Inquiring Chef Academy
Cooking Camps in Kansas City
Cook with Us!
Does your child love helping in the kitchen or are they ready to learn more? At Inquiring Chef Academy, kids from kindergarten to 7th grade gain hands-on cooking experience and build confidence in the kitchen.
No matter their age or prior experience, all of our students learn the fundamentals of cooking and baking, craft ways to present their creations, and work in small groups to prepare a variety of recipes.
Summer Camp 2025
We are already looking forward to summer 2025 cooking camps! The next camps will be held throughout the summer of 2025 at Second Presbyterian Church in Brookside (318 E 55th St, Kansas City, MO 64113). This summer the theme is Summer Potluck! Campers will learn to make summertime favorites with an emphasis on dishes they could share at summer gatherings. Think pasta salad, potato salad, BBQ chicken sandwiches, and strawberry shortcake!
Summer cooking camps are designed for kids who have completed kindergarten through completed 7th grade. Campers are divided into groups with similar-aged kids. All of our groups are taught by professional chef Jess Smith (bio below) and guided by our talented, responsible high school and college counselors.
All of our campers complete a baking and cooking session each day and learn to prepare the lunch that we all eat together. Our skills build on one other throughout the week and include knife skills, cooking foundations like preparing vegetables, mis en place, reading and executing a recipe, and understanding how to use a large variety of common cooking tools. We also practice setting the table and table manners through fun crafts and games.
This summer we are offering a middle school track with advanced activities designed for our older campers to learn about meal planning, grocery budgets, and independently executing basic meals from start to finish.
Summer camps run Monday-Friday, from 9am-1pm. We offer an extended day option until 2pm. *1pm-2pm does not include cooking curriculum but will be supervised time to play games, do crafts, and play outside if the weather allows.
Every Friday our campers host a VIP lunch which is one of the highlights of the week! Each camper can invite one guest to lunch. Campers will prepare and serve a three-course lunch to their VIP, showcasing all of the skills that they learned.
All campers receive a copy of every recipe we make.
Currently our planned dates for summer 2025 are:
June 23-27, 2025 – Cooking Camp Week 1
July 7-11, 2025 – Cooking Camp Week 2
July 21- 25, 2025 – Cooking Camp Week 3
August 4-8, 2025 – Cooking Camp Week 4
Cost of camp (9am-1pm): $350 / week (10% discount sibling discount)
Cost of extended day until 2pm: $50 / week (10% discount sibling discount)
Each week of cooking camp will follow the same curriculum, so while your children are more than welcome to attend multiple weeks to fine-tune their skills, they will be baking and cooking the same things each week.
Registration for summer cooking camps will open on Monday, January 27 at 8am on this page. Be sure to add your email address to our mailing list using the form below to get a reminder as soon as camps open.
Meet Jess
All of our camps are taught by Jess Smith alongside a team of staff and counselors. Jess has been cooking professionally for 15 years. She served as chief recipe developer at Cook Smarts and has been featured in Raddish Kids, Parade, Hallmark, Honest Cooking, Livestrong, Self, Yahoo, NBC, HuffPost, and She Knows.
Jess has a Masters’ Degree in Education Policy and spent the early part of her career working in education. She is a proud mom to Molly and Clara (age 10) and June (age 6) who attend Académie Lafayette.
You can find Jess most days of the week sharing vegetable-forward recipes on Instagram. Her cookbook, Start with a Vegetable, is available everywhere books are sold.
Questions?
Contact Jess and the team at camp@inquiringchef.com.
FAQs
Camps are held in Westminster Hall at Second Presbyterian Church (318 E. 55th St. Kansas City, MO 64113).
Each of our camps host 36 kids. We have a ratio of 1:4 staff to campers.
Please note it in your registration form. If it is a severe allergy please reach out at camp@inquiringchef.com before registering so we can discuss if it is possible for us to offer a safe environment.
We often cook with flour, eggs, and dairy. We aren’t able to provide a gluten-free option at this time. All of our camps are nut-free, but we cannot guarantee that the spaces we use have not been exposed to potential allergens like nuts.
The cost of all of our cooking camps include everything your child will need while they are with us: snacks, lunches, and treats to bring home to share. It also includes lunch for their VIP guest on Friday. All they need to bring each day is themselves and a water bottle!
Yes! This year our core camp hours run from 9am-1pm. We are offering an extended day option that allows kids to stay until 2pm and play games, do crafts, and visit with friends under the supervision of our talented staff.
As a mom to three elementary-aged girls, Jess understands this challenge well! We are a zero-pressure environment and never pressure anyone to taste something they’re not ready to try. If your child is in a picky eating phase, they will still have fun learning cooking and baking skills, handling and preparing a variety of foods, and making new friends.
We serve a wide variety of dishes at every meal, including lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and accessible carbs. All of our snacks and meals are served family-style so that our campers have plenty of choices and can choose what they want to eat.
If the cost of camp is prohibitive, contact Jess directly at jess@inquiringchef.com. We have scholarships available and do our best to make it possible for every child to attend.
We offer a refund for any cancellation as long as we are able to fill your spot with someone from the waitlist. Our classes often have a waitlist, so reach out to us at camp@inquiringchef.com to inquire. We are unable to offer a refund for cancellations made within 48 hours of the start of camp, so if something changes in your schedule, be sure to reach out before then.
Apply to be a Camp Counselor!
Camp is run by a talented, enthusiastic team of counselors and staff. All counselors and staff are thoroughly vetted and trained. If you are or know of someone who would be interested in working with Jess, please see here for more information.
