ELLOREE — Children’s cooking classes are being held at the Elloree Heritage Museum & Cultural Center as part of a traveling food exhibit.

The Humanities Council of South Carolina and the Smithsonian Institution chose the Elloree Heritage Museum & Cultural center as the site for a food exhibit designed to educate the public on food as the “great social denominator.”

The exhibit is entitled “Key Ingredients – America By Food” and will run through Saturday, Aug. 9. The exhibit is part of the Museum on Main Street project, a national-state partnership designed to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations.

Food has been touted as the key ingredient to helping us better understand our neighbors and ourselves. The exhibit illustrates a variety of foods with which particular areas of our country are associated: Idaho potatoes, Maryland crab, Georgia peaches, Hawaiian pineapple and Wisconsin cheese.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the museum is presenting Children’s Cooking Classes for ages 6 to 10 and 11 to 14. Classes for the 6- to 10-year-old group were held last week. Classes for 10- to 14-year-old children will be held July 15-17.

Jackson Weathers and Stephanie Zeigler were among the 6-year-old cooking class participants. Brad Lake, Danielle Edwards, Mary Virginia Ardis, Luke Clossman and Ramsey Ann Woods were among the 7-year-old children who participated.

Eight-year-old cooking class students included: Kristen Cherry, Kathleen Zeigler, Mary Crosby Spires and Elly Haigler. Jennifer Colter, Anna Clayton and Ashlyn Spires were the 9-year-olds who took part in the cooking fun.

Jean Fogle, a museum volunteer, served as the teacher for the enthusiastic group of children.

She first showed her students how to make apple and peanut butter sandwiches as a healthy snack. Fogle explained that apples contain water, sugar and fiber, with peanut butter containing protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

“I really liked the apple and peanut butter sandwich,” 7-year-old Luke Clossman said.

The children then enjoyed creating and eating a flag using carrot strips, cucumber slices and tomatoes, with 9-year-old Ashlyn Spires noting that she “liked making and eating the food.”

The next class project was making a boat out of a lettuce leaf, which the children filled with their favorite vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and celery. “Cooking class was fun,” 8-year-old Mary Crosby Spires said.

Adadra Williams, the museum’s administrative manager, encouraged the public to attend other exhibit events.

“We had a good crowd of children for our first class and encourage the public to attend the upcoming events related to ‘Key Ingredients,’” Williams said.

For more information on the cooking classes or the exhibit, call 803-897-2225.

T&D Correspondent Shirley Upton can be reached by e-mail at writer@ntinet.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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