Wow!!! Some of these responses make me gald I don't have kids in the school system!!! They also make me glad I am not a teacher, if these are the types of parents teachers have to deal with! My neighbor is a teacher and boy do I feel sorry for her now!!!!!!!!
So let me get this straight. The teacher wants a 10 year old to come up with a simple recipe for something using chocolate. The problems are food allergies, the cleanliness of other peoples' kitchens, a lazy teacher who only wants to stuff her mouth with dessert, and it's the end of the year and parents don't "feel" like guiding their kids as they do their homework.
Food Allergies-probably about the only one which may have some merit, as I know peanut allergies etc can be a problem. My thought is that if that were discussed with the teacher, and your child did have a severe allergy where you were truly afraid of harm, that some sort of compromise could be reached which would enable your child to complete the assignment without endangering their life.
Cleanliness-as other posters have said, you don't want to think about what your kids contact in school on a daily basis, so this is a non-argument
Lazy Teacher-actually, the teacher sounds like someone who is trying to think up creative ways for her kids to learn different concepts
Lazy Parents- 'nuff said
If the teacher sat there all day and read from a book and passed out worksheets, parents would be complaining that she wasn't creative, didn't put time into making lesson plans, their child is gifted and she's bored by the way the teacher teaches, there's a word on the worksheet that my child didn't undestand so I actually had to take time to explain something to my child and it's the end of the year (or 3 days before Christmas, or my brithday) and I don't feel like taking the time to explain something.
The thing doesn't have to be complicated. There were some good ideas presented here.
Those of you who would complain to the principal, the school board, and the Pope have bigger "issues" with anger, control, etc than can ever be addressed in an internet forum. Keep "fixing" things for little Johnny or Susie, so they don't have to do anything which might be a little hard, or thought-provoking, or "inconvenient". Just don't be surprised at how your child turns out. Good luck!