Upon entering Nancy Martz’s San Roque home, I am greeted with a welcome sign listing the day’s topics: knife skills, cross-contamination, pan-frying, roasting, and choosing ripe fruit. That seems like a hefty list for Day One of summer camp, but this group of astute and aproned 4th-6th grade chefs calmly slicing bell peppers and cutting chicken in Martz’s kitchen appear ripe for the challenge.
It’s Latin American Day at Apples to Zucchini Cooking School, and fajitas with homemade tortillas, guacamole, and fried plantains are on the menu. Martz and Terra Hillyer cofounded the nonprofit as an after-school program last year, and this year’s first-ever summer camp explored a different theme each day, from Austrian to Italian, and included field trips to John Givens Farm and the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.
“We created Apples to Zucchini because we are astonished by the statistics of obesity, hunger, and the amount of money families spend on food,” said Martz, who has worked in nonprofits for 19 years. “Home ec is no longer part of the American high school curriculum, so many parents in our generation never learned how to cook. If the parents don’t know how to cook, it’s less likely that the kids will learn how to cook. If a person doesn’t know how to cook, then they will spend their food dollars on prepared foods — frozen, deli, packages — or restaurant foods.”