Emeril Lagasse Is Kicking Up Culinary Education With In-School Teaching Kitchens

Before “Bam!” and “Kick it up a notch!,” Emeril Lagasse was just a boy with a passion for all things food. For the famed chef, it was all about exposure – and he’s making sure kids have the same opportunities.

Growing up with his own Massachusetts backyard garden, plus time spent with his mother in the kitchen, inspired him to eventually work in a Portuguese bakery as a teen—and the rest is history! Now, the Destin, Florida, resident is dedicated to bringing his farm-to-table reality—and the opportunity to love cooking like he did—to elementary and middle schools throughout the U.S.

This week, he’s launching Emeril’s Culinary Garden & Teaching Kitchen, a new culinary education program with a mission to teach kids where food comes from and how to turn it into delicious, nutritious meals.

The hands-on classes will be integrated into school curricula with national academic standards, bringing the knowledge of the award-winning chef right into middle- and low-income classrooms to teach an appreciation for the source of food, an understanding of nutrition, developing culinary skills and nurturing the development of other life skills through the lens of food. Kids will plant seeds in an on-campus garden, watch produce grow, harvest it and learn how to use those fresh foods in recipes. Now that’s Bam!-worthy.

Backed by the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, which he founded with his real estate mogul wife Alden Lovelace, the pair is hoping the new initiative will make a lasting impact on American youth, especially in an age of growing childhood obesity rates. Since its founding in 2002, the nonprofit has granted more than $10 million, and they’re hoping this new program can continue the foundation’s goal to inspire and mentor budding chefs across the country.