Bite of Brainfood Blog

Local Program, Big World

Julie Margolies — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 20:05:54 +0000

Local Program:

When you hear the term food system, what do you think of? How produce is grown? Food being packaged on an assembly line? Vegetables being transported to your local grocery store? Thanks to our garden manager Lyssa’s food systems class a few weeks back, I now consider myself a budding expert on (read: inexperienced but interested in) food system analysis. For instance, did you know that there is not one, but actually threemain food systems? At Brainfood, I feel we often represent the local food system. In this type of food system, food comes directly from farmers o you - the consumer. It might come from a CSA or a local farmers market and probably only travels for a few hours from where it’s grown to your plate.

How is Brainfood part of our local food system?

Community MVPs Coating Ceremony 2016 !!!!!

Caitlin O'Connell — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 17:43:25 +0000

Two weeks ago the Community MVP students were celebrated during the annual MVPs Coating Ceremony. “What is Coating Ceremony?” you ask. It is a way to acknowledge the amount of time the students put into classes and workshops. During Coating Ceremony, MVP students who have completed 70 or more community service hours through Community MVPs receive their very own chef coats. Along with receiving chef coats, the celebration gives the students a chance to show off their cooking skills by cooking all the food for the ceremony. The students are encouraged to invite family and friends to the ceremony so that they can join in on the fun, and eat the delicious homemade food.

I had no idea what Coating Ceremony was when I first started interning at Brainfood. I figured there would be a graduation, but I never thought there would be more than that. Once they explained to me the reason behind the Coating Ceremony, I started to understand its significance. Graduation is about celebrating the end of the program, while Coating Ceremony is about showing our appreciation of the students and all the hard work they have put into Community MVPs.

A-Z Snapshot of March at Brainfood

Lyssa Houser — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 17:12:45 +0000

May this list entice your curiosity about Brainfood happenings, broaden your awareness of the scope of our organization's work, and get you excited about what's next in the coming months!

Brainfood All-Stars Food Desert Workshop: The Bad, The Worse, and the Ugly

Nina Bryce — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 20:16:57 +0000

Guest Blogger Myla Clark, Community MVPs Senior!

My name is Myla Clark and I am a current Brainfood MVP participant and in the past have done Brainfood All-Stars and Brainfood Box Project. I am current senior at School Without Walls (the number one school in DC) and as a graduation requirement at my school is a year long Senior Project on a subject I got tot select. I chose to do although there are negative outcomes that come from food deserts, these environments benefit some people of the farming, fast-food, medical and pharmaceutical industries. I had to conduct a interview with an expert on my topic, write a 15-page research paper, and create a product that connects with the paper. Thankfully, my mentor and Brainfood MVP coordinator, Aimee, was able to help me work with Brainfood to create a product!

Springing Forward

Julie Margolies — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:46:54 +0000

While it’s been a little grey and dreary outside these past few days, those of us at Brainfood can definitely tell that spring is on its way! Here are a few reasons we know this exciting season is upon us:

1. Seedling Alley is up and running! Lyssa, our masterful garden manager, has a whole plan for this planting season, which she’s mapped out meticulously with all kinds of maps and charts. Over the past few weeks, JaNeya, our DC Career Connections Intern at our Chinatown site, and I have helped Lyssa with planting hundreds of little seeds in trays at our Mount Vernon site. As these seedlings have been warmed and watered in their corner of our kitchen, they’ve really sprouted and grown! We’re all very excited about the prospect of harvesting broccoli, cauliflower, onions, parsley, and much much more in just a few months.

