Breakfast Around the World Week 8: Mexico

We’ve made a number of delicious Mexican breakfasts in the school kitchen over the past few semesters, but never simple yet satisfying huevos rancheros. The dish was so popular we had several chefs waiting at the door at 8 a.m. asking if they could come to class even though they had cooked the morning before!

One group fried the tortillas while another group made pico de gallo, a fresh salsa that is also known as salsa Mexicana for its tribute to the colors of the Mexican flag. By now students are pros at frying eggs, so the meal came together quickly: they spread each tortilla with refried black beans, topped it with an egg and the salsa, and garnished with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, sprigs of cilantro, slices of avocado, and some pickled onions we had leftover from last week’s class. All three mornings the atmosphere was calm, collaborative, and fun. I’m really proud of how far our young cooks have come since the beginning of the year. ¡Salud!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 6

This week we worked with another popular member of the Brassica genus, collard greens, and a rare ingredient in The Breakfast Project kitchen, bacon! We discussed the culinary tradition of eating stewed greens with bread to soak up their cooking juices, which is found in many countries across the African continent. Starting in the 1600s, enslaved African people took the ingredients they had access to in Colonial America and applied traditional cooking methods from their homelands, creating new dishes that had never existed before. We watched a video of Dadisi Olutosin, a chef from Atlanta, Georgia, talk about the collard greens he grew up eating in the South and how he now prepares the dish with overt Caribbean and West Indian influences like peanuts and coconut milk.

There’s no denying the results are delicious when you wait for collards to become tender and you achieve the perfect balance of savory, tart, sweet, and heat from bacon, vinegar, sugar, and hot sauce. The collards the second graders prepared were featured last night at the Black History Dinner and Honor Roll Celebration. It was really meaningful to see students take such pride in sharing their work with their families!

Breakfast Around the World Week 7: Australia

The first thing a student said on Tuesday when we introduced the country and recipe for the day was, “Aren’t avocados originally from Mexico?” Beaten at our own game, we had some explaining to do. Avocados are from the Americas, and eating avocado with grains has been around for thousands of years in both Central and South American indigenous cultures. In the early 1990s, a restaurant in Sydney popularized the “avocado toast” that we now find all over the Bay Area and on social media. This week, we pickled our own onions and made fresh ricotta as a nod to Australia’s contribution to this larger-than-life food’s story.

Over three days of classes, we had lots of variations in humidity due to the rainy weather and subsequently got totally different results with our cheesemaking. It got us thinking about offering a food science-themed class this fall where students can go deeper in their exploration of what variables affect the cooking process and the finished result. What do you think?

We had lots of extra pickled onions on Thursday and happily served them to the full house at the Black History Dinner and Honor Roll Celebration. They might make a comeback next week, too, when we make (yet another?) dish from Mexico.

Rock and Rollers: Week 5A

We had a great crew this week for our after-school class featuring a roll from the Philippines called lumpia. You can put any vegetables of your choice inside; we used sugar snap peas, Japanese sweet potato, carrots, cabbage, and mung bean sprouts. First, the students prepped the filling ingredients, then we stir-fried the mixture over high heat in a wok, adding a simple sauce of soy sauce, cornstarch, and brown sugar.

Thus far our rolls have had round wrappers (i.e. tortillas, roti, rice paper) or a funky shape like a grape leaf. Lumpia wrappers are square. Our pro chefs made 25 rolls per table in no time, then we fried them in avocado oil and enjoyed them with a simple dipping sauce made from vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and sambal chili sauce for a little heat. It was a rewarding class because many of the kids were familiar with the Chinese spring roll (the precursor to the Filipino lumpia) as a food, but none of us had ever made them from scratch before. We were too busy enjoying the finished product to remember to document how beautiful the golden brown rolls were at the end of class, but you can use your imagination!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 5

Continuing on our journey exploring local winter produce, this week we made a recipe that featured the Brassica genus of plants, also called cole crops or cruciferous vegetables. The word cole comes from the Latin word caulis, which means “stem” or “stalk,” and the word cruciferous comes from the New Latin Cruciferae, which refers to the plants’ cross-shaped flowers.

In the Bay Area, we are lucky to be able to grow Brassica vegetables year round, but in the winter, the many different varieties available can make an otherwise slow-producing time of the year particularly exciting. Brassicas include common household favorites like broccoli and kale, but also include wasabi, rapeseed (from which canