Food Project - The Kitchen

As I look back at my notes and enjoy the pictures of our incredible week together I see an experience filled with bonding, pride, teamwork, creativity, leadership, understanding, growth and of course delicious goodies!

You guys simply AMAZED me and I can truly say exceeded what I could have ever imagined.

I went into this experience truly open to watching the growth and blooms of the garden of students and ingredients we were working with. We began with mystery baskets as shown above... These guys worked as teams to create dishes based on the ingredients available. Chef Perrymon and I had sat down prior to this activity to discuss some options based on the ingredients we were able to receive from the food bank from this project. Lets just say the youth came up with ideas we hadn't even thought of!

The youth were given the challenge of creating 2 dishes per team to serve at their Reflection Luncheon and Final Celebration. These students were able to look at these pantry items such as canned beans, sweetened condensed milk, pasta shells, flour and eggs and create a phenomenal menu. They not only prepared to dishes per group but 4! Creating 20 amazing dishes in all. Despite some minor frustrations because of missing ingredients that we take for granted using daily these students were able to refocus and think outside of the box! This allowed for some great recipes to be discovered and substitution tricks for example, lime soda for lemon juice!!!

We were able to learn and practice kitchen etiquette! How many of us are shouting HOT PAN in the kitchen still? I am very proud of how you all took ownership of your dish and put your all into creating something for others to enjoy. Continue to share the gift of food with family, friends and even strangers!

I will post your finished menu you soon! Let me know if you have made any of these dishes at home?

Chef Dene