My Introduction to Brainfood

Julie Margolies — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 20:06:28 +0000

Hi! My name is JaNeya Lee and I have recently joined Brainfood as an intern through DC Career Connect, a youth employment program through DC Department of Employment Services. When I first heard of Brainfood I thought that I was going to be learning how to cook, but Brainfood is so much more than that. When I was interviewed I was asked many questions that had me think about what I would do if I worked at Brainfood, as well as informed me of what the job was about and what I would be doing. When I went to orientation I did not know what to expect, but with the information I had, I understood that Brainfood was more than simply giving youth somewhere to go after school or giving them community service hours. In addition to Brainfood after school programs, there is also Brainfood Homegrown, a youth-led food venture that makes and sells their own products. Brainfood also has a youth garden, which is something that I have never had experience with. I'm excited that I get to learn how it works!

My first day at Brainfood was great. I met other people that worked at Brainfood and they explained their jobs/roles. I also spent two hours with Homegrown. We made homemade nacho cheese seasoning to go on popcorn and I also tried some of their other products. Next I attended my first Kitchen All Stars class, and even though there were not many students, I got the sense of what I was going to do in those classes. I learned the students’ names that were there and the Weekly Classroom Assistants (WCAs).

A broke college senior learns the importance of a food budget

Caitlin O'Connell — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 16:52:52 +0000

As a senior in college at UMD you would think I might have a slight handle on how to be budget conscious when it comes to food and grocery shopping, but unfortunately that is not totally true. When I lived at home I would go to the grocery store with my mom, but I never really paid attention to the prices or good deals because I was too busy picking out the food that I wanted. Once I started college I had a meal plan which allowed me to get food from the dining halls on campus, so I still was not buying food from the grocery store. So when I finally moved to an off campus apartment and started going grocery shopping I didn’t really know how to shop on a budget. Sure I would try and buy the cheaper brands, but that was the extent of my frugal ways. In addition to my cluelessness in regards to budget, I also was not much of a cook. I could make the standard college fare; pasta, quesadillas, salads, etc., but other than the basics I was a work in progress. So when I started working at Brainfood I had a lot to learn about food budgeting and cooking.

You want me to try WHAT??? How not to be a food fuddy duddy.

Aimee McLaughlin — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 20:56:29 +0000

I’ll admit: I don’t set the perfect example when it comes to trying new foods. Last week I nearly lost my ever-living cool when a friend ordered the Pho Chin, Gan (beef brisket pho containing a horrifying ingredient called soft tendon) and insisted that I try a spoonful of the hot, gelatinous goo for myself. My response? Pure repugnance and adamant refusal.

Sometimes you just have a visceral reaction to a food item. Your gut tells you, Do not touch that thing - not with a 10 foot pole, not even with your fingers, and definitely not with your teeth, tongue, or stomach lining.

I see this kind of reaction every now and then in our Community MVPs class, both in response to the usual suspects like mushrooms and olives, and to more unique items like a salted duck egg or a can of fresh sardines. But I’m consistently impressed by the way our teenage participants overcome that feeling and just take a bite anyway.

Like when Ronnie resisted adding mushrooms to a dumpling recipe and then decided to just try one raw… and liked it.

Learning the Brainfood Way

Amanda Kirsch — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 15:37:01 +0000

Asia Love is currently interning at Brainfood through the DC Career Connections program. Asia wrote the following reflection after her first experience in a Kitchen All Stars class.

When I first heard about Brainfood I thought of eating healthy. I didn’t expect Brainfood to be much more.

My interview at Brainfood left me enthusiastic and eager to see the ins and outs of the program. My first day wasn’t just a typical first day at a new job; I got the chance to learn something new, meet new people, and eat a nice meal prepared by Brainfood’s youth participants.

To Be Known and Seen: Get to Know Team Homegrown!

Lyssa Houser — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 22:18:18 +0000

What daily rituals have you developed that define a normal day? Is it the barista who knows what drink to make you as soon as they see you walk through the door? Or maybe it’s the phone call you know you will receive from your sister at 6:30pm California time as she rides the bus home from work. Or the salute you share with your security guard when you enter your office building each morning. Our days are composed of a variety of intersecting structures and moments that we come to count on to support our needs as social beings with a place and value in our different workplaces/schools/families/communities. At Brainfood, the opening and closing activity that starts and ends every class is the structure that satisfies a basic human need, as researcher Brené Brown describes, the need to “show up and be seen.”

