This year I opted for cooking as my AS and got to learn a lot from it –

Learning Outcome 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

Earlier I used to live in a joint family and often used to help my mom with cooking (basic things like cutting veggies and other small tasks), my mom always used to say that I have great cooking skills and when in my first cooking class our mam herself appreciated my enthusiasm and my skills at that point in time I realized that cooking might be my strength.

Since I’m planning my graduation in Mumbai, cooking will be an essential skill to be learned as in emergencies I might have to cook my own food. This was the time I decided that I need to choose cooking as my AS. Now after a year of regular practice, I learned to cook various food dishes including the basic gravy and roti also some exotic dishes like red curry, Thai, etc.

Learning Outcome 3: Initiate and plan a CAS experience

This activity was a planned activity as, earlier I have attended many cooking classes teaching recipes of different drinks (like mocktail) and cakes, etc. Then I got to know that my school gives the opportunity to learn how to cook in school as our AS. Because of the high number of students in cooking it was very difficult to get your name on the list so I took initiative and registered for cooking 3 months prior. Our mam always tells us the dish we will be cooking in the next class and as a habit, I used to see the method of cooking it on youtube so that I don’t get confused with any step in the procedure. As I have said earlier, this way a planned activity as I want to be independent when I’ll distance from my home in some other city to attain my education and be able to fill my hunger when needed.

Learning Outcome 6: Engagement with issues of global significance

Globally many people starve themselves just because they don’t know how to cook, also it reflects in the high intake of pack food (Chips, chocolate, etc) affecting the health to such an extent that people nowadays are easily prone to health diseases like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and also affects our teeth causing cavity, tooth decay, etc.

With so many patients worldwide the skill of cooking would help millions to maintain their health. Even today I try influencing my friends and juniors to opt for cooking as their AS cause this will definitely help them in their future and having knowledge of what they are eating will help them maintain a balanced diet, even a small precaution can mean a lot when we are talking about consuming something.

Towards the end, this years cooking sections were great and left me with a lot of learnings.