Taste Quest Mission and Methodology
Mission:
To equip educators with play-based methodology for enhancing kids’ culinary literacy and confidence.
Vision:
To see kids confidently using food to nourish their physical, social, and emotional wellbeing.
What We Believe
Culinary literacy is an urgent need.
Young people can disrupt negative health trends through deepening their awareness of the world of food and learning how to be an ambassador of food to their communities.
Growth starts with curiosity.
Curiosity kickstarts every rich learning experience. It leads to creativity, critical thinking, compassion, and confidence. Simple exposures to foods, techniques, cultures, history, science, etc. can yield tremendous results.
We need to play with our food!
Young people are more likely to try something new if their mindset is playful. Research shows that facilitated play yields the best learning experiences: Minds-on, engaging, meaningful, socially interactive, iterative, and joyful.
Cooking fosters confidence.
With just a little bit of practice, cooking can become a skill kids will proudly use the rest of their lives…as we like to say…cooking is a superpower!
Why Play with Food
Food is fantastic medium through which kids can develop confidence in managing their health and relationships. Within minutes, kids go from feeling incapable to empowered after making something new with food. This confidence spills over into health awareness, relationships, and executive functioning. Taste Quest’s play-based learning methodology is always hands-on to encourage that sense of satisfaction of doing something real and really useful.
How do we know kids are learning by playing with food? Taste Quest draws from research in the science of learning to create activities that promote an optimum experience which is characterized by…
learning that is active (mind-on), meaningful, engaging,
socially interactive, iterative, and joyful.
Partner with Us Today!
Want to use Taste Quest
with your kiddos?
Want to reach more kids with
playful culinary literacy education?
Want your business to team up
with Taste Quest?
Meet our Team
About Our Founder
Founder and Director Emily Capo Sauerman really likes raspberries. And dumplings. And étouffée. And oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with a cup of tea. Most importantly, she likes sharing food with everyone around her, especially kids.
Emily brings a multifaceted background to the task of launching Taste Quest, including work with several publications, nonprofit marketing and development, and small business consulting. She is also an avid experimenter in the kitchen, perfecting techniques and flavors from all over the world to enhance her culinary repertoire.
Emily lives in Nashville with her husband, Josh, their daughters, Elizabeth and Abigail. Emily is always trying to find ways to involve the girls in the kitchen, believing that food, in both preparation and consumption, is critical for growing up well.
Meet our Board
Sarah Martin, MPP, RDN, LDN, is a licensed Registered Dietitian and the Manager of Nutrition in Culinary Innovation for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. She has a diverse background of experience including worksite wellness, school nutrition and food service management, public policy, recipe development and nutrient analysis and menu labeling. A Tennessee native and farmer’s daughter, Sarah’s passion for agriculture and food led her into a career in the restaurant industry. Sarah has held various leadership roles in her dietetic profession, and she enjoys being able to serve her local community and supporting the future of food and nutrition experts.