Staff Favorites at Brainfood

Amanda Kirsch — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 19:31:11 +0000

The wonderful thing about the Brainfood family is that it is ever growing. Every youth participant, volunteer, staffer, Board member, Guest Chef, and community supporter who has ever walked through Brainfood’s doors (literally or figuratively) remains part of the family. Yet each new face is welcomed with undiluted excitement.

The same could be said for recipes, curriculum, and activities in Brainfood programs. Some recipes have been staples in our first-year Kitchen All Stars program since its inception, while we continue to experiment every year with new additions. Returning participants in our Community MVPs program are seasoned veterans when it comes to dicing an onion “the Brainfood way,” but they consistently take on challenges and work to present new healthy cooking workshops throughout the city.

In the spirit of celebrating both the tried-and-true and the yet-to-be-discovered gem, I recently asked our Brainfood instructors to recount their favorite Brainfood class to teach, sharing what makes it special, in addition to a favorite Brainfood recipe or two. Here’s what they had to say:

Four Things at Brainfood That Warm Our Hearts on Cold and Snowy Days

Julie Margolies — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 21:14:31 +0000

Winter has officially arrived in DC, but here at Brainfood there is plenty to bring us warm fuzzies in the midst of icy weather:

1. Teamwork from our youth Participants and Volunteers
With smaller groups of students present in class due to this wintry weather, our adult volunteers have therare chance to dosome hands-on cooking! While the volunteers and students see each other on a regular basis, they really got to know each other we

ll working one-on-one to create some super delicious food.

2. Team Homegrown making fresh ginger soda
The warming, spicy flavor of ginger is the perfect ingredient for a wintry all-natural homemade soft drink. Ginger’s natural qualities can also help boost your immune systems, which is important for anyone who’s been walking outside or shoveling during this winter storm!

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Julie Margolies — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 20:59:44 +0000

Making a New Year’s resolution is a common practice for many people around this time of year. At Brainfood, we figured we’d give it a shot too! But what does it really mean to make a resolution? To answer this question, I went to the dictionary. According to Merriam-Webster, a resolution is “the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc.” Although the dictionary is usually a pretty reliable resource, I don’t find this answer so satisfying. Why’s that? Let’s break it down.

First, at Brainfood, we begin the process of making resolutions by looking back at our growth and improvement so far this year. Self-reflection is important, as it helps us to figure out what we want to improve upon and how we can best get there. While resolutions help us to think about the future, they really start with thinking about the past.

Game Day Favorites

Aimee McLaughlin — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 18:27:44 +0000

I’m having trouble keeping my mind on work today. For the first time since 1981, my alma mater Clemson University is playing in the National Title Game. I’m counting down the hours and minutes until 8:30pm tonight.

Ugly is Trendy

Lyssa Houser — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:23:56 +0000

You have twenty seconds to brainstorm three ideas for how to use your super brown bananas that are starting to attract fruit flies: GO!

(20 seconds later)

Here’s my list (I really timed it, and honestly, whether you believe me or not, I did ask myself that question pretty spontaneously. Originally I was going to use a different fruit, but then my brain did a last-minute switch-up, which probably evened up the playing field between us a little).

banana bread
banana ice cream
compost
vermicompost!
teeth whitening
shine your shoes

Kitchen All Stars Celebrate the Holiday Season

Amanda Kirsch — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 14:31:30 +0000

Last Wednesday, in a hall decked out for the occasion, Kitchen All Stars participants all gathered together for our annual Holiday Celebration. Alongside friends, family, Weekly Classroom Assistants, special event volunteers, and Brainfood staffers, students celebrated ten weeks’ worth of accomplishments at Brainfood.

