Picking plums

The Ferry Building Marketplace is a foodie magnet, bustling with shoppers and tourists, mostly upper-middle class.  Why is that?  Without a doubt, the food shops inside the building are expensive.  But the farmers don’t charge any more than the average grocery store for comparable produce. On October 6^th, I brought a group of Mission High students on a guided tour of the Ferry building, and I’m wondering if after their experience there, they will return as shoppers.

My friend, Lisa, of In the Kitchen with Lisa offers “intimate culinary excursions in San Francisco, Napa Valley, and West Marin in Sonoma County for individuals and groups looking to go behind-the-scenes with a local expert for a taste of the remarkable food culture that exists in these regions.”  She generously donated her time and the time of one of her guides, to introduce my students to the food at the Ferry Building Marketplace.  My group is made up of Hispanic, Asian, African-American a White 14 and 15 year olds of varying socio-economic backgrounds and varying interests in food.  Some have been to the market before, and were comfortable asking for samples.  Others had never been to the market before and were comfortable asking questions (Where did the Mutsu get its name?), and some were just there for the food. 

Pick a pepper

Sweet as honey

I scream for ice cream…and apparently so do Bi-Rite Market customers!   On Saturday June 13^th, Nextcourse students dished up 150 sundaes composed of Bi-Rite Creamery ice cream and local strawberries to passersby (minus those sundaes lost to “quality control inspectors”).  Why were Kevin, Karen, Ravon and Jonathan handing out free ice cream in front of Bi-Rite Market on 18^th Street?  To connect with our neighbors through Bi-Rite Community Day!  Sam Mogannam, Bi-Rite Market owner and all-around-good-guy, generously donated the sundae ingredients as well as 5% of the day’s sales to Nextcourse programs.  Yeaahh Sam!

Students, clad in “Eat UR Veggies” t-shirts, gave cooking demos and talked up the Nextcourse food education and cooking classes at their school.  Students Hector, Rogelio and Christian showed off their knife skills making perfectly seasoned bruschetta, and learning about balsamic vinegar as a result.  While students drew in customers with the promise of tasty bites, they handed out literature to generate interest in the work that is being done at their school around increasing the consumption of local, healthy fruits and vegetables.  Customers loaded down with bags of fruits and vegetables of their own, loved the idea of learning to cook at school.  The positive outcomes of the Nextcourse classes were clear to anyone who observed students pigging out on tomatoes and crudites – those “quality control inspectors” again!

Bi-Rite Community Day

Customers sign up for give-a-way

On a recent Wednesday evening Nextcourse students from our Mission High School program Eat UR Veggies transformed their cavernous cafeteria into an intimate, fine-dining restaurant for their parents, friends and teachers.  Students in our after-school program, Cooks’ Club, have been learning cooking techniques from project coordinator, Chef Su Harris and guest chefs from the community.  They had the opportunity to cook with novel ingredients like artichokes and chipotle, and also discover dishes from around the world like mole, Poulet Basquaise and hand-made pasta.  As a way of sharing their knowledge, students invited guests to a night of great food and live jazz music at Café M.  

Project co-coordinator Kim Cuddy led the “front-of-house” staff,  that included hosts David Barrientos and Shantell Pearson who escorted guests to their tables set with school colors, flowers, and printed menus by Solongo.  Many of these students did double duty, first cooking the dishes in the kitchen, then serving in the dining room. 

Kim Wong, Eric Ng Du, David Nguyen and Philip Li manned the hot line, plating Creamy Leek-Zucchini soup with tarragon and then Moroccan chicken and vegetable couscous.  Christian Morales, Taik Wong, Rose Ganbat and Vashelle To served the three-course meal.  The pastry team, Henry Li, Irene Noh and Alejandro De Santiago got a standing ovation for their cheesecake with strawberry-rhubarb compote.  As you might imagine, with such a deliciously and lovingly prepared dinner, there were NO leftovers!

See our flickr slideshow:

Cafe M Debuts

Meet Chloe Turner!

Looking back a year ago, I would have never thought I’d be where I am today working with the Sheriff’s Department Women’s Re-entry Center doing an internship with Nextcourse Soul Food Project. This time a year ago, I weighed 240 pounds and was sitting in prison counting the days till I got out. I had little to no direction at this point in my life I just knew I was paroling to Walden House FOTEP treatment program. I didn’t have to go there but I knew that I was tired of living my life the way that I had and a serious change had to occur. Going to Walden House helped save my life. While there learning about my chemical dependency, I started attending 5 Keys Charter School at Treasure Island and there another miracle occurred in my life. I attended cooking school with Nextcourse and there the instructor, Rania Long, taught me about health and nutrition. I started reading labels, paid more attention to what I ate, stopped drinking soda and became a vegetarian. I also began to exercise regularly. I started feeling better about myself, had more energy and as the weight came off my self esteem increased. I learned so much there. I thought nothing was wrong with the way I was eating for so many years but now that I know I was sustaining off chemicals, sugars, fats, and carbohydrates which could have lead to heart disease or diabetes (which my sister has) or obesity, which was a close reality for me.

