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.