In the Mouths of Babes

The time: 11:45 a.m. The place: an elementary school lunchroom.

“I’ve got glass noodles and a fish cake, again .”

“Two leftover ham croquetas and a papa rellena . Anyone?”

“Cool, I’ve got a tofu salad.”

“Hey, is that rice pilaf?”

“Will somebody please take this menudo off my hands?”

Bring back warm, fuzzy school memories? Didn’t think so.

Meals in the lunchroom or schoolyard ain’t what they used to be.

Last spring, I had the opportunity, along with another Hancock Park Elementary School second-grade mom (and talented chef, Laura Labelle), to teach an after-school enrichment class on healthy cooking to kindergarteners, first-and second-graders.

At least I thought I was there to teach them. I’m not sure who learned more. Those 5-, 6-and 7-year-olds have a knowledge of food that is truly astonishing.

Of course that’s not universally true--there was one kindergartener who was reluctant to participate until his mother suggested that we make English muffin pizzas--but the other kids were extremely adventurous. A first-grader was eager to make something with tiger shrimp. A second-grader happily munched on raw ginger-a lot of it. One little girl was hoping to learn how to make sushi, while my daughter just wanted to eat the seaweed.

When I did a class on breakfast, we made pancakes and waffles, and they asked intelligent questions about when to use baking powder and when to use baking soda. And what about yeast? Some of them actually knew that yeast was used for leavening. I’m reluctant to admit that I didn’t know that until I was about 20.

We made flavored butters to go with the pancakes and waffles, and they made great suggestions about different things to add. The honey-nut butter was my idea, but their ideas were strawberry butter and blueberry butter. Someone even suggested chocolate butter.

We didn’t have much to work with, just an electric wok and a hot plate, but our stir-fried veggies and fried rice with tofu sure attracted attention. Teachers and administrative aides from all over the building kept popping their heads into our classroom asking, “What is that great smell?” You should have seen those little faces beam with pride.

They’re familiar with ginger, serrano chiles, jerk chicken and edamame . They know the difference between a white button mushroom and a straw mushroom. They’ll question your choice of cilantro in that noodle dish instead of mint. They are not at all afraid to tell you that that’s not the way their mom or dad makes it.

More importantly, they’re not afraid to try something new. They’re actually eager. Where this juvenile culinary sophistication comes from is up for debate, but I think that there are certain undeniable factors.

The most obvious is that they live in Southern California, where we adults are, after all, terribly obsessed when it comes to food. Living here does provide children with a unique opportunity to sample cooking from virtually every nation on Earth.

That’s true even in the lunchroom. According to the Los Angeles Unified School District, there are 21 “cultures” represented at Hancock Park Elementary, including Korean, Latino, Chinese, Arab, Armenian, French, Indonesian, Russian and German.

The children told me about their favorite restaurants: tofu salad at a great Japanese place on the Westside. Korean barbeque? Everyone had a favorite place. They even let me in on where their parents take them for a good fish grill. Kids and grilled fish? Go figure.

Their parents want their children to experience different foods. Wonton soup is no longer exotic. Certainly not in the Fairfax district, where these kids go to school, which has numerous Ethiopian and Indian restaurants and markets. Not to mention kosher and Russian places.

And look at what the schools themselves are doing. Forget about report cards; in my house, the most important mailing from school is the lunch menu.

Public school lunchrooms today offer everything from calzones to chalupas. My children spend hours poring over the possibilities. In a bold marker they strike out what they definitely don’t want and circle, several times, what they do.

That’s nothing compared to what they trade among themselves. Their friends’ insulated lunchboxes carry sushi, curry, taquitos , kimchi and birria. My kids come home asking, “Why don’t I take pad Thai for lunch?”

That was most definitely not the case when I was growing up. Thirty years ago my Cuban mother would sometimes pack things such as leftover ropa vieja or a papa rellena in my lunch bag--my classmates were never going to try those.

A Thai/Chinese friend remembers similar experiences. His mom used to send sticky rice balls to school for his lunch. Or Spam-fried rice. Imagine having those in your lunchbox.

The thing is, today we could probably make a darned good lunchroom trade for those “yucky” foods. Forget peanut butter and jelly on white. Today’s kids are game.