About You're the Chef

YTC Quicklinks

About You’re the Chef

Planning your YTC Program

Recipes

Fun Facts about Ingredients

Tips for Cooking with Youth

Food Safety

Kitchen Safety

Demonstrations

Videos

Cooking Kits

Funding Opportunities

Forms and Templates

You’re the Chef (YTC) is a food skills program designed to help youth aged 10 and up develop the skills and confidence necessary to prepare tasty recipes emphasizing vegetables and fruits. ​

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How YTC works

An adult volunteer, parent or teacher from a school or community agency attends a leader training session run by Public Health. At the training, leaders receive the information and skills needed to run the program and access to a website with resources and forms. Leaders work with the school or community agency and additional volunteers to plan when, where and how YTC will run.

When selecting youth to be part of the program, it is important to remember that hands-on experience is a critical part of YTC. A maximum of 16 participants is recommended, with a ratio of one adult to four youth.

Learning Objectives​

After completing a YTC program, youth will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of the ingredients used in the YTC recipes.
  2. ​​Practice and demonstrate knowledge of food preparation skills.
  3. Practice safe food handling and basic kitchen safety​​.
  4. Prepare a number of YTC recipes​.

Leader Commitment

As a YTC leader, it is important that the objectives of YTC are met and that the learning environment is safe and encouraging for participants.

We ask that leaders respect the purpose of the program and agree to the following:

  • I will not speak to nutrition topics such as dieting, calories and body weight. If participants ask specific questions for which the leader training did not provide answers, I will refer them to a Registered Dietitian at UnlockFood.ca or Health Connect Ontario (Call 8-1-1).
  • I will not modify the recipes except for substituting similar vegetables, fruits, whole grain products and herbs and spices (e.g., dried herbs for fresh herbs).
  • I will not add additional recipes until I submit them to the Registered Dietitian at Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health for review and approval. Please email ytc@wdgpublichealth.ca. 
  • If I choose to use recipes that do not meet the criteria set out by the program, I will not use the name “You’re the Chef” as the program name and may not be eligible for funding or to borrow equipment kits.

 

Questions? Email us at ytc@wdgpublichealth.ca