| OP family creates 'Jr. Cuisine Cooking Show' |
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One Orland Park family seems to have found the recipe for success with a new cooking show for children. "The Jr. Cuisine Cooking Show" is the brainchild of Cherise Ragland. A concept inspired by youngest daughter Kierra, who had a devout interest in cooking as a child, Cherise struggled to find a program available for her to begin honing her culinary skills. "There was everything else, but what about kids who love to cook?" Cherise said. "She would watch Rachael Ray and Emeril [Lagasse], make a grocery list and make the food at home. I just thought I have to get something for her."  Cherise began calling around to area culinary institutes to find out if they had programs for children, but had no luck. It was then that she decided to take matters into her own hands, starting USA Cooking Camps, Inc. in 2007. But Cherise had already wanted to take it one step further — create a cooking show for children. "As a mom watching all the other kids shows with my kids for years, I knew it had to be fun, have music and also be educational," she said. She teamed up with her husband, D'Shaun, who is a music producer, and cousin Gerald Jackson, who had worked in television production, to create the show's first pilot in 2004, prior to the cooking camps. "After I did the show, I wasn't satisfied," she said. "We started doing the USA Cooking Camps, teaching cooking classes in municipalities in the south suburbs, and we did more than 400 camps and I was able to develop the concept more. "With having so many classes with kids and cooking, I was able to come up with the writing and the script since I was living it." After reshooting the pilot show this past year, "Jr. Cuisine Cooking Show" became a reality. An extension of the USA Cooking Camps, the show hosted a red carpet premiere Friday, Aug. 27, and aired Saturday, Aug. 28, for the first time. It will begin airing regularly this fall on local PBS WYCC 20. Filmed at Macy's Culinary Studio in Chicago, the first episode featured guest chef and WGN-TV reporter Julian Crews, owner and founder of Old Havana Foods. The show is targeted to children ages 7-14 and their parents. The show will tape 13 episodes per season, airing twice a week with a studio audience of 25-50 guests for each taping.  Cherise, who executive produces the show with D'Shaun and Jackson, said that the show will feature a cast of 16 local children cooking, with a Chef of the Day. The show will also highlight a chef from the community, as well as a dessert recipe. Cherise also said that six children are field correspondents for the show, answering questions submitted online. "They actually go out in the community and answer questions in the field," she said. "For the first episode, we had them go to a dairy farm." The show is what Cherise hopes will start somewhat of a culinary movement for not only children, but families. "One of the things for me was really seeing it more than just a show, but more of a movement," she said. "With culinary and kids, it's becoming so popular." Now a senior at Carl Sandburg High School, Kierra works as a production chef on the show. "It's inspiring and cool to see Kierra living out her dream on the show," Cherise said. Cherise's daughter Alexis wrote the theme song and is the image consultant for the show while her son Christian is a production assistant on the show. "We are a creative family and that is the heartbeat of the show," Cherise said. "We hope to bring families back to the dinner table and food has always been a way to do that." With the hectic schedule they have had with filming the pilot and getting ready to shoot the first season of the show, the Ragland family still finds time to sit down to eat together. "We love to do that," Cherise said. "Our favorite is breakfast and we get together on Saturday mornings." Source http://www.opprairie.com/ |
