For more than a year now, the Slow Food on Campus members at the California Culinary Academy have proudly partnered with students from San Francisco’s James Lick Middle School. The staff teamed with the school, which participates in the Chefs Move to Schools program, because of their diverse student body and receptive school administration.
Thanks to a collaboration of parents, community organizers, businesses, and the school’s administration, they were able to build a school garden that serves as the centerpiece for teaching kids about healthier food choices. To supplement the children’s experience, the academy’s students have been giving presentations on nutrition, seasonal produce, and preparatory techniques.
According to Chef Lina Romasanta, an instructor at the academy, the simple cooking and preparation demonstrations were effective because students were teaching students. The middle schoolers viewed the young chefs as role models and eagerly told their parents what they had learned during their time together.
The chef expressed, “it has been really wonderful to see the change in our own culinary students and their recognition of the influence that they can wield when they are out there in the real world.” Chef Lina and the California Culinary Academy are looking forward to working with James Lick Middle School again this coming school year.
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