perfected their knife skills by chopping 5kg of onions ahead of a school fundraiser. 

“No one really knew how to chop anything really back then,” he remembers. “I went from crying every second I would insert the knife in the onion to being able to just get on with it.” 

Now he chops onions “in the French style”, using a professional chef’s knife that was a gift from his dad.

Austin’s time in the Garden to Table programme has since ended, but his adventurous cooking spirit keeps growing. During one COVID-19 lockdown, he cycled to the shops to buy souffle ingredients on a whim, determined to master the notoriously tricky dessert. He also began to bake the family’s bread, prompting a Christmas gift of a stand mixer from his mum last year to spare his aching hands. 

“When I first started using it for cakes and bread, that's when I realised I could do this professionally,” Austin says. He hopes for a job in the culinary industry with a focus on fine dining, and had a taster during the last school holidays when he worked in the harvest on a truffle farm. 

Experimentation is still a feature of his cooking. Ahead of his 12th birthday this year, Austin spent four months devising a new recipe -- a Chicken Wellington, which he intended as a cheaper version of the famous beef dish -- which resulted in two and a half hours in the kitchen and eventual triumph when he served it to his family. 

“You can't be scared to try something new,” Austin says. Incorporating ingredients to “harmonise in this wonderful creation” that was months in the making explains why he loves to cook. 

Austin traces that journey directly back to being part of Garden to Table at age 8. 

“It's a life skill and after a few months, we could all clearly see that there was an impact,” he says. The focus on cooking fresh vegetables “helps you discover all the things that you wouldn't necessarily consider before.”

One of those discoveries was celery soup -- a prospect Austin was a little wary of but changed his mind about after he tried and loved the dish that he and his classmates made. 

“I was hooked on celery for the next year,” he adds. 

Although not every kid who participates in Garden to Table will end up dreaming of chef’s whites, Austin reckons all children in New Zealand should have a chance to learn the skills that the programme teaches -- if only so they can have more exciting lunch boxes. 

“I cook fresh pasta every day for my lunch,” he says. “I find it a lot more joyful than having sad sandwiches.”

Did this story inspire you? Do you want to see more schools doing the Garden to Table programme? Please, consider a donation towards this essential mahi if you are able, doing so helps more tamariki to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food at school.