Cooking has been a worldly experience for clients at Jackson Developmental Industries in Seymour.
Not only are they learning how to make their way around the kitchen, but they are trying foods from all around the globe.
So far, they have made foods from Japan, Mexico, China, Chile, Turkey and Germany.
Andrea McGill-Casebolt said the week they made Mediterranean food was her first time trying it.
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"It was OK," she said with an unsure smile.
Still, it was a good experience.
"I just like to learn different kinds of skills. I just like to learn different kinds of foods," she said. "It has been fun."
Of all the food they tried, Eric Jackson and Sonja Branaman both said they will stick with their American favorite: Macaroni and cheese.
"It’s my favorite," Jackson said. "I tried ham, but I didn’t like it. I tried goulash, and I liked it."
During JDI’s cooking class Nov. 22, they made a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Branaman helped spread cheese on the macaroni and cooked potatoes.
Amelia O’Neal, who works in the education and enrichment department at JDI, said the cooking class goes for 12 weeks.
"Ever since I’ve been here, depending on the programming, we changed the days we do it on depending on the curriculum because we choose different curriculum every 12 weeks," she said, noting the classes now are on Fridays.
"Lately, we’ve been trying to incorporate world cultures, as well," she said. "We try to incorporate a world culture setting into our cooking class and make things from different countries."
Dumplings, Spanish rice, sushi and empanadas are among the foods they have made.
"We’ll look up recipes and be like, ‘Oh, what sounds good that we can make? What’s easy? What’s quick?’" O’Neal said.
The hope is that the clients will want to make the food at home or try them when they go to a restaurant.
Plus, the goal is to teach the clients all they need to know to cook and work in a kitchen.
"There are different recipes that we have on the back-burner that we can make," O’Neal said. "Sometimes, it’s just looking in here, seeing what we can make and showing them, ‘Hey, you can make something just with whatever you have in your kitchen.’"
Ensuring they have the tools they need to learn how to measure, weigh and mix things and work safely in the kitchen is key.
"Andrea does a lot of cooking at home. Other people have never cooked before in their life. They don’t know how to measure stuff out," O’Neal said. "It gives them a lot of tools."
Part of the class also consisted of a Master Chef competition. O’Neal and a co-worker each had a team of clients.
"We picked a recipe from the country we tried before and did that," O’Neal said. "They get really excited, especially when they win. Bragging rights, definitely."
When clients are given curriculum options every 12 weeks, O’Neal said the cooking class is always a popular pick.
"Who doesn’t like eating? Who doesn’t like food?" she said. "I just love how they get excited about it. They love cooking. They love learning new recipes. They love trying new things."