Local chef, restaurant owner teaches young students how to cook

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The head chef and owner of a local restaurant Tito and Pepgone Miller Elementary School Motivating students to explore the connection between food, math and science.

Chef John Martinez turned a simple recipe into a fun science lesson by teaching three fifth-grade students how to make a Caesar salad. Martinez and her sous chefs made all of the salad’s components from scratch, using their five senses.

Jacqueline Aguilar | KDAY 9

“I think it’s important for kids to be able to really think about how food goes together, or at least think about how things taste,” Martinez said. “It kind of activates, you know, the connection between their palate and their mind and thought process.

Martinez told me that he started cooking at a young age with his grandmother. Learning to cook at a young age helps develop lifelong skills, such as math when measuring ingredients, she says.

Jacqueline Aguilar | KDAY 9

Fifth-grader Anolani and two others only had the opportunity to cook with Martinez after he submitted an essay about why cooking was special to them.

Jacqueline Aguilar | KDAY 9

“I wrote that I have always wanted to cook, that I have loved it since I was little, and cooking on television has always been my dream,” Anolani said.

It was Anolani’s first time cooking with a professional, but he says he was very familiar with the kitchen.

“I always cook for my little brother and I love helping out with everything,” Anolani said. “Helping is like a hobby for me.”

Anolani says he wants to become a chef, just like Martinez, and open his restaurant one day.

Jacqueline Aguilar | KDAY 9