Just over two months ago, these same teens gathered in our Brainfood kitchens for the first time; they spent their first class learning how to measure wet and dry ingredients in order to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Now they have whisked, diced, and simmered their way into creating a delicious, festive meal that served over 100 participants and enthusiastic supporters.

The menu, decided by a student vote, included a vegan three-bean chili, green bean casserole, cheddar biscuits (the crowd favorite), crustless quiche, apple crumble, and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Four Life Lessons the Buche de Noel Can Teach Us

Nina Bryce — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 22:37:18 +0000

Last week at Brainfood, we made a holiday favorite of mine: the Buche de Noel. It’s an ambitious baking recipe, and our students did an amazing job with it. Even though I’ve made a Buche de Noel every Christmas since I was younger than our Brainfood participants, every year I make it, I seem to learn new things! This year, four lessons have stuck with me.

1. Traditions can evolve

The meaning of the name Buche de Noel is “yule log”, and it actually originates from the Pagan ritual of burning a log to celebrate the winter solstice. This tradition was then adapted by Catholics into a Christmas custom which involved decorating the log before burning it. Eventually it morphed into a tradition involving a decorated log as a centerpiece surrounded by sweets, and then ultimately into a “log” made of cake (instead of an actual log), which is much more suitable for eating than for burning! This story serves as a reminder that traditions can change, and that everything has a mutlilayered history.

Defining Our Own Space

Julie Margolies — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:01:31 +0000

At Brainfood, we don’t have rules. “What?” you might be thinking, “No rules? In a kitchen full of students, teachers, volunteers, knives, bubbling pots, and hot ovens?” You heard right, but wait and hear me out. Instead of rules, the Brainfood kitchen is “run” by the Group Expectations document. So radical! And really so much better.

The Group Expectations document outlines how we want to be together in our space. Everyone at Brainfood– students, volunteers, and teachers – collectively develops this document at the beginning of the year in with the goal of creating a collective space that is safe, welcoming, and fun. While this all sounds great in theory, what does this look like in practice? At Brainfood, how do we create community? Below are five of the Group Expectations that our students have come up with:

Going off script and off recipe with Community MVPs

Aimee McLaughlin — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 18:13:18 +0000

Remember that the first time you tried shooting a bow and arrow, maybe at summer camp, and you finally hit the target? Or the first time you re-sewed a button on your favorite shirt? Or the first time you successfully configured a “sum” or “average” formula in an Excel spreadsheet, and it made the project you were working on SO MUCH easier?

It feels pretty good to take on a new task, struggle to learn it, then master it over time. Psychologists say when we practice and master new skills we build something called self efficacy, a belief in one’s own ability to persist and succeed. People with strong sense of self efficacy are shown to be more motivated to take on unfamiliar tasks and less likely to get discouraged. Psychologists also think people with high self efficacy tend to set higher health goals for themselves, so they're less likely to be long term smokers, unhealhty eaters, or sun worshipers. Pretty awesome, right?

Musings and Marvels from Brainfood's Urban Kitchen Garden

Lyssa Houser — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 18:14:49 +0000

I get to witness the growth of a kale plant from seed to plate approximately 60 times each growing season in the Brainfood Youth Garden. And when you consider the hundreds of plants that I watch grow through a full life cycle each year, it would make sense to assume that germination/flowering/fruiting/death/compost is just the day-to-day work schedule. And it is.

But dang! Even as an expected part of my everyday work life, I can’t help but marvel at the tiny leaves still clinging to their split seed as they grow towards the sun. Or the three-foot beast of a kale stem that I throw into my compost bin at the end of summer. It kind of looks like its covered in dragon skin, the scales of which are actually scars where the plant healed itself after each leaf I harvested.

Disconnect to Connect (Finding Your #BestFriend at #Brainfood)

Nina Bryce — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 19:49:11 +0000

The following post is a second guest blog entry from Rexan Dayao, Brainfood's Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative fellow!

