Forty New Rochelle High School students were treated to healthy dishes including beet bruschetta with hummus and sweet potato and parsnip soup served by their schoolmates recently.
The student cooks in the Science of Food class whipped up dishes from their own recipes with farm-to-table, sustainable ingredients as the culmination of a semester-long "Food Ed" program with the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.
They studied personal and cultural connections to food as well as topics of sustainability. The lessons focused on many facets of agriculture, even caring for the soil itself.
"They studied how to maintain healthy soil, how to restore depleted soil and how the foods that you choose to grow have an impact on that living skin of the earth," teacher Julia Chillemi Kouyoumdjian said.
For the lunch event, Chillemi Kouyoumdjian's 30 students prepared, cooked and served the meal to two other classes in Room 207. The focus was "mindful eating," which "increases your awareness of the positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through food selection and preparation," their menu explains. It continues, "Eating mindfully is a practice that uses all your senses in choosing to eat food that is both satisfying to you and nourishing to your body."
They chose ingredients from the Stone Barns farm; others were sustainably sourced. In addition to the bruschetta and the sweet potato soup, there was kale risotto, "classic farm soup" and a seasonal salad. With each course came a story about how people can share their cultures by sharing foods, how food can be a form of medicine and how healthy soil leads to more nutritious ingredients.
Students who took the class said they planned to eat healthier and to spread the word about the connection between how we grow food and the world around us.
"I commit to eating healthy foods and staying away from bad foods that may be detrimental to my health," Gillian Okaiteye wrote in an action plan questionnaire.
Several said they would start their own gardens or join a community garden. Nick Calderone said he would like to help his mother cook and perhaps even make the family dinner on his own. Colin Logan, like many others, said he would let others know what he had learned.
"I will spread awareness about issues with the food system, such as unfair distribution and non-ethical production practices," Logan said. |
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Watch the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus, conducted by Choral Director Jeremy Barbaro with piano accompaniment by Co-Director David Jutt here.
"I like it because you can take it anywhere, even on an airplane, and it will keep you calm," said fifth-grader Amira Bedell.
It was a thoughtful offering handmade by the organization's RISE job-readiness program with residents of Garito Manor, an independent living facility in New Rochelle. Each pillow is filled with two pounds of rice and can be microwaved for a warm neck comforter or lap band.
"They are calming and great for grounding," said school psychologist Dr. Michelle Memoli. "This helps our children re-focus and increase attention."
The game was organized by the Hispanic Culture Club and the New Rochelle High School varsity boys soccer team. The teams met in the NRHS gymnasium on Dec. 8.
"Having the soccer game allowed us to be able to donate to many different people that truly need it," said Hispanic Culture Club President Veronica Hernandez, a junior. "The money that we were able to donate can help people afford warmer clothes for the winter or bring toys to kids who do not know what it's like to receive presents this time of year."
Recipients were: the New Rochelle Youth Bureau Give a Gift program; the Casa Verde Home of Hope orphanage in Colombia; Una Sonrisa Para Cotija in Mexico; and support for children of immigrants from Venezuela traveling through Colombia.