What Is the Secret Ingredient That Makes a Brainfood Student?

By Sarah Levant

After working with DC youth for two years, every day at Brainfood still surprises me (in a good way). A non-profit that focuses on youth development through cooking, gardening, and teambuilding activities, Brainfood engages students like no other nonprofit.

This summer Brainfood started a pilot program with high school students and graduates, called the Box Project. The Box Project has a CSA-style business model, (customers buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer) and teaches students about entrepreneurship, business, and customer service. The Brainfood Box project is unique because not only do customers receive weekly organic produce from the Brainfood garden, but they also receive beautifully themed boxes with Brainfood crafted meals. Ranging from Brainfood’s chocolate chip avocado cookies, to Brainfood’s signature hot sauce, Brainfood students continue to surprise their subscribers on a weekly basis.

1) A Dash of Personal Development

The Brainfood Box Project encourages students to take ownership over their creations, ultimately creating personal growth. If students forget to add an ingredient to a recipe, or add too much of an ingredient, students figure out a way to make the recipe work. The Brainfood student is not one to shrug his or her shoulders and give up, but one that isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty. If that means adding more flour, going to the garden and digging in the dirt to find that extra potato, so be it. However, the students could be quicker to clean their dirty dishes….

2) A Spoonful of Support

Secondly, Brainfood is a community that nurtures and supports young leaders. Already, there are a handful of really impressive students that have started their own businesses outside of the classroom. Brainfood is an environment where students have the chance to stand up and empower each other. Every day I see the more experienced students teach other students best practices, whether it is a new cutting technique or a more efficient way of measuring ingredients.

Two of the most important qualities that every Brainfood student has are innovation and warmth. The students at Brainfood engage their creativity in every recipe, and every weekly beautiful box reflects the student’s positivity and warmth. Our customers can see how much time and care Brainfood students have invested into every single box. With the students’ dedication to quality food and service, I’ve realized Brainfood is not only a nonprofit that emphasizes youth development, but life skills that I had wished I had learned at the students’ age!