Celebrity Chef Marvin Woods will Cook with Kids at Charleston Food and Wine Festival

Cooking with kids: Chef Marvin Woods shows how to prepare quick, healthy, nutritious meals after school to help manage juvenile diabetes and obesity

CHARLESTON, SC – March 3, 2009 – Celebrity Chef Marvin Woods will give a cooking demonstration on how to manage childhood juvenile diabetes and obesity by creating healthy, flavorful and exciting food for kids and their families during an appearance at the Charleston Food and Wine Festival.

“We thought this would be a great way to involve some of the students who are enrolled in our 21 Homework Centers in public schools throughout South Carolina,” said Norvell Pettis, director of SCE&G Homework Centers. “One of Chef Wood’s newest ventures is a kid’s wellness program designed to help kids and their families eat healthy, yet good tasting food. It’s been shown that a poor diet can also have an adverse impact on a student’s ability to function in the classroom.”

The select fifth graders, from Oakland Elementary School in Charleston, will act as sous chefs for Woods as he demonstrates how to create healthy, modern versions of Southern and Lowcountry dishes that make great meals for after school. Woods and the Homework Center students will appear at the SCE&G Celebrity Kitchen on Sunday from 1:30-2 p.m.

The students helping Woods during his Sunday cooking demonstration are: Nicholas Washington, Tristan Postell, Jamie Rentz and Brionda Jenkins.

Woods is an Emmy Award-nominated television host, lauded cookbook author and celebrated chef. He is the well-known host of Turner South’s “Home Plate,” the show which has showcased his charismatic personality and lighter twist on traditional Southern cooking.  His newest venture is a national kids’ wellness program called “Droppin’ Knowledge with Chef Marvin Woods” that focuses on a positive way to prevent childhood diabetes and obesity.
Quick Facts

• The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 more than doubled in the past 20 years, going from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17.0 percent in 2006.
• The rate among adolescents aged 12 to 19 more than tripled, increasing from 5percent to 17.6 percent.
• Less than 40 percent of children and adolescents in the United States meet the country’s dietary guidelines for saturated fat. Hunger and food insufficiency in children are associated with poor behavioral and academic functioning.
• Children and adolescents who are overweight are more likely to be overweight or obese as adults. One study showed that children who became obese by age 8 were more severely obese as adults.  

Source:  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention