Stir Fry, Second Graders, and the first Community MVPs workshop

Brainfood MVPs set off for their first workshop Thursday, November 3rd.   Our plan was to go to Walker Jones Elementary school and work with second and third graders to harvest some vegetables from their huge school garden and then incorporate those vegetables into a healthy version of Asian take out food. 

We started off with a trek from our Chinatown location to Walker Jones.  It was quite the adventure carrying all of our supplies in carts and baskets along the sidewalks of DC!  Upon arrival, the elementary students were eagerly waiting and ready to get cooking.  We split up into groups, about one MVP to two or three younger students, and then headed out to the garden.  The students then proceeded to harvest kale, carrots, snap peas and Chinese cabbage.  It was a great experience to watch, to see the students dig their hands into the dirt and really enjoy themselves.  There is nothing like cooking with ingredients you just picked from the garden.  This was a new experience for many of the students, both for the MVPs and the elementary students.

Next, everyone made their way back to the cafeteria to start preparing our food.  The Brainfood students did a lot of prep work the proceeding Tuesday so most of the ingredients were ready and waiting.  The elementary students helped to measure and add ingredients to the pans.  The interaction between the high school students and elementary students was dynamic.  Some MVPs had their hands full of energetic seven and eight year olds, but overall everything went smoothly.  By the time the fried rice and Asian stir fry were completed everyone was ready to eat!  Some of the younger students were hesitant about trying the food but once they tasted it, many came back for seconds…and thirds!

Congratulations to the Brainfood MVPs for completing the first on-site cooking workshop.  It went great and all parties had fun.  Here’s to the next workshop!
 

Blog author, Carolyn Panzarella is an intern with the Brainfood Community MVPs program.