WILSON, Okla.- Louise Roberts (Mvskoke) always thinks of something to cook. As a member of the Wilson Indian Community Center, Roberts had been wanting to teach children and adults some of the foods that she has known how to cook and the foods she remembers growing up as a child herself. Roberts, who attends Nuyaka Indian Baptist Church and belongs to Thlopthlocco tribal town, began hosting cooking classes last fall at WIC every Monday at 6:30 p.m for anyone wanting to learn how to cook traditional and non traditional meals. Each week she surprises them with what meal they’re going to cook.
Cooking classes at the WIC are open to both children and adults. “We wanted to do something for our community, the adults and children, it just took off from there. I told the children when we were getting started that we were going to do traditional and nontraditional, just everyday meals so that when they get ready to leave home they would know some little skills about just fixing a quick meal,” Roberts said.
One of Roberts’s favorite meals she cooks is chicken and dumplings. She usually prepares the chicken before the classes begin because that does take time, but participants make the dough for the dumplings.
Roberts knows that some of the children will one day live on their own or go off to college, and that when they start buying their own food to cook they need to know what to do so they won’t have to go hungry. “I hope that as they get older and when they do get out on their own these children they’ll remember the cooking class and continue to cook the food that has been taught to them, even the adults,” Roberts said.
Since these classes are for anyone to join, she has seen some of the members of the Okmulgee Indian Community Center come and take a class as well. They started out with 20-25 people, but that number can fluctuate depending on work and school schedules. Roberts has noticed that even with the fluctuations participants all enjoy it.
The classes are open to anyone, and Roberts has also invited anyone that knows how to cook traditional or nontraditional foods. She is always willing to learn or hear other ideas of how to cook meals, like differences in grape dumplings or chicken and dumplings.
She has also noticed that when some men lose their spouse she sees them losing weight. “It’s because the cook was gone and I told my daughter I said I want to show them how to get in there and make an egg sandwich, something simple like that. I’ve seen a lot of men lose weight and my heart just kind of went out to them and I said we can teach them. They can come and learn just how to make something real simple,” Roberts said.
So far, classes have made fry bread, grape dumplings, chicken and dumplings, chicken and rice, along with other foods. During their time cooking, Roberts likes to incorporate the Mvskoke words for their food so that they are also learning the language.
Roberts likes that all are willing to learn and get in the kitchen to start whipping up the meals. She loves to see when students start doing it by themselves and she’s also there for them for guidance. “They’re all getting to know how to make the fry bread, they get to know how to knead it,” Roberts said.
Roberts teaches safety first before she lets students go off on their own, like dealing with a skillet on the stove. She shared that she always helps children put foods like fry bread in a hot skillet.
Roberts understands you have to go slow and cooking can’t be learned in one or two days, so she often repeats meals. According to Roberts, every Monday evening they make fry bread and sometimes grape dumplings.
One day Roberts wants to let them turn loose and see how far they have come along, and to show her if they are able to cook the simple meals by themselves. This, she shared, will assure her that they will be able to do this on their own when the classes are over and they continue learning to do more at home.
Roberts is grateful to be able to host these classes and make them happy to help them learn how to cook, she always sees their excitement when they come into the classes. She likes when they all come together after cooking and being able to enjoy their own meals.
For any updates on the classes visit the Wilson Indian Community Facebook page or for information about the cooking classes contact Louise Roberts at 918-961-4920.
