Joanna and Payson Farrar, proprietors of Classic Provisions, a local fine dining cafe, welcomed eight lucky RLRS students into their kitchen on September 26 to prepare and cook four international dishes. Humanities teacher, Maryam Emami, and Life Skills teacher, Lindsay Richards, organized this cross-curricular outing aimed at highlighting the far-reaching importance of the historical, and personal, diet.
Back in Ms. Emami’s Humanities II classroom, “Students are curating artifacts to include in the museum exhibits they are creating. These exhibits can incorporate music, visual art, videos, digital media, information about important individuals from that time period and place, along with cultural and historical items.”
Understanding what influences a civilization’s success or failure requires thorough research and by defining causality and its historical significance. Context is everything, so Ms. Emami has her students consider the enduring issues influencing the rise and fall of their assigned civilizations, one of these being cultural resources, and this is where food enters the frame.
Lindsay Richards said, “Students learned kitchen safety and sanitation, the importance of farm fresh produce, how to prepare a multitude of foods, and about cuisines from civilizations they have been studying in Ms. Emami’s class.” The importance of personal choices can make the difference between living a healthy life or one of obesity and chronic illness. The American diet is so poor that it has overtaken cigarette smoking as a leading cause of death. (New England Journal of Medicine)
As soon as the students got off the bus they began looking for the coffee. They were equally eager to get cooking. The Farrars had performed a good deal of the food prep, known as mise en place, to ensure there would be enough time for the students to not only cook the meals but to also sit, eat, and enjoy their finished products together. Joanna and Payson were the ideal hosts, convivial, helpful, professional, and extremely talented. Joanna oversaw the entire process, gliding from station to station, smiling and always offering constructive guidance. Their kitchen is the exemplar of what all kitchens should be: well designed, fully stocked, clean, homey, and every recipe’s main ingredient is love.
Students Shirley Truland and Jeremy Robishaw were studying Thailand and this led them to cook up some delicious Pad Thai (though, unfortunately, Jeremy Robishaw was out sick). It was eye-popping to witness the flying flames as Shirley tossed and flipped the food in the 10-lb. skillet. Payson was visibly proud of his protégé.
Elden Irish, Emma Grant, and Ollie Sherrer, researching the Ottoman Empire, combined their efforts to grind chickpeas through a good old-fashioned meat grinder, chop cilantro and parsley, mince garlic, and scoop and roll it all into golf-ball sized falafel. There’s something so gratifying about watching an oil fryer bubbling and spitting. They also made an accompanying tzatziki dip.
Maddie Richards and senior Angelica Chavaree-Woodward joined forces to prepare and cook Lomo Saltado, a Peruvian dish of beef, rice, and steamed tomatoes, using Angie’s grandmother’s recipe. This required knife safety and the correct way to slice steak in order to ensure tenderness and no loss of digits.
Natalie Alves and Owen Dugan worked together and made a tasty dish of Ghanaian fried chicken. The chicken was brined overnight by Joanna to enhance a fuller flavor. The duo prepared the rub they’d coat the chicken with before frying. Again, back to the oil fryer for a splattering good time.
Nearly two hours later, the students sat and ate what proved to be delectable dishes. This writer can attest to what easily could have passed as menu worthy offerings. There were just the right amount of cooks in the kitchen that day.
A thousand thanks to Classic Provisions, Emami and Richards for this important hands-on opportunity for our kids.
