LOFT kids learn about cultural cooking

By August Halbach, GCC program communications and marketing specialist

Cultural Cooking Club, one of Goodman Community Center’s LOFT after-school activities designed for collaboration between middle and high school students, took time to celebrate each other’s cultures, families and the food that connects them. At the end of the 2025-26 school year, staff made a cookbook to commemorate the connections they made together.

“Each recipe in the cookbook was thoughtfully curated by (the) high school youth,” Ella Wuben, middle school program coordinator, said. “(It gave) high schoolers an opportunity to take on a leadership role … and (allowed) the middle schoolers to learn directly from their peers.”

Sha’rron Mitchell, LOFT’s middle school enrichment coordinator, also saw the activity as a way to deepen the group’s connections to each other.

“We gathered around the table to learn about one another and through curiosity explored new ingredients, traditions and stories from other cultures,” Mitchell said.

Ginger and lime lemonade was one recipe shared with the club. Brought in by a high school student with middle school program siblings, the drink was paired with the family’s chicken pastel recipe and reflected their West African culture, something that is shared by many LOFT participants. High schoolers led their middle school peers through the recipe during Black History Month, which opened the group to more conversations about identity, culture and family.

You can find the entirety of Cultural Cooking Club’s cookbook, including the chicken pastel to pair with the ginger and lime lemonade, here.