For today’s youth, establishing connections and engaging in meaningful friendships can be somewhat of a struggle due to the presence of things like cell phones and tablets. Gone are the days when people just sit down and talk instead of posting everything that is happening to their social media platforms. Although it is a primary need of human beings to connect, many of us tend to forget how to focus on what truly matters. Instead of talking to people around us, we sneak onto social media platforms to get glimpses of someone else’s life. Sometimes it is necessary to disconnect with your gadgets in order to connect with people who are actually around you.

At Brainfood, one instructor has a creative solution to this concundrum: a cell phone soup pot. Participants are asked to drop their phones into a large stockpot (empty, of course) if they are caught using it during the cooking classes. That way, youth learn a sense of focus in accomplishing things in the kitchen without the distraction that phones can provide. Not only does this help them prioritize tasks in the kitchen, it also provides an environment more conducive to real connection. Because of this, they are happy with what they’ve done when the day ends.

Even when we disconnect from technology, forming new connections can be challenging! So how do you effectively connect with people you just met?

You need to break the ICE (Initiate, Connect & Engage)!

Initiate
Imagine you are a Brainfood Kitchen all Stars participant. At the beginning of class, you will be asked to first gather in a circle and share your desired Group Expectation for the day. The instructor then provides some information about the theme or topic for the day, facilitates a discussion, and gives an overview of the recipes. Then, you are handed a recipe: merely a piece of paper with list of ingredients and measurements, plus a guide to the process of how to prepare the dish. The interesting aspect of this approach is that the instructor will not tell you what to do every step of the way; you need to discover things on your own. Thus, you need to INITIATE. You need to ask other people questions, work together to get materials, and take on the recipe as a group. In less than five minutes, you’ll realize that you have taken the first step to making a friend: to initiate.

Connect
Asking about the cooking process or a certain materials will then lead you to asking personal questions in order to get to know more about your newfound friend. You’ll be curious to learn more about this friend’s personalities and hobbies. In another five minutes you may discover that both of you have the same interest or you live in the same neighborhood. That conversation will give you a certain sense of connection.

Engage
While the muffins or cake are in the oven, or while some others are mixing the salad, both of you might be putting things away in the pantry or beginning to set up the plates. You get to engage in meaningful tasks, working together to achieve a shared goal that brought you closer in less than an hour. That’s the kind of connection that you don’t have every day, especially when you are too occupied maximizing the use of your gadgets.

Technology is really useful. But nothing can replace a meaningful conversation with friends. At Brainfood, you can learn that life is all about interaction, discoveries and finding yourself. It will give you the opportunity to break away from the monotony of life by exploring the wonders of the kitchen. When you initiate, connect and engage, you get to fulfill the human need to be self–actualized and be part of a working group. You might even find your best friend at Brainfood! You just need to disconnect in order to connect.

Finding One’s Spark in the Kitchen

Nina Bryce — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 18:08:37 +0000

This blog post is a guest post from our Rexan Dayao, a fellow with the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative who is working with us at Brainfood this month. Rexan shares his impressions from his first day at Brainfood Kitchen All Stars!

It has been a long day for youth who have spent hours studying at their respective schools. Yet, instead of heading towards home or to do other things, they have opted to participate in Brainfood’s Kitchen All Stars. It is a year-long program (October - May) that introduces participants to life skills and leadership skills through food and cooking. Participants have the opportunity to learn about food, nutrition, cooking, and jobs in the food industry through activities, games, restaurant visits, cooking in our kitchen, and working with guest chefs.

On the first day of Brainfood Kitchen All Stars, participants started coming in around 3 pm.

They signed in and handed in waivers and permission slips. Some eagerly asked Amanda, Brainfood staff member and instructor of Kitchen All Stars at Columbia Heights, about what is on the menu for the day. Most were just quiet, probably trying to find opportunities to connect with individuals they just met. There were 18 youth, 2 volunteers and myself, an intern from Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI).

