Our first lunch

Today was our first Localvore lunch. The menu was minestrone soup with local kale and house-made mozzarella, homemade bread with house-made goat cheese and butter, and chocolate cupcakes featuring a mystery vegetable and chocolate chevre frosting. More than 30 staff members purchased lunch today, and we had lots of helpers. Retired teachers Dorothy Sholeen and Karen Salino came in to help give out cupcake samples to students, heat up soup, and help us keep the lunch line moving. Students helped get teachers checked in and told them about our ingredients and dishes.

Getting ready for this lunch was quite an endeavor. Since it's early in the school year, Mrs. Bryant did a bunch of the cooking ahead of time using ingredients from our farmer-partners at Plowbreak Farm. Students made and delivered ad flyers, made the butter and goat cheese, and frosted the cupcakes. They watched Mrs. Bryant and Mrs. Salino make the mozzarella--the process is very fast and involves really hot ingredients, so it wasn't feasible to make this a hands-on activity.


The students of the Localvore Club were united in their assessment of our first lunch:"it was awesome!!!"  Alyssa said her favorite part was "helping the teachers out when they came in the door."  Kelli said, "I loved just seeing all of the teachers and all of their smiles."  Alyssa added, "they were so excited!" Alyssa and Kelli both agreed that it "felt great to be the expert about something and be able to tell the teachers." Mari's favorite part was the cupcake with the mystery vegetable.  Donovan said he enjoyed doing the food preparation and also how the chocolate goat cheese frosting tasted.  Matthew said he thought it was "fun because I got to talk to the teachers I used to have." Everyone agreed that they had no idea that it was so easy to make your own cheese and butter. Tomorrow morning, students will be delivering next week's menu!

Students sample the Mystery Vegetable Cupcakes.

Today's lunch: Minestrone with local kale and house-made mozzarella cheese, homemade bread with house-made goat cheese and butter, and  our mystery vegetable cupcake.

Mystery vegetable cupcakes. There were so many guesses!

Kelli and Mari greet staff and check their names off.

Can Mrs. DeSantis guess the mystery vegetable?

More students enjoying cupcake samples They loved them!