SPICING UP CLASS WORK : STUDENTS TURN LESSON INTO LUNCH.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

The stainless-steel surroundings of the school systems' central kitchen became Cocina Valencia on Friday as 28 fourth-graders donned aprons to cook a Mexican feast with a California Missions theme.

Students from Joan Malkowski's class at Valencia Valley Elementary School prepared chili, salsa, fresh fruit with yogurt, salad, pastries and fresh-baked bread all morning for a noontime meal that some of their parents, siblings and grandparents attended at the Santa Clarita Valley School Food Services Agency.

Each day, the Anza Drive facility prepares 5,000 hot lunches and 1,000 breakfasts for students at 17 schools in the Castaic, Newhall and Sulphur Springs school districts, said Anne Grandjean, manager of the central kitchen.

But on Friday, the people wearing the chef's hats, plastic aprons and gloves were enthusiastic 9- and 10-year-olds. Under the tutelage of central kitchen staff, they chopped bananas for fruit kebabs, spooned vanilla pudding into star-shaped tart tins and diced tomatoes, cilantro and onions for the salsa.

That last task brought Mitchell Feuerstein and Ryan Elvira to tears.

``Ow! Ow! My eyes hurt. It stings,'' whimpered Mitchell, 9.

``I chopped one (onion) and it feels like sand in your eyes,'' 10-year-old Ryan said.

The pair, along with classmates Alex Csernay and Garrett Pascolla, both 9, chatted about the macaroni and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, and pizza they help fix at home, all the while seasoning and stirring 3 gallons of salsa.

The budding chefs also compared notes on TV cooking shows they like to watch - ``Yan Can Cook'' with chef Martin Yan on PBS, and programs on cable's Television Food Network: ``Two Hot Tamales'' hosted by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, and ``Essence of Emeril,'' with chef-restaurateur Emeril Lagasse.

``Julia Child is annoying,'' Alex said. ``Emeril is funny. He's from New Orleans.''

This month the central kitchen staff is teaching students from Valencia Valley, Meadows, Leona Cox and Mint Canyon elementary schools, along with Castaic Middle School about nutrition, sanitation, food preparation and presentation as part of a program sponsored by the state Department of Education and the Dairy Council of California.

The idea is not only for the kids to learn a vital skill they can use as adults, but also to show that preparing meals and dining are things that families can do together - thereby bringing back an era when families sat down to dinner together and talked about their day.

``We were concerned about the lack of family meals in today's society. People don't sit around the dinner table together anymore,'' Grandjean said.

Long tables at the central kitchen were decorated with green and yellow crepe-paper flowers and matching place mats, on which students had pasted and colored pictures of the Santa Barbara, San Buenaventura, San Diego and Santa Clara missions.

Malkowski said her students have been learning about all 21 California missions, and they chose a Mexican menu to tie in with that theme.

Over a tub of lettuce, cabbage and cherry tomatoes, Jessica Zaura and Lynda Clark, both 9, prepared the salad. ``Salsa is a boy thing,'' Jessica said, trying to explain why she and her friends chose salad and table-setting duty while their male classmates seemed to gravitate to the spicy condiment.

``Sometimes, when my mom's not home, she asks me to make dinner . . . like lasagna and chili,'' said fellow salad chef Brittany Watkins, 9.

``This looks so yummy,'' Daniel Fernandez, 9, said as he scooped a mixture of plain yogurt and pineapple juice into tiny paper cups.

``I'm so hungry,'' said Gerald Espinosa, 9, as he wondered how he would last another hour until mealtime.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Valencia Valley Elementary students prepare a salad for a lunch at the Santa Clarita Valley School Food Services Agency on Friday.

(2--Color) Iris Granatelli helps Jennifer Brown, 9, pipe a whipped-cream topping over a tray of chocolate cream pies.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News