Parents Night Dinner
May 20th, 2009 · No Comments · Posted in Blog, kids
Catfish Veracruz was last night's featured entree
Well, we pulled off another successful parents night dinner last night at the elementary school where I teach food appreciation. Close to 50 parents and their children found seats in the multi-purpose room where our crack staff of after-school counselors was primed to serve a sumptuous menu.
Bowls of our fiery pumpkin seed dip had been placed on the tables with freshly sliced jicama. The kids then formed a line to pick up plates of catfish Veracruz, Cuban black beans and fried plantains–all representing recent stops our classes have made on our virtual culinary world tour. Soon, parents and kids were coming back for seconds and I watched pans of food I feared might be excessively overloaded quickly dwindle down to empty.
For dessert, we passed tawa-tawas, the fried pastry we discovered on our trip to Bolivia, dripping honey and dusted with powdered sugar. It all went very smoothly, and to match the impeccable service, the decor at these events keeps getting better and better. The kids had made funky centerpieces that looked like something out of “Sponge Bob,” as well as hand-drawn placemats and laminated menus.
I get a chance to say a few words to the parents before the meal starts, but it’s hardly enough time to cover everything we are trying to accomplish with these classes: to teach children about where our food comes from, why we eat the things we eat, how we can eat more healthfully and appreciatively. In process, we even pass along a few lesson about safe and efficient food preparation. We make everything by hand–no electric gadgets–and use fresh, whole ingredients.
Recently we’ve been talking more about the problems of overfishing in the oceans and how to choose sustainable seafood ingredients. Touring the world via the kitchen is a departure from our usual ingredient-based approach. But in our explorations we are learning lots about foods we had never heard of before and how other cultures weave a cuisine around the ingredients they have close at hand.
You know what? The kids are learning. They are really getting to be good prep cooks.
And last night, for once, we had plenty of food left over to feed the staff. Really, I think we should consider opening our own cafe.
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