I applied for the internship with Nextcourse Soul Food Project in February and wasn’t very confident that I’d get the job because of all the bad choices I have made in my past that sent me to prison. I remember thinking: I’d never be able to work with the Sheriff’s Department. Why would they want to hire an ex-offender like myself? Well, here I am and so very grateful! As an intern I want to share with the women how important it is to intertwine nutrition and recovery. By bridging together relapse prevention and recovery with health and nutrition as a way of life we can feel good and look good doing it. So many women I know relapse to deal with their weight gain because using drugs is the only way we know how to lose weight. I’ve learned another way; eating healthy and exercising at least once a week. If I can pass that on to other women and it can help them like it’s helped me then I feel that I am giving back.

My first week as an intern was full of learning experiences. Shopping at the Farmers Market was extraordinary. It was amazing how much food we were able to buy for so many people for so little. Eating healthy really pays off it just takes a little work. I think the coolest thing about Women’s Night was seeing all the women I’ve been going through program with and some of the counselors from 5 Keys Charter School there to see my progress and to enjoy the food that I helped prepare as an intern. They were able to see that I was working, happy and healthy. The atmosphere here at the Women’s Re-entry Center is so warm and welcoming. I enjoy coming to work everyday. When I get home at night I go over my day and think about what I’ve learned so far, and wonder, what will I learn tomorrow?

Meet Chiquita Woods!

      To be an intern working at the Women’s Reentry Center has had a strong impact on the women that come here from the community and from jail. To see one of their fellow friends that has lived the life of hanging out and selling drugs inspires them to stop and take a look at what they are doing and do something different with their life, because I’ve been there and done everything that they have done and some continue to do. I’m proud to say that it feels good to look back at where I was and know what I want out of today life. 

 I never thought that I would be working in an environment with Police, Deputies, and Counselors as a team player fitting into all the good stuff that life has to offer on the other side of doing “RIGHT”. I went to jail for probation violation for sales.  When I got arrested I wasn’t ready to stop selling drugs because it was easy for me to have money and do what I wanted to do. While being incarcerated I was away from my only daughter Leon-ay. This gave me a lot of time to myself to reflect long and hard where I really want to go and be when I return to society.   It was a learning experience for me and I realized what’s important to me in my life. My priority is my daughter and my freedom, she is everything to me, it means a lot for me to stop, stand still, and let God be in control. I learned a few things during my incarceration while I attended 5 Keys Charter School. I learned about Restorative Justice and how to make amends to the people that you have hurt. I learned how to turn around what you were doing and come back into the community by helping out by being a productive part of the community who is held accountable for your actions.  I have turned things around for the better and to see the change I’ve made makes me emotional and proud of myself.

 I was so happy when I was given the opportunity to be on Home Detention. I was released early and was given a second chance to be a mom and do right for my only daughter.  I promise that if I gotten the chance to go back I would do everything that I suppose to do. I got out of jail on September 11, 2008 learned about the cooking class at the Women’s Reentry Center. The staff at the WRC opened their arms and hearts to me and treated me like family. I met my case manager, Cynthia who has a very good spirit and right then I knew that I would be able to talk to her about anything that’s bothering me. I started coming to the Healthy Eating on A Shoestring cooking class with Niyati in October.  I have been learning about Nutrition, how to be healthy and prepare healthy foods for myself and my family. When I met Niyati the cooking class teacher we hit it right off. She suggested I apply for the soul food internship. I was inspired to apply for this job when I interviewed Ramona Massey, a supervisor with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department. She gave me the push that I really needed to believe in me. I’m very grateful to have her in my support circle because she believes in me as a person and as a woman. The day Niyati called me to tell me I was picked for the internship, I was overwhelmed with shock!  I never thought that I would be working with the Sheriff’s   Department and doing something that I love, which is cooking and making people smile while they enjoy what I’ve prepared for them.

As the intern,  I teach women about the meals that we are preparing weekly. It makes me feel good to help someone that isn’t familiar with eating healthy and preparing healthy meals at home with their family.  Our first week, we were asked to cater the Women’s Night for 100 people!! It was such a joy and emotional time for me because so many ladies in treatment were seeing me do something different with my life and free time. I became emotional when a song my sister and I used to listen to began to play. My sister was killed on February 23, 2008. It was sad to remember the good times that we use to have in the past, but it brought joy thinking how proud she’d be of me. It was a good night because everyone enjoyed the food and saw that we put our hearts into our first catering gig. Hopefully I will experience many more events like this again soon.

