FoodLab: Garden to Table

One of Amy’s favorite experiences of her week at a conference in California, was visiting Pacific Elementary School where all students not only work in the garden weekly, but the 5th and 6th graders also prepare and cook lunch for grades 3-6 DAILY in what they call FoodLab. Each day of the week, a different group of students prepares lunch from scratch: preparing fresh vegetables, making homemade bread, setting the table, menu planning and plating. They do all this, while taking into consideration federal My Plate guidelines, as well as individual food restrictions and allergies. The students, with the help of only two adults, prepared a lunch of barbecue sandwiches with homemade rolls, roasted Brussels sprouts and potatoes, slaw, kale salad and apples. Amy said, “It was one of the best meals I had all week; but just imagine how much those students are learning and they are only out of the classroom two hours a week.” Read more about FoodLab here.

This is an excerpt from the February 2019 eNews.