Sweat Equity

April's mom, Evette, found us 2 fridges, 2 fryers, and a steamer courtesy of the ARC, New Orleans. We moved the equipment last week. We're waiting for the floors to get finished before they get put in the kitchen.

Hats off to the ARC for donating their unused equipment. Above are some shots of the move.

This is truly turning out to be a 1st person, word of mouth, operation. We have no seed money or support from any foundation. We're just doing it through sweat and help from our friends.

We hope to start writing grants for the kitchen in January - but, with the economy starting to seize up, it's looking like a start-up like ours isn't going to fare too well in the land of very savvy NPO's. We're banking on our blue collar work to make the Krewe De Foudre a viable entity.

We know it's worth it.

RESTAURANT TAX WRITE-OFF

Equipment donation for culinary program

Donate your unused restaurant equipment to a great cause and write it off as a donation to a program in dire need. We are seeking ALL restaurant equipment for New Orleans 1st culinary incubator and an after school culinary program.
This includes utensils, refrigeration, stove... Anything and everything will benefit us, and be a great year-end tax write off for you.

This program is being built with sweat equity by local professional cooks in exchange for their use of the kitchen as an incubator once the kitchen is completed. These cooks will also be helping out with the after school culinary program “Family Meal”.
Please consider any and all equipment that you may have duplicates of, under utilize, or don't use at all. This is a great chance for you to clean house, get a donation tax write-off, and help a great cause.
Please forward this information to anyone you think may be able to help.
We have the ability to pick up heavy equipment. All donations in working condition please.
Contact David Aman at 504-952-2275, davidaman@hotmail.com

!COPY THIS AND SEND IT AROUND TO ANYONE

YOU THINK MAY BE ABLE TO HELP!

Family Meal

An after school culinary program for Recovery School District kids.

The “Family Meal” program was conceived from years in the kitchen and my love of the stories that surround food. It incorporates cooking, storytelling, and eating around the table with family – all things that should be the cornerstones of our lives, but don’t happen enough. While other H.S. programs are focused on vocational training, "Family Meal" focuses on basic cooking skills and family time.

Here's a basic outline of the program:

The pilot program will run for 6 weeks, 3 days a week, 1.5 hrs a day. We plan to start this program in March 2009 in the Studio at Colton Kitchen.
Here is an example of a 1 week session:

Day One:
- Introduction of food (Jambalaya)
- A discussion of the dish’s history and how it arrived here, its old world counterpart and how it evolved into the dish we know today
- Personal stories about the dish, likes/dislikes. Who makes the best one in your family?
- Explanation of Ingredients and portions
- Watch a (5-10 min.) video from the local chef who gave the recipe we will be making this week. (Possibly a personal visit).
- Homework – bring a family recipe of the dish from home (secret ingredients excluded).

Day Two:
- Spend time in the kitchen prepping the dish. Each student has a station where he/she organizes and cuts all the ingredients needed for the dish. This teaches the stages of kitchen organization by separating the prep from the cooking.
- Discuss the stories and recipes brought by each student from home.

Day Three:
- Make the dish and send it home with the student. Each recipe will be enough to feed their immediate family.
- The students are required to sit down with their family to eat the meal that night. During the meal they must ask their parents, grandparents, family members, etc. about stories related to the dish (and food in general). They will be given a list of specific questions, but will also improvise. Later that week, they will pick out their favorite story and make an audio or video documentation of the story.
- Each student then adds this story to an archive dedicated to food stories.

If a student fails to show up on the 1st or 2nd day of class, he or she is excused from that week of classes and cannot participate in taking the dish home to their family on the 3rd day.

About Me at Colton

I thought it would be good to explain who I am and how I came to be the culinary chair of Studio at Colton.

My name is David Aman. I have worked in restaurant kitchens for over 15 years. 5 years ago, I started documenting New Orleans restaurant stories with a local filmmaker. Since then, short documentary videos have been my full-time job (I still work part time in the kitchen).

The 3 reasons I became the culinary chair and kitchen program director are:

1) The kitchen needs A LOT of work and every other person with culinary experience that was told about/shown the kitchen passed.

2) I had a H.S. culinary program that I'd written after the storm, but pushed to the side after realizing that there weren't any kitchens to do it in.

3) I'm obsessed with getting New Orleans proper a Culinary Incubator... I think it's crazy that a city with such a culinary heritage doesn't have a place for its professional cooks to go to work on their own projects (especially when Louisiana is one of a handful of states that doesn't allow home kitchens to be certified by the health department).

So, I basically got the kitchen by default and because I had a culinary program written up.

But now, it's become an obsession to get this kitchen up and running. Even with a newborn and a wife that reminds me that I'm spending a lot of time at a place that isn't (yet) paying the bills.

I realize how much the city, its cooks, and its students need it. And once it is finished, its going to be brilliant - the energy is already palpable with the amazing people who are the Colton kitchen workers; The Krewe De Foodre.

The Krewe De Foudre ... Love at 1st Sight

The "Krewe De Foudre" is the Colton Kitchen incubator crew.

In French, "coup de foudre" means struck by lightning, as in love at 1st sight.

Love at 1st sight is anything BUT what happens to a person who sees this kitchen for the 1st time... but we have hope.

Everyone must give at least 20 hours to rebuilding the kitchen in exchange for Krewe De Foudre membership and the opportunity to use the incubator kitchen once it is finished. All members are culinary professionals and are putting in this time after work and on their days off. They have also committed to working for the "Family Meal" culinary program.


This week the Krewe De Foodre got together for our 1st sit down meeting.

Everyone got to meet each other (there are 14 members) and discuss what work and equipment the kitchen needs (a lot, in both regards).

We will be making Colton-school-shaped gingerbread cookies to raise money for the kitchen equipment.

Everyone was asked to search out sponsorships, grants, and to pull any connections they have in order to get this kitchen up and running.

This kitchen needs A LOT of work and equipment to get it up to code, but we are all blue collar cooks 100% invested and committed to making it happen.

On Culinary Incubators

In researching the failure of kitchen incubators, there are 2 reoccurring factors:

1) The high cost of utilities and liability insurance
2) Inexperienced members

The Krewe De Foudre's kitchen at Colton has both of these bases covered because:

1) Our rent and utilities are paid with our time volunteered in rebuilding the kitchen and teaching the after school culinary program "Family Meal"
2) Everyone in our kitchen is a food service professional

Thanks to a recent troop surge, it looks like the kitchen WILL be up and running by the new year (I was a bit sceptical of my overambitious goal, but critical mass has been attained).

Props to April Bellow and her team from Arnaud's for stepping up and taking ownership of the kitchen. Also for bringing in Glen and Joe who are interested in exchanging their kitchen building expertise for a spot to make their handmade pasta.
Also, Nat Carrier (from Bayona), Eric LaBouchere (from Martinique Bistro), and Marshall (from Katrina Corp).

Everyone has caught fire and seen the potential this kitchen has to offer. Thank God!

P.S. I gotta give ups to Elizabeth Pierce (curator of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum) for introducing April and I, Thanks!

What is the Kitchen at Colton?

Right now it looks like this...

But soon it will be New Orleans 1st culinary incubator. A place for local professional cooks to come and fine tune their personal recipes in exchange for helping to bring the kitchen up to code and volunteering in the after school culinary program "Family Meal".

Here's a little video (shot on opening day) explaining how the Studio at Colton came to be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ph5-74xJRA

We hope to have the kitchen up and walking (not running) by the new year.