Who We Are

GTL (Grow to Live) Culinary Youth Camp is a culturally themed healthy living culinary summer program that imparts valuable life long skills for kids ages 5 to 13 and encourages fun in the kitchen!  Our signature  "Around the World in a Week", cooks up flavorful healthy meals from around the world while campers are introduced to new cuisine. Campers learn geography, etiquette, social skills, entrepreneurship, personal care and simply have fun! GTL's  mission is to teach children the benefit of healthy food choices that ultimately lead to a healthy body and how poor diet habits affect the body, particularly in socio-economic urban areas. Campers also learn that healthy living can be achieved even on a budget!

What We Offer

We offer a fun and nutritious 8 week program that is focused on good health and creating great eating habits. Our new plant-based menu consists of whole foods and natural drinks. Campers are introduced to tasty new foods, spices, seasonings, fruit and vegetables as they prepare all their meals from start to finish. This hands-on approach promotes self-sufficiency habits and campers begin associating good food with good health. 

Kids enjoy their time at camp learning basic life skills and the origin of the meals they'll prepare. They'll be cooking up fabulous flavors from other countries and also learning the cooking techniques & ingredients that make them unique. Campers will surely expand their world knowledge and palates!  But, it's not all learning. They'll have fun learning new culinary games, attending field trips, yoga and outdoor play too!

During kitchen time campers learn:

• kitchen and food safety

• how to properly use knives and other utensils

• how to read and measure labels and recipes

• how to plan and budget for meals

• how to plate a meal

During lesson time campers learn:

• food nutrition and how food can help or harm the body

• how to serve a meal

• how to socialize at meal time / table manners

• etiquette

• basic life skills

• character development and personal care

• geography - the origin of the meal for the week

• entrepreneurship

During recreation time campers have fun!

• new culinary games 

• exercise (yoga)

• arts & crafts

• storytelling

• field trips

We begin each day with a healthy breakfast then discuss how and where food is grown and introduce campers to different fruit, vegetables and recipes from around the world. We incorporate exercise in each day to show campers that body movement is important. Field trips are planned to encourage and teach campers how to dine out and learn the food chain process. Camp ends with a Certificate of Completion, a Jr. Chef Competition and a culinary feast for family and friends prepared exclusively by the campers.