Italian Cooking Lesson: Little Chefs Make Pasta
Preschool
July 10, 2018
For our July food education activity, chefs from an Italian restaurant visited CGK to lead a cooking lesson.
Primo, an Italian restaurant about five minutes’ walk from CGK at the time, kindly helped us organize a pasta-making lesson for the children.
To prepare, we also had an Italian-language lesson.
“Hello.” “Good bye.” → “Ciao.”
“Excuse me.” → “Scuusa.”
“Thank you.” → “Grazie.”
“Yummy.” → “Buono.”
Practicing useful expressions like these helped build anticipation for cooking day. The children were particularly interested in “I’m full”: “Sono pieno” for a boy and “Sono piena” for a girl. A word changing according to gender was a new idea compared with the Japanese and English expressions they used.
Jungle and Mountain classes also made Italian flags to decorate their rooms and welcome the restaurant team.
On the day, children wore not only aprons or smocks but also chef hats. Our little Italian chefs were ready!
They began with a cheerful “Ciao!” When the visitors praised them for knowing Italian, everyone looked proud. We examined pasta in different shapes and learned where Italy is and how its outline resembles a boot. Then it was time to make pasta.
Each table brought together children of different ages, from Ocean (age 2) to Mountain (age 4). Although they had practiced with modeling clay, real pasta dough felt different and was harder to stretch without breaking. Everyone worked earnestly.
Once the children’s pasta was ready, the professional chefs took over. As the noodles boiled and the meat sauce warmed, a wonderful aroma filled the room.
Then came a chance to see the chefs’ skills in action!
A chef added the cooked pasta to a pan of warm meat sauce and tossed it with one hand. Seeing the ingredients mix without spilling, the children exclaimed, “Amazing!” and applauded. The chef smiled a little shyly but continued tossing the pan energetically to the children’s delight.
Finally, we were ready to taste. Pasta was served onto plates and finished with cheese, making the aroma even more tempting.
Everyone said “Buon appetito!” together before eating the freshly made pasta. Some remembered to say “Buono!”; others ate with sauce around their mouths or quickly asked for seconds. The restaurant staff’s happy expressions as they watched were particularly memorable.
Children may visit restaurants, but they rarely get to see or interact with the chefs in the kitchen. Learning directly from professionals and talking with them made the children much more interested in being a chef.
Teachers are important people in children’s daily school lives, introducing many ideas and skills. Opportunities to meet people doing real work outside that familiar setting are valuable in a different way.
At CGK, we hope to continue nurturing curiosity and inquiry through varied lessons and events.
Above all, we want the children to feel, “This is fun!”
Six chefs and servers visited us, and the restaurant closed for lunch service especially to make this lesson possible.
Our sincere thanks to everyone at Primo!
Italian Restaurant Primo
Address listed at the time: GM Yokohama Bashamichi Building 1F, 5-72-1 Tokiwacho, Naka-ku, Yokohama
https://hitosara.com/0006094323/
Chef Naoto Suwaki
The profile quoted in the original article from Hitosara described Suwaki as born in Kanagawa in 1976. Tasting carbonara as a teenager inspired him to pursue cooking. After university, he trained at popular Western-style restaurants in Yokohama and Tokyo, then moved to Italy to deepen his knowledge of Italian cuisine. After returning to Japan, he served as executive chef of Yokohama’s Cambusa for seven years from its opening. He opened his own restaurant, Primo, in 2017. This is the profile as presented at the time of the lesson.
Primo, an Italian restaurant about five minutes’ walk from CGK at the time, kindly helped us organize a pasta-making lesson for the children.
To prepare, we also had an Italian-language lesson.
“Hello.” “Good bye.” → “Ciao.”
“Excuse me.” → “Scuusa.”
“Thank you.” → “Grazie.”
“Yummy.” → “Buono.”
Practicing useful expressions like these helped build anticipation for cooking day. The children were particularly interested in “I’m full”: “Sono pieno” for a boy and “Sono piena” for a girl. A word changing according to gender was a new idea compared with the Japanese and English expressions they used.
Jungle and Mountain classes also made Italian flags to decorate their rooms and welcome the restaurant team.
On the day, children wore not only aprons or smocks but also chef hats. Our little Italian chefs were ready!
They began with a cheerful “Ciao!” When the visitors praised them for knowing Italian, everyone looked proud. We examined pasta in different shapes and learned where Italy is and how its outline resembles a boot. Then it was time to make pasta.
Each table brought together children of different ages, from Ocean (age 2) to Mountain (age 4). Although they had practiced with modeling clay, real pasta dough felt different and was harder to stretch without breaking. Everyone worked earnestly.
Once the children’s pasta was ready, the professional chefs took over. As the noodles boiled and the meat sauce warmed, a wonderful aroma filled the room.
Then came a chance to see the chefs’ skills in action!
A chef added the cooked pasta to a pan of warm meat sauce and tossed it with one hand. Seeing the ingredients mix without spilling, the children exclaimed, “Amazing!” and applauded. The chef smiled a little shyly but continued tossing the pan energetically to the children’s delight.
Finally, we were ready to taste. Pasta was served onto plates and finished with cheese, making the aroma even more tempting.
Everyone said “Buon appetito!” together before eating the freshly made pasta. Some remembered to say “Buono!”; others ate with sauce around their mouths or quickly asked for seconds. The restaurant staff’s happy expressions as they watched were particularly memorable.
Children may visit restaurants, but they rarely get to see or interact with the chefs in the kitchen. Learning directly from professionals and talking with them made the children much more interested in being a chef.
Teachers are important people in children’s daily school lives, introducing many ideas and skills. Opportunities to meet people doing real work outside that familiar setting are valuable in a different way.
At CGK, we hope to continue nurturing curiosity and inquiry through varied lessons and events.
Above all, we want the children to feel, “This is fun!”
Six chefs and servers visited us, and the restaurant closed for lunch service especially to make this lesson possible.
Our sincere thanks to everyone at Primo!
Italian Restaurant Primo
Address listed at the time: GM Yokohama Bashamichi Building 1F, 5-72-1 Tokiwacho, Naka-ku, Yokohama
https://hitosara.com/0006094323/
Chef Naoto Suwaki
The profile quoted in the original article from Hitosara described Suwaki as born in Kanagawa in 1976. Tasting carbonara as a teenager inspired him to pursue cooking. After university, he trained at popular Western-style restaurants in Yokohama and Tokyo, then moved to Italy to deepen his knowledge of Italian cuisine. After returning to Japan, he served as executive chef of Yokohama’s Cambusa for seven years from its opening. He opened his own restaurant, Primo, in 2017. This is the profile as presented at the time of the lesson.
Author Profile
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Reiko - Services and Community Coordinator (Japan)
Reiko joined CGK’s founding team in 2016, bringing seven years of experience in licensed nursery schools in Japan and six years across two international preschools. She has also volunteered at a daycare in Canada and has held preschool leadership roles at CGK, including Principal and Vice Principal.
A qualified nursery teacher and holder of a Class 2 kindergarten teaching license in Japan, Reiko values each child’s interests and strengths. Drawing on her experience in multicultural early childhood settings, she supports an environment where children can explore new interests through hands-on experiences and express themselves in their own way.