CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte restaurant is offering free cooking classes to children in need.

Cuzzo’s Cuisine created a nonprofit known as Culinary Connections, where kids ages 10 to 15 can learn foundational cooking skills to inspire the next generation of chefs.

What You Need To Know

  •  Culinary Connections aims to help underprivileged children gain independence through free cooking classes

  •  Research shows cooking intervention helped kids eat more fruits and vegetables and is linked to a reduction in obesity

  •  In the free classes, children learn how to handle sharp knives, sanitation safety and how to use a mini stove 

One lesson features cinnamon pancakes, a popular choice among the 13 novice chefs.

“I just want to show them how to cook and eat healthy and try to prepare their own meals so they don’t have to depend on their parents. So maybe when they get older, they already know a life skill,” Andarrio Johnson, owner of Cuzzo’s Cuisine, said.“I just want to show them how to cook and eat healthy and try to prepare their own meals so they don’t have to depend on their parents. So maybe when they get older, they already know a life skill,” Andarrio Johnson, owner of Cuzzo’s Cuisine, said.

The class is Johnson’s way of giving back. After providing free meals to kids during the pandemic, Johnson felt he could do more.

“At that age, no one showed me anything about cooking and I had no interest. So I felt like if I could give them some guidance or show them another avenue, you know, let me catch them at an early age, because no one showed me,” Johnson said.

It’s more than learning about how to cook in the classes. Kids learn about sanitation safety, how to handle sharp knives and how to cook on a mini stove.

The skills go beyond the kitchen, as research in the National Institute of Health found cooking intervention helped kids eat more fruits and vegetables and is linked to a reduction in obesity.

As children learn to cook their favorite meals, Johnson’s hope is to give children the right ingredients to become confident in themselves.

“Maybe they could become a chef one day if I hopefully inspire them to do something. And even if they’re not, I can show them how I came up as an entrepreneur and went to school and how I built my career up - and give them an idea that they could do it themselves,” Johnson said.

Johnson says his goal is to expand these classes into a culinary camp. To support the nonprofit and learn more about the next cooking class, you can visit their website here.