Amanda started the session by asking participants to introduce themselves, followed by an icebreaker game which helped to release their inhibitions. Each one was also asked to create a Group Expectation. Then each participant picked one goal to focus on for the day, which intends to make sure that everyone will participate diligently. In addition to the list of Group Expectations created by the students, we also have the “Brainfood No-Brainer” which lists things that they should not do while in the kitchen in order to keep all students safe

At 4:30 pm, Amanda handed them the recipes and the participants started measuring ingredients. At some points in the process, the youth were not sure what to do next, which ingredients needed to be measured, how much, and how many. They were confronted with lots of questions and they needed to make decisions quickly so that the cookies would be in the oven by 5 pm.

There's No Stopping Our Kitchen All Stars

Amanda Kirsch — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 18:16:13 +0000

Two weeks ago, over 100 students from fourteen different DC high schools gathered in our three Brainfood kitchens across the city, eager to meet new people and explore all aspects of food and cooking. Some are returners—teens who have been with Brainfood for two, three, four, or even five programs over the course of their high school careers. Some are just entering our kitchens for the first time.

Students in our first-year program, Kitchen All Stars, represent a variety of levels of experience in the kitchen. However, all of our first-year participants can now say they have an ongoing list of kitchen knowledge under their belts. After just three Brainfood classes, Kitchen All Stars have encountered at least 33 different ingredients and over 33 different pieces of kitchen equipment. And we’ve only just begun our introductory baking unit.

From A to Z, check out the ingredients and tools that have already made an appearance or two in Kitchen All Stars:

5 Ways You Know It's the First Week of Kitchen All Stars

Nina Bryce — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:43:45 +0000

Last week, we kicked off another year of Kitchen All Stars at Brainfood. Of course, every year is different: new students, new volunteers, new recipes, and lots more. But at the same time, there are some aspects of Brainfood that hearken back to years past and feel as familiar as a worn-in sweater or a favorite rerun. It's wonderful to see those tell-tale signs that Kitchen All Stars is starting up again, and that it looks more or less like they did last year. Because as exciting as it is to experience fresh starts and new beginnings ripe with possibility, it's just as special to see what stays the same. We put together a list of some snapshots from class last week that exemplify those classic Kitchen All Stars first week moments.

1. Students are reading their recipes very closely.

As teachers, we love to see two teens tracking the steps of the recipe with their fingertips! This kind of careful attention is especially necessary early in the program.

Feeling Ready

Julie Margolies — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:59:55 +0000

Let me introduce myself. My name is Julie and I am a new Kitchen All Stars instructor with Brainfood this year. As a member of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, I applied for this position with Brainfood with the hope of bringing together my love for food, my interest in promoting community engagement in youth , and my passion for social justice. By working at Brainfood, I hope to bring together both the “foodie” and the “social science nerd” in me!

We made sage cornbread for our

Weekly Classroom Assitant orientation

My first few weeks at Brainfood have been filled with organization, planning, and preparation. Brainfood staffers have been travelling all over the District for student recruitment, orientations, and trainings of all sorts.

While it’s been interesting to see all the different neighborhoods that surround where we live and work, migrating all over the city has left me feeling a little unsettled. As such, I was thrilled when I was given two days last week to spend alone in the kitchen, organizing and cleaning the space.

Box Project: Highlights and Big Winners

Aimee McLaughlin — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 04:00:00 +0000

Hey DC eater. Did you miss out on Brainfood Box Project this summer? Maybe your travel schedule had you leaving town every weekend, or your fridge space was already reserved for fresh veggies from another farm’s CSA. Whatever the reason, hold onto your hat and open up your google calendar, because after reading this highlight reel and seeing a selection of this year’s winning recipes, you’ll be itching to plan way ahead for next year’s Box Project CSA.

