Tag Archives: tasting week

October 17 – 21: A Whole Tasting Week at Petits Confettis

Posted on by
Reply

Tasting week at Petits Confettis

Even the youngest child can learn a lot about taste & food! At Petits Confettis, our preschoolers (3 to 6 years old) were challenged during the whole of Tasting Week.

They started with salt, tasted it and used it during an experimental `painting with salt` workshop. The second day, a sweet workshop brought them into a blind tasting. Such an amazing taste! Almost all the kids recognized the organic jams made by `Nuchi` (located in Los Altos), producing a lot of other organic jams for a non-profit association. The kids were comparing strawberry, apricot, prune and honey to discuss color and share their favorite one!

For the bitter workshop, they got the ability to differentiate chocolate texture and prepared `chocolate roses`. And last but not least, for the acid workshop, they identified lemon during a taste test and used it to make their own `secret` letter.

At the end of our tasting week, every child went home with a sample of their `taste workshop` and their own `chef`s hat`… homemade. Such a great week… such a great time… we all had fun and all the chidren came home very proud of their achievement.

Merci! and we definitively sign up for next year!:-)

The Petits Confettis

October 20, Tasting Week is in full swing in Palo Alto

Posted on by
Reply

For the third day of the week, we received the visit of four fabulous chefs at Terman Middle School, Barron Park Elementary and the International School of the Peninsula.

Chef Art Smith and Principal Katherine Baker at Terman HS

Terman received the visit of chef, restaurateur, and television personality Art Smith, winner of Top Chef Masters and former personal chef for Oprah Winfrey for 10 years. The children were very impressed by his personal background, how he grew up in a small town and taught himself how to cook. His lesson on taste was also a lesson about life: be strong, be brave, and share your passion with those around you. His business partner Sari organized a blind tasting for the kids, who were able to recognize almost all the foods she presented. Art challenged the kids to discover their “broccoli”, or their contribution to the world – a reference to his non-profit organization Common Threads that teaches underprivileged children how to cook. The children could not believe their luck to have met such a famous chef and one of them posted on Facebook tonight “best guest speaker ever in home economics today”.

Chef Olivia Wu at Barron Park

The children in Barron Park were equally lucky to meet with Liv Wu, executive chef at Google. First, she explained to them that cooking could be compared to drawing. Adding a color is the same as adding an ingredient. She pursued the similarity by making them think about a color for each different taste that an ingredient can have: green for salty, orange for sweet, purple for sour, red for spicy. Nose blocked, they tried to feel the different taste of a strawberry, a peanut, and some mint. Then, in front of the children’s eyes opened wide, she prepared a mixed salad with a “vinaigrette”, French word like “chef” ! Chef Liv Wu chose the ingredients as an artist. She added the last pinch of salt, and it was time to eat. How amazing it was to see the children leaking their plates and ask for more salad!

Chef Suzanne Vandyck at Barron Park

Chef Suzanne VanDyck made crostini out of fresh garden tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and grilled baguette. Children traveled in Europe with the tomatoes, learned the olive oil secrets, and the art of cutting in small pieces. Then, they put their hands on in chopping basil in the tomatoes preparation. Made from organic tomatoes, with organic olive oil from 1st cold pressure, garlics and fresh basil, the crostinis looked gorgeous and were very appreciated by the kids.

At the ISTP, chef taught the kids the proper way to cut an onion, and how to make a salad with flavor by using many sorts of herbs- parsley, chives, basil and tarragon. They made a salad dressing and dipped bread into it to taste the flavors. Every child went home with a sample of their salad dressing. A recommendation from Chef Moutal as you prepare your pumpkin soup for Halloween: add some nutmeg and some sugar!

October 17, Chef Emmanuel Robert, Sofitel, at ISTP

Posted on by
Reply

Tasting Week had a strong start today with the visit of Emmanuel Robert, Executive Chef at the Sofitel, to the International School of the Peninsula.

Chef Robert gave two workshops for the classrooms of Ms Katia Belghadid (2nd grade) and Ms Hayat Saba (1st grade). Among the many samples he shared with the kids you could find olives, endives, pickles, grilled meat, asparagus, grapefruit, strawberries, marshmallows, apricots, dried bananas, ham, mint, chives, sugar and pepper. What a display!

He showed the kids the different ways to cook meat (seared vs well done) and taught them where chocolate comes from (cocoa beans, white chocolate and cocoa butter).The highlight of each workshop was when Chef Robert melted chocolate chips over a small burner and then let each child dip a fruit into the chocolate mix. This was so popular they went for seconds…and thirds. Chef Robert says he was quite impressed by the fact that all the children were able to name the vegetables he presented to them. When asked what he would put in a lunchbox, he said cold potato or pasta salads are quite popular and they lend themselves to introducing new foods to kids in small quantities.

Overall the kids were thrilled with their tasting experience today, as you can see from the photos. Thanks to Nazee Domiray-Sage from the Sofitel for providing the kids with the lovely chef hats!

It Takes a Village

Posted on by
Reply

The famous saying “it takes a village” is taking on a new meaning as I prepare for the launch of our first Palo Alto Tasting Week. It is obvious that raising children requires a tight collaboration between parents and educators. I didn’t realize that we also depend on the people who feed us and our children. My hope is that Tasting Week will help initiate a dialogue between chefs, children, educators and parents about how our relationship to food participates in raising strong, curious and independent children.

A-Z Salad Bar

A-Z Salad Bar

Palo Alto Mayor Espinosa also reminded me that the community at large cares about the relationship between food and education. “We need to teach kids that food can be healthy and taste good. We need to inspire in kids a love for what is both delicious and nutritious. Thank you Palo Alto Tasting Week. This volunteer-driven initiative is bringing world renowned chefs into Palo Alto classrooms and into the community, helping us find the nexus between fine dining and healthy lifestyles. Kudos Palo Alto Tasting Week!“

Greg Betts, Director of Community Services at the City of Palo Alto, agrees. “Palo Alto Community Services supports the Palo Alto Tasting Week in that the program inspires students to cultivate their creative interest in the culinary arts, and also in their development of understanding and comfort with foods and customs of different ethnic backgrounds. These are both import developmental assets for youth!”

Thank you Sid and Greg! And thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who are helping pull together this initiative.

My meeting with Palo Alto Food Services

Posted on by
Reply
enfant1

Last week I met with Alva Spence, who runs the Food Services department for the Palo Alto school district. I asked her if she would participate in the celebration of Tasting Week and she gave me an enthusiastic yes! For every school participating in Tasting Week, Food Services will provide an A to Z salad bar as part of the hot lunch program. The salad bar includes a different food for every letter of the alphabet. What a great way to encourage children to try something new. The Executive Chef of Food Services will also come to the schools to give a live cooking demonstration in front of the kids during the lunch hour.

My discussion with Alva was very enlightening. Did you know that in many neighboring districts outside of Palo Alto, including Mountain View, every school has an actual kitchen where Food Services can prepare and heat food? Palo Alto does not have a single kitchen where food can be prepared on site. Did you know that Food Services launched an initiative with Revolution Food last year to provide one special menu every month but enrollment for hot lunch did not go up? Budget considerations aside, I think our parents need more education about what can be done with regards to lunch menus in the schools. Food Services is happy to partner with parents to find better solutions.

At one point during our conversation, Alva pointed to the brand new tennis courts across the street and said. “The Palo Alto parents paid for all these sport facilities. Where is my parent?” Giving good food to our kids is as important as building facilities to exercise in, don’t you think?

Remember, Palo Alto Tasting Week runs from October 17 to October 27 in several schools in our district. Check out the Chefs and the Schedule to find out more about this great event.