In 2016, Alina van de Burgt and I designed a Dutch educational program centered on sustainability for vwo+ students through Twente Academy. Over the course of the year, as PALs (teaching assistants), we had given lectures on various sustainable topics, from cars to homes to waste management. Our goal with this particular module, which we designed ourselves, was to challenge the conventional understanding of sustainable food. The idea of “sustainability” is often overused, sometimes masking what it truly means. We aimed to make this concept more accessible to the students by combining it with something universally enjoyable: cooking. We wanted the students to think beyond the typical health-focused narrative – to consider not just what’s good for themselves, but also the environment. As a culmination of the program, we hosted a cooking lesson at the Kook en Co studio in Enschede. Here, students could practically apply their learning from previous sessions and cook dishes they conceptualized, reflecting minimized environmental footprints.
In this endeavor, we also collaborated with Joep Schyns, a PhD student from UT’s water management department, to teach the students about the ‘water footprint’ concept. For instance, by skipping one hamburger, you could theoretically take a shower for two and a half hours without surpassing the same water consumption. This perspective proved eye-opening for many students. The cooking lesson itself was not a conventional one. The students brought their own recipes and prepared dishes focusing on sustainability. For instance, one group prepared a frittata using only local Dutch vegetables, minimizing transportation and its consequent environmental footprint. Another group worked on creating the most sustainable falafel burgers possible, using minimal heat and more vegetables as substitutes. At the end we had a great dinner in the cooking studio, were we all could taste what the students had made!