The Highlight Reel

16 amazing youth (ages 14 - 20)
2 full time staffers
1 part time intern
1 part time volunteer
16 subscribers
6 weeks of handmade, farm fresh boxes
9.65 out of 10 in overall customer service rating
30 prepared foods (5 or 6 recipes each week)
32 varieties of local fruits and veggies
- Sweet corn

If Julie Andrews Were in High School Musical: A School Recruitment Update

Amanda Kirsch — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 13:04:04 +0000

Well, here we are: the calendar page has been flipped, and the air—while still humid—offers a soft breeze to remind us that fall is around the corner. September means it’s time, once again, for school recruitment. Brainfood staffers have been transitioning from summer programs to preparing for the new school year. But there’s still one very important piece missing… teen participants! These next couple weeks we’ll be visiting high school lunchrooms and after school fairs throughout the city, sharing information about Brainfood programs and handing out applications to interested students. It’s a fast-paced and exciting time of year.

So in both complete seriousness and silliness, here’s a list of our favorite things about recruiting in DC high schools:

1. An obvious but oh-so-genuine favorite is sharing in new students’ excitement and curiosity about

Pupusas 101

Nina Bryce — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:43:30 +0000

During the time between summer and school year programs, Brainfood staffers have lots to do: between writing reports, planning for after-school programs, organizing the kitchens and office, and more, our plates are pretty full. Yet in the midst of all this, we took some time last week to enjoy each other’s company and try our hands at a new kitchen skill: the art of making pupusas. The pupusa is a culinary endeavor that some of us had tried before, but had never really mastered. It comes up on the Brainfood Student Requests list almost every year, we've all heard about different fillings and styles, and we all have our favorite pupuseria in Columbia Heights or Mount Pleasant. It’s definitely a fixture of our lives, so we wanted to experiment with some recipes and hone our technique.

We were lucky to have a great teacher, Teresa, a chef who we share kitchen space with at our Mount Vernon site. She generously took the time to show us her technique and coach us through the process. Once we learned from the master, we gave it a try by ourselves, and we were pretty pleased with the results. For all you aspiring pupusa makers out there, here's a step-by-step overview of the process!

Step 1: Make Your Fillings
We went with black beans (lovingly hand-mashed by Amanda!), shredded pork, and a sauteed summer squash veggie mixture. Of course, all three got a generous sprinkling of a delicious mild white cheese, labeled specifically as cheese for pupusas.

Finding Purpose: A Zucchini’s Perspective of Hopes and Aspirations in the Brainfood Kitchen

Lyssa Houser — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 21:38:34 +0000

Typically at Brainfood we work with high school students, work that inevitably provides Brainfood staff with a bounty of hilarious and heartwarming stories to share on our blog. But in the lull between summer and fall programming, it seemed like a good time to share another story of growth and development that has happened on-site. What follows is a unique account of the path from seed-to-table by Zelda the Zucchini, born and raised in the Brainfood Youth Garden.

(Photo credits to Aimee McLaughlin for the incredible portrait! Thanks Aimee!)

Hello there, my name is Zelda. I am a zucchini. What does being a zucchini mean to me? That’s a good question. I’ve been a zucchini all my life, so it’s hard for me to think outside my glossy green skin. But I will try.

My Spirit Vegetable

Carina Gervacio — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 14:46:29 +0000

Madelyn Bullock is a Brainfood graduate who completed the Kitchen All Stars program in 2013, Box Project in 2014, and worked on our Brainfood Homegrown production team for summer 2015. Madelyn is a senior at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School and she wrote the following personal statement as a reflection on what she's learned about herself in the kitchen and garden.

Food is my life. If I were a vegetable I would be an eggplant. A vibrant purple with an absorbent flavor. There are so many possibilities for me, but not everyone knows how to use an eggplant. The power an eggplant holds is broad and unclear. My flavor fits in everywhere, but first let me make you a snack.