Bianca Moorman/The Meridian StarZiriyah McCoy and Marley Foy mix ingredients for a chicken salad sandwich during a cooking class with the Meridian Freedom Project Tuesday evening at Parables Church in Meridian. 

A line of young people stood before a spread of crispy green lettuce, red tomatoes, canned chicken, eggs, mayonnaise and honey wheat bread. 

The tasty meal they created – chicken salad sandwiches – cost $8 and took less than 10 minutes to make.

“I didn’t know it really doesn’t take that much to make this,” said Ethan Wright, a sixth grader. “It’s just 10 minutes.”

Each Tuesday, Wright joins other members of the Meridian Freedom Project for a cooking club at Parables Church in Meridian.

Over the past few months, students have learned to cook homemade spaghetti with meatballs, tortilla pizza and a colorful salad. The class also shows kids how to prepare food without using a stove, knives or traveling far to get food.

“We want them to have the skills to prepare something with just the materials that are around the house,” said Terrence Roberts, director of literacy with the Meridian Freedom Project, an organization that aims to develop future leaders.  

Food as medicine

The afterschool class, one of several offered by the Meridian Freedom Project, was created after several students showed an interest in cooking. It focuses on cooking healthy food without spending too much money. 

According to the Mississippi Department of Health, in Lauderdale County, 55.7 percent of adults consume fruits and 78 percent of adults consume vegetables. On the state level, 49.5 percent of adults consume fruits and 69.1 percent of adults consume vegetables. The agency also reports that about 10 percent of high school students go a week without eating vegetables.

For Roberts, the class helps address some of those issues. He said healthy food can be a form of medicine for the body, and hopes the young cooks will take the skills they learned in class and apply them in their everyday lives.

“Learning to cook healthy ensures that you stay healthy,” he said.

‘You have to want to do it’ 

Wright, a student at Northeast Middle School, said he likes how the class will provide him with more options when he is home alone and wants something to eat. 

One thing he’s learning from the classes is that cooking doesn’t have to be difficult.  

“If you want to do it, don’t be lazy,” he said. “You have to want to do it.” 

Other members of the class are finding benefits beyond just food preparation.

Breana Hodges, a junior at Northeast Lauderdale High School, said she’s already used the skills she’s learned in the class to cook with her family at home.

Recently, she prepared hamburger steak, while her sister made collard greens and her brother cooked potatoes with crispy onions.

“Like yesterday, my family, we all did something in the kitchen, we all cooked one thing,” Hodges said.

Roberts would like to offer the class again this summer, and since they will be working on gardening, hopes the kids can cook some of the produce from the garden. 

“I hope we get a chance to use those in a cooking class,” Roberts said.