February 18, 2000

Kids, Cops and Chefs cooked Up a Storm at the Inaugural
"Kids Can Cook, Too!" Event

Coronado — Recognizing that poor eating patterns established in childhood usually transfer to adulthood, chefs from Loews Coronado Bay Resort and kids from San Diego's Star Police Athletic League (PAL) cooked up a solution.


Chef de Cuisine Michael Stebner shows kids from the Star Police Athletic League how to prepare lasagna at “Kids Can Cook, Too!” event while Kathleen Cochran consults.

"Kids Can Cook, Too!" teamed Loews Hotels' chefs with their local PAL chapters in 14 cities to teach approximately 600 children, aged 6 to 16 years, the basic of cooking and nutrition. The majority of these children lack supervision after school because they have parents who work full time. With this in mind, Loews chefs spent two hours talking with the children about nutrition and kitchen safety, and taught them how to cook age-appropriate recipes that are economical, healthy and delicious.

"Partnering with PAL for `Kids Can Cook, Too! is a perfect example of the reason we created our Good Neighbor Policy," said Jonathan Tisch, president & CEO of Loews Hotels. "It allows us to address an important issue that affects kids everywhere by maximizing the resources inherent to the operations of hotels."

Tisch's commitment to social responsibility sparked him to create Loews Hotel's Good Neighbor Policy, the hospitality industry's first and most comprehensive community outreach program. It has earned Loews Hotels numerous honors including the President's Service Award from the Points of Light Foundation.


Executive Sous Chef Fabrice Gaunin and local Star Police Athletic League kids show off the meatloaf they learned to prepare from scratch.


"Kids Can Cook, Too!" is part of a series of events which took place at Loews Hotels across the nation in 2000 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the policy, which responds to six different areas of social concern. Loews Hotels' Good Neighbor Policy requires each of its hotels to invest in their communities through food donations, literacy programs, recycling, energy-conservation measures, donation of furniture and linens to shelters, and employee volunteerism.

The impetus behind "Kids Can Cook, Too" comes from a disturbing trend in the eating habits of young children across the country. Nationwide surveys conducted over the past six years by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) cite the following statistics:

The number of overweight children aged 6 to 17 years had doubled within three decades. That means approximately one in five children in the United States is overweight.

Fruit consumption declines as children get older, currently the top snack foods for kids in the US are either fried or processed.

By the time they are teenagers, fast food restaurants become the most frequent source of outside-the-home food for boys and the second-most frequent source for girls—after the school cafeteria.

Less than 16 percent of children eat green beans, green peas and lima beans on a given day.

More than just a one-day event, "Kids Can Cook, Too!" lays the foundation for expansion to future PAL members. In order to encourage these young, future chefs to share their new cooking skills with additional PAL children, Loews Hotels has donated non-perishable foods to all participating PAL chapters and the materials to reproduce the event time and again.

"We are always happy to expand the PAL programs to include classes that directly benefit our young members. Loews Hotels `Kids Can Cook, Too!' does just that," said Ralph Giardina, president of the National Association of PAL. "Because so many PAL children have parents who work full-time, it is crucial for these kids to learn about safety in the kitchen and how to prepare simple, nutritious meals on their own. The lessons taught by `Kids Can Cook, Too!' classes will last a lifetime."

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