WASHINGTON DEPOT, CONN., November 11, 2026— A new weekly cooking club at Rumsey Hall School finds students tackling a new cooking concept every Tuesday morning, with a twist: they don’t all do the same thing. Rather, their instructor is showing them variations on technique and the impact each has on the final product.
The club emanates from CulinArt’s Flavor Lab concept, which originated at The Wheeler School and is also in full swing at Brookwood School. Flavor Lab is a hands-on teaching program that transforms everyday spaces into engaging culinary classrooms.
The club is one of several taking place at Rumsey Hall on Tuesday mornings; others explore math, chess, fishing, etc. “This is something I have wanted to start at Rumsey for a couple of years,” says Tom Hinman, director of dining services. Students participate in a Club Fair early in the school year and this year worked with Dining Services to create the cooking club, he adds.
A dozen students in grades ranging from six to nine are participating in the cooking club. Early on, Hinman endeavored to determine what they were looking to accomplish. “Some students said they wanted to learn the basics of cooking or baking,” he explains. “Others mentioned a specific dish they would like to learn to cook. Still others were interested in cuisines of specific countries or cultures, and some were excited to share with the community their passion for food and cooking.”
With these myriad motivations, “we set out to accomplish those goals for each student and make it fun while teaching skills that will last a lifetime,” Hinman says.
Topics have so far included homemade mayonnaise, salad dressings, and cookies, with soups, salads, and vegetable-and-starch preparation on tap, along with preparation, technique, and cooking methods. For example, “sweating a vegetable versus sautéing, and how to bread something,” Hinman says—”skills that can be used in a variety of preparations.”
“We are mixing the science behind cooking as well to make it fun and memorable,” he adds. “This past week the students broke into teams and made the exact same cookie recipe by treating the butter in three different ways: using softened butter, creaming the butter, and using melted butter. They then ran a TryIt! table at lunch, serving the results to their 200-plus classmates.”