I have to admit, I’m a sucker for any kind of vegetable grown in a row. A row of lettuce heads fills me with envy, and makes me think it must have been planted by a genius.
But rows are for farmers. Rows are for walking down. Rows are for driving tractors through. Rows are not [...]
Entries Tagged as 'vegetables'
Are You a Square Gardener, or a Row Gardener?
June 29th, 2010 · No Comments · garden
Tags: compost·vegetables
Kids Make Spring Couscous Salad
May 21st, 2010 · No Comments · kids
One of the challenges of working with large groups of children in the kitchen is keeping their attention. Once you lose it, it can be difficult getting it back. If we can keep the kids working with their hands, they stay focused. This couscous salad is one of those dishes that requires lots of handiwork [...]
Tags: food appreciation·North African·salad·spring·vegetables
Lessons from Berkeley: The Truth About Vegetables
May 17th, 2010 · 13 Comments · Berkeley, kids, school food
Might as well say it straight up: Kids don’t like vegetables.
At least most kids don’t like most vegetables most of the time. That’s the ultimate lesson I draw after spending weeks in school kitchens from Washington, D.C., to Berkeley, CA. And that certainly challenges the idea of produce as a magic elixir for the childhood [...]
Berkeley Schools Cook from Scratch: Hold the Beans, Please
May 14th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Berkeley, kids, school food
After spending hours sorting chicken pieces my first day on the job in the Berkeley school system’s central kitchen, I got a break. “How would you like to serve the kids at lunch?” asked Joan Gallagher, the sous chef in charge of kitchen production. “It’s the most exciting part of the day. You’ll get to [...]
Kids Makes Ethiopian Spicy Vegetables (Yataklete Kilkil)
April 23rd, 2010 · No Comments · Ethnic, Recipes, kids
Teaching kids about food and cooking I’ve come to learn that an appreciation for vegetables is largely a function of age. The younger ones–Kindergartners–walked away from this dish of freshly cooked vegetables tossed with aromatic butter. All they wanted was the bread. The older children–nine- and 10-year-olds–weren’t so crazy for the spongy Ethiopian injera bread, [...]
Sorry, We Can’t Cook: D.C. Schools Say ‘No’ to More Vegetables
March 18th, 2010 · 7 Comments · Tales, Wellness, kids
In a move that could signal a serious fault line in the argument for more vegetables as a tonic for childhood obesity, drafters of “Healthy Schools” legislation pending before the D.C. Council have skuttled a push for additional produce in school meals after school officials said they cannot guarantee their kitchens can prepare vegetables that kids will [...]
Kids Pass Knife Certification, Make Soup
January 30th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Tales, kids
Well, it’s finally happened. The kids in the food appreciation classes I teach at a private elementary school here in the District of Columbia have graduated (the older ones, at least) from plastic knives to real knives.
The only reason this hadn’t happened sooner was my failure to deliver on promises I’d been making for, oh, the [...]
Tags: chicken·food appreciation·kitchen techniques·soup·stocks·vegetables
Kids Make Chicken-Vegetable Stew with Palm Oil
January 26th, 2010 · No Comments · kids
Continuing on our virtual world culinary tour, our food appreciation classes last week bade adieu to West Africa. But we could not leave without sampling a staple food item there: palm oil.
Palm oil, derived from the fruit of the oil palm, is immediately recognizable by its deep, red color. The color comes from a heavy [...]
Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen: Part Three
January 21st, 2010 · 3 Comments · Tales, kids
I recently spent a week in the kitchen at H.D. Cooke Elementary School here in the District of Columbia observing how food is prepared. This is the third in a series of posts about what I saw. You can find previous posts here and here.
Each morning Mattie Hall performs a ritual in the cafeteria at H.D. [...]
Tags: District of Columbia·farm to school·processed food·school food·tales from a·Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen·vegetables
Kids Make Chicken-Vegetable Stew With Peanuts
January 15th, 2010 · No Comments · Ethnic, Recipes, kids
Who knew turnips and peanut butter could taste so good together?
One of the things we like about the African food we are making in our food appreciation classes is the use of fresh, whole ingredients and lots of vegetables. This stew is a perfect example, and something we could easily grow very fond of in [...]
Tags: African·food appreciation·peanuts·root vegetables·stew·vegetables
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
