Chef Christy Wolf Previews Tasting Week 2015

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Carla Matlin

As a preview to next week’s Tasting Week, Chef Christy Wolf prepared a delicious green salad and fruit salad for students at Escondido Elementary School. While prepping and mixing the meal, she spoke with dozens of children about food taste, color, balance and nutrients. The children were excited to learn as they feasted on several new fruits and vegetables. Many of the children even tried vegetables they had never tasted before. Christy also taught the children how adding a spice like chili powder, or a dash of salt, can bring out a whole new flavor in the fruit.

Thank you Chef Christy for coming and teaching the kids about healthy foods!

From the Perfect Tomato to the Perfect Pasta Sauce

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Rebecca Scholl

Today Chef Pe ter Rudolph, from Madera, taught the children of Juana Briones Elementary how to make home-made tomato sauce from Early Girl tomatoes (the last of the season), garlic, and anchovies. And can you believe it, many adventurous children tasted the anchovies on their own!

Chef Peter showed the kids how to choose the perfect tomato — what to look for when selecting tomatoes, and how to tell if they are ripe. These kids will be experts at the farmer’s market so make sure to take them with you next time you go.

At the end of the workshop, Chef Peter poured the sauce over some perfectly cooked, al dente gluten-free pasta. Everyone enjoyed a serving of the pasta, and then the kids lined up for seconds and thirds!

Gluten-Free and Full of Flavor

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Inna Kaplan

This Wednesday four lucky classrooms at Juana Briones Elementary enjoyed a fun presentation by Chef Amy Fothergill on gluten-free cooking. The children tasted gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free pumpkin muffins and found that they are not only healthy, but also delicious. Just because you have food allergies or intolerances, does not mean you need to give up on great tasting food.

Chef Amy showed the kids that there are easy ways to substitute for wheat flour, dairy, and even eggs. She then explained where different flours come from and even shared her super popular gluten-free flour mix recipe. You can find it here, on her Family Chef website.

Fruit for Dessert? Dee-lish

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Inna Kaplan

Chef Brendy Monsada visited Hoover Elementary School in Palo Alto today and gave the children a whole new perspective on dessert. Chef Brendy talked about seasonal fruits and how important it was to eat well at a young age. And if any of the kids didn’t think that highly of eating fruit for dessert, they had an entirely different view by the end of the workshop.

Chef Brendy started out making whipped cream, and then layered slices of apples, figs, and pomegranate seeds with the cream and a strawberry coulis. For those of you that don’t know what a “coulis” is (I didn’t and I was happy to add a new term to my culinary vocabulary) it is a thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits. In this case – strawberries. It was beyond delicious!

Each student got to prepare their own dessert, and it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Though some of the fruit layers ended up a little lopsided, it still tasted good. Teachers, students, parent helpers… everyone loved it.

Pizza for Breakfast??

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Aurelie Teyssier

Today Chef Nathan Beriau from Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, visited two 3rd grade classes at the International School of the Peninsula to share his passion for world-class cooking with the students.

He chose to cook … a breakfast pizza! A delicious sweet and healthy version of pizza made with orange marmalade, a few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese, fresh strawberries, and topped with fresh mint in a “chiffonade” and balsamic vinegar syrup… unexpected, right? Well, it was a hit and the kids ate it all, down to the very last crumb.

Many thanks to Chef Nathan, Bay Area Tasting Week who provided this great workshop, and all the teachers and volunteers who made it happen.

Can’t Get Enough of That Kale

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Melissa Racz

Tasting Week at Barron Park continued today with a visit from Calafia chef, Kimberly Beck. She helped kindergarteners and 1st graders make one of Calafia’s specialty salads: Kale, Feta cheese, cranberries, and quinoa. Kids ate it right up! Thank you to Rebecca Scholl and Bay Area Tasting Week for arranging such a wonderful experience for our students. Thank you also to all the parent volunteers for coming to help out (and getting to taste as well)!

A Whole Lotta Shakin’

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Carla Matlin

Today Google chefs Kimberly Tran and Tatiana Contreras led a fantastic interactive demo with the children at Walter Hays Elementary School in Palo Alto. Each child was given their own individual container of whole milk. After a lot of shaking, jumping, and even some dancing, the children observed their milk transform into cream, and then into butter.

But the best part came at the end of the workshop when the kids tasted the whipped cream with strawberries and enjoyed the butter on fresh bread. Almost everyone asked for seconds. It was a great time for the kids, teachers, and the chefs.

Chef Kimberly remarked that it was this same experience, making butter, as a child that led her to become a chef!

Palo Alto Schools Host Fruit and Veggie Demonstrations

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Carla Matlin

In response to the recent heat wave, Tasting Week 2014 started today with a series of very fresh fruit and vegetable demonstrations across four Palo Alto schools.

Chef Kelsey Casavan from LB Steak made a smoothie with apples, oranges and kale for the children of Barron Park Elementary school. Chef Beverlie Terra from Dolce Hayes Mansi on hosted an interactive workshop at Addison Elementary school where kids made lettuce wraps with grated squash, zucchini and cucumbers dipped in a home-made healthy ranch sauce. The entire MP room smelled like herbs and fresh cucumber juice.

Chef Christy Wolf from Sur La Table created excitement at Escondido Elementary school’s garden club with a quiz on exotic vegetables and fruits, which some children got to taste for the very first time.

Last but not least, our own Lea Bowmer from Tasting Week hosted a workshop on the Five Senses at Juana Briones Elementary, to teach children to use all their senses when appreciating food! Very successful first day. More details on each workshop to come…

Tasting Food with Your Eyes and Nose

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Marilyn Crystal

On Monday, all the 4th grade students at Addison enjoyed the visit of Chef Beverlie Terra of Dolce Hayes Mansion and Chef Kathy Niven. Chef Beverlie discussed the benefits of eating fresh seasonal foods, visiting local farms and farmers markets, while Chef Kathy shreded the vegetables.

The students were surprised to learn how we can taste food with our eyes and our nose. The kids mixed together vegetables that had an array of different colors, and they “tasted” the vegetables with their noses by enjoying all the different smells.

Chef Beverlie and Chef Kathy then taught the kids how to make lettuce wraps. Each child took a lettuce leaf and filled it with all the different shredded vegetables such as yellow squash, zucchinis, cucumbers and rainbow carrots…. They added some homemade Ranch dressing, and voila — delicious lettuce wraps. While the students were busy eating their wraps, Chef Beverlie demonstrated how to make Ranch dressing using a whisk.

The line for seconds was huge!! The lettuce wraps were a big success!

Tasting Week 2014 Begins Monday, October 6

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Carla Matlin

Our Tasting Week team is in full swing, getting ready for the workshops beginning Monday, October 6. Building on our success from 2013, we have added several new chefs to our roster, and are also offering a new workshop on the Five Senses for our younger elementary school kids. We are happy to extend our partnership to new schools this year too! If you are a chef or a school interested in holding a workshop, please do not hesitate to contact us, it’s not too late. The kids are always very excited about the event as you can see from their smiles.