The Mission High School Leadership Team partnered up with Mat Schuster of Cafe Crissy and The Warming Hut to provide a hands-on “Eco-Chef” workshop for this year’s Eco-Career Day.  Panalists Bu Nygrens of Veritable Vegetable, private chef and food writer Michelle McKenzie, and Chef Schuster talked with students about their passion for local, seasonal foods, and their career pathways.  Students then made hundreds of fresh springrolls for the day’s lunch menu that also included steaming hot chicken and brown rice.  Culinary team members put their cooking skills to the test by whipping up spicy peanut sauce for dipping those rolls, and baked off healthy oatmeal cookies for dessert.  By the huge numbers of students who went back for second helpings, this year’s lunch was a big hit! 

Check out all the fun and our AMAZING MHS students:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/36581956@N02/sets/72157615815150874/

It is inherent in our organizational mission to not only inspire our students to eat in a healthy and sustainable manner, but to also encourage our project partners to examine their food policies and practices.  When starting this culinary arts training program we were not surprised to find our students snacking on processed foods throughout the school day.  However, as students started learning about the effects of these foods on personal and enviromental health, they started requesting healthier options through their program managers.  Both Walden House and Haight Ashbury Free Clinic have been extremely responsive to these requests by providing more whole foods and foods with better nutritional quality.  Walden House’s Executive Chef Danny Higginbotham now sends along to the school cases of fresh fruit and healthy lunches for their students.  Kudos to our students for inspiring change!

  

On October 29th, women in the Soul Food Project took a trip to the Bayview Hunter’s Point Farmer’s Market. 

Some Soul Food Participants

The Market Walk was all about moving our bodies, getting some fresh air, meeting our local farmers and trying new foods! Our arrival to the farmer’s market was greeted by live beats from the band: Here’s Rusty. Children were dancing with their teachers in front of produce stands…..”this is so different!” the ladies described.

After walking a mile to get there (thanks to our pedometers, we clocked it!)  We perused the beautiful varieties of fresh squash, potatoes, and grapes of all colors. In answering how the farmer’s market is different from a supermarket, they jotted down phrases like, “smells earthy”, “its smaller”, and “the produce looks fresher”. Other differences included the presence of “nicer people” and “shockingly low prices!”.

The Soul Food participants were asked to interview a farmer of their choice. The goal was to learn about a particular food item they were selling. Check out what they learned:  

• Rosemary takes 1 year to grow
• Grows in any season, but prefers cold to grow fully
• Pumpkins take 3 months or more and require lots of sunshine and water

• According to the youth from Sunol Agriculture Park who grew the pumpkins, the best way to enjoy them is in pumpkin soup with cumin, salt, pepper, garlic and a little milk – Yum!

Then it was time to shop. For $10 the women purchased 1 watermelon, 4 plums, 4 pears, 2 pounds of grapes, 2 bunches of collard greens, 1 pound zucchini, 1 red cabbage, 1 sweet potato, an apple, chili and bell pepper, and 1 bag of almonds (unshelled). “I am blown away”, one participant said, “I am shopping at the farmers market from now on….”

The food traveled no farther than 1 hour to get to the farmer’s market, and came from as close as a block and  half from the market, from Willie Brown Academy.

Before we left, mobile chef Gregory Mann taught visitors how to cook Butternut Squash Fritters with Apple Chutney. “This is hitting the spot!” We were so impressed, we decided make it in our cooking class the next day! Check out the recipe here

Sustainable Culinary Arts Training Comes to Treasure Island

Nextcourse has joined with 5 Keys Charter School in an exciting project aimed at helping men and women in residential substance abuse treatment programs rebuild their lives through high school educational classes and culinary arts training.  This unique partnership provides Walden House and Haight Ashbury Free Clinic residents with an opportunity to obtain high school diplomas and culinary arts training while completing treatment programming.  These individuals have already made a serious commitment to their sobriety and recovery by enrolling in intensive inpatient programs lasting as long as 18 months.  Our added educational and vocational training will boost their chances of finding meaningful and long lasting employment when transitioning back into the community.

The project is operating out of the Treasure Island Elementary School and includes a half day each of academic classes and culinary training, 5 days per week.  The on-site cafeteria, which has been dormant since the school closed as a public elementary school 2 years ago, is currently undergoing a functional facelift to make it workable as a teaching and small production kitchen.  Our HUGE thanks to Glide Memorial Church-our school site partner-for helping us with the kitchen overhaul. 

