Barbara Wright (left) leads families in practical skills that she hopes will lead to more family meals based on healthier foods.
Long a promoter of locally sourced foods and locally owned restaurants, Barbara Wright is now the chef behind a new locally produced cooking show, The Kitchen Krewe. During each show, which airs on WYOU, Wright guides two families in cooking a meal from scratch.
“My instinct tells me that kids who learn to cook early build on those skills their whole lives,” says Wright, who once owned the popular Dardanelles restaurant on Monroe Street and is currently the chef at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton.
Angelique Webb, who was on the Oct. 13 show with her son, says the experience has drawn her son to the kitchen. “He really wants to cook, especially with me. He runs for his apron.”
Wright focuses on teaching kids practical skills. She provides a skills sheet for the children that includes techniques such as roasting, slicing and sautéing. Teaching concrete techniques empowers kids, says Wright, even though they still need adult supervision in the kitchen.
Introducing children to cooking has more far-reaching benefits. Families will end up eating these dinners together instead of grabbing fast food and eating separately, and “kids will be more interested in what their parents are buying at the grocery store,” says Wright.
And buying more fresh ingredients as opposed to processed foods is something Wright wants to promote with The Kitchen Krewe. Wright calls this “real food” — that is, “food that’s grown without artifice and closest to its natural state.”
In the first episode, Wright helps the two families prepare nohut lu ispanak (garbanzos and spinach), a dish that originated in Turkey, and chicken fricassee, which has roots in Cuban cooking.
The second episode, to air in early December, features slow-cooked tacos and a three-bean skillet chili. The third episode will be filmed on Nov. 9 at Nuestro Mundo Community School, and will be conducted in both English and Spanish. The show will run for six episodes.
Wright was raised in the U.S., but her approach to cooking uses ingredients and techniques from many different cultures; she’s traveled to Turkey, Puerto Rico, Peru, Cuba, North Africa and New Zealand. Wright wants to break children out of eating foods they are comfortable with and encourage them to try cuisines from other cultures. “Food,” she says, “is our most intimate connection to the world.... It’s sharing. And I think that’s very human.”
