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Family and Consumer Science Extension Agents
Decorate booths before guests arrive at the 8th Annual Holiday Cooking
School.
“It’s a totally new audience than we would
reach in other ways. We get to showcase Extension and what Extension does.
It’s neat to see people come by who don’t know much about Extension and then
we see those same people come visit us for other things throughout the
year.”
Judy O’Bryan
Laurel County Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Agent |
By Aimee Nielson
LONDON, Ky., (Dec. 8, 2005) -- For the eighth year, University of Kentucky
Cooperative Extension agents in eight southeastern Kentucky counties combined
efforts to offer a Holiday Cooking School in London.
The popular event sold out, with more than 400 attendees treated to food
samples, gift ideas and educational information about whole grains and healthy
eating during the holidays.
Lora Lee Howard, Clay County Extension family and consumer sciences agent set up
a booth devoted to sweet potatoes.
“This year I’m focusing on sweet potato soup,” she said. “It’s a recipe that you
can use sweet potatoes from a can or ones from the garden. Sweet potatoes are
very nutritional with a lot of vitamin A. Not everything we cook at the holidays
is bad for us. We can have some healthy foods at the holidays, too, and that’s
what we try to concentrate on here at the cooking school.”
Laurel County Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Agent Judy O’Bryan
coordinated the event. She said some people begin lining up at the doors more
than two hours before they are allowed inside.
“It really is a fun program,” she said. “It’s a totally new audience than we
would reach in other ways. We get to showcase Extension and what Extension does.
It’s neat to see people come by who don’t know much about Extension and then we
see those same people come visit us for other things throughout the year.”
Each year organizers of the Holiday Cooking School invite two individuals or
groups to come and present holiday recipes to attendees. This year’s
demonstrations included “Making Half Your Grains Whole.” The idea is that by
ensuring half of a person’s daily grain intake is whole grains, people will get
more fiber into their diet. O’Bryan said more fiber during the holidays will
fill a person up quicker and help prevent overindulging in unhealthy treats.
“We always have a general theme and traditional cookies and candies, but being
educators we always work in healthy things,” O’Bryan added. “Whether it’s
altering traditional recipes to make them healthier or teaching quick recipes to
make in advance, we come up with all kinds of things to help people during the
holidays.”
In the early years of the Holiday Cooking School, it was an event planned by
family and consumer science agents. These days, agriculture and natural resource
agents also participate, and 4-H youth development agents have just began taking
part.
“This year 4-H agents joined us for the first time,” O’Bryan said. “Their theme
was Christmas around the World and they also had children’s treats and crafts
featured at their booth.”
The event has even started to attract local and statewide agriculture-related
businesses, such as a country ham company and beekeepers. O’Bryan said they
would be open to more outside vendors in the future.
The participating counties were Laurel, Clay, Whitley, Knox, Bell, Harlan,
Jackson and Rockcastle.
Writer:
Aimee Nielson
859-257-4736, ext. 267
Contact:
Judy O’Bryan 606-864-4167
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