The most unique aspect of this culinary arts initiative is that the training curriculum originates from a sustainable foods perspective.  Before ever picking up a knife or whisk, students will be trained in fundamental concepts of how food moves from farm to plate, and the community, environmental and health differences between conventional vs. sustainable food systems.  Our first class started on October 1st has already explored the conditions of migrant farm workers and the environmental footprint of industrial beef.  As these students go on to work as cooks, waiters, and elsewhere in the food services industry, they will have the training and knowledge to be stewards of a healthier and sustainable food system.
 
Our new culinary arts project has a shoestring budget and we are looking for a few equipment items in good working condition.  We need an electric stove, refrigerator and/or freezer, commercial grade food processor and blender.  Please email susie@nextcourse.org if you think you can help.  

An Evening to Remember

Nextcourse was honored to partner with Orson Restaurant as part of Slow Food Nation’s Slow Dinner Series over Labor Day weekend.  Orson owner and visionary Elizabeth Falkner is a well-respected sustainable food champion, and has been a Nextcourse friend since our inception.  Our Slow Dinner was generously supported by great friends at Veritable Vegetable who have been helping us this past year provide fresh, local food to women enrolled in our nutrition education program at the Women’s Reentry Center 

At the initial dinner planning conversation we articulated a vision to connect dinner guests in a rich and meaningful way to the work that happens in Nextcourse’s sustainable food educational programs.  Together with two of our standout Mission High students, David Barrientos and Anususya Mukherjee, we went about organizing The Making of a Meal, which was to be both our evening’s educational theme and the focus of a short film capturing Chef de Cuisine Ryan Farr and our eager students talking with local farmers and purchasing dinner ingredients at the Alemany Farmers’ Market.

On this evening our guests were privileged to witness the importance of sustainable food education thanks to these young students, enjoyed the most amazing meal thanks to the talented Chef Farr, and experienced the greatest hospitality thanks to Team Orson.  The success of Making of a Meal was a true collaborate effort, so there are others we wish to thank:  Pikake Foundation, Chronicle Books, Broc Cellars, and Rhum Clement.

To meet our students and the dedicated farmers who provided our delicious and seasonal produce, view The Making of a Meal here.

Mission High Culinary Leadership Team Begins Training!

Nextcourse’s new Culinary Leadership Team is growing food leaders at Mission High School by training students to teach their peers about healthy food choices.  And our team is off to a sizzling start with 6 junior and senior students joining this semester’s team to cook for change.  Starting in November these enthusiastic students will be teaching their freshman and sophomore colleagues about new ingredients, cooking techniques and food systems. 

To prepare for their task, Culinary Team members are undergoing an intensive training program that includes after school cooking lessons, tastings and a field trips.  Each member of the team brings his or her own unique quality to the project.  All have demonstrated strong leadership skills and a passion for new foods.  Many come from cooking backgrounds and have an interest in nutrition.  Others are just beginning their foray into the rich and exciting world of food and cooking.   

Every Monday they get together in the Mission High School kitchen to hone their culinary skills and learn about aspects of nutrition and food production.  During the class, students have savored heirloom tomato varietals in salad and buschetta recipes;  they have tried their hand at preserving by making their own sauerkraut; and they have explored grains such as spelt and quinoa.  On Columbus Day, students took a trip to Alemany Farm where they learned about sustainable agriculture and lent a hand with field chores.  Go Team!!

Wow. What a day we had, at our first annual Bi-Rite/Nextcourse Community Day. We are SO grateful to Sam Mogannam, owner, and genius behind, Bi-Rite market. One of his own customers insisted today – Sam should be Mayor!

Indeed, Sam welcomed our dedicated Nextcourse board members into the store a few months ago, to plan and plot for this day, which celebrated the nutrition, cooking, and food systems work we do in nearby Mission High School, in conjunction with Pie Ranch.

Early today, our Mission High students started rolling in, dawning “Eat Ur Veggies” tee-shirts, designed by our own Midget Beltran.  They got to work chopping produce, seasoning salsa, and scooping up Bi-Rite Creamery ice-cream tastings, to lure people into our “Advice Cream” mini nutrition consultations.

It was exciting to watch the co-mingling of our students, the Bi-Rite staff, and the members of the vibrant Mission community, around this healthy food. Sam shared his expert knife skills with one of our young chefs. Passers-by stopped to ask and give tips for, preparing their favorite produce. Even one of our Women’s Reentry Center students, came with her children, to join the food festivities. It seemed everyone was off to a BBQ, on this hot day.

At day’s end, we drew a raffle winner. One lucky entrant took home a basket of Bi-Rite goodies, and a copy of the SoupsOn! cookbook. Along with this gift basket, the divine ice cream, and baskets of fresh strawberries Bi-Rite generously donated for this day, they also gave 5% of today’s food sales, to Nextcourse.

People were asking – when can we do this again!? Hopefully soon.  Thanks to everyone, our board members, our students and the entire Bi-Rite/Mission community, for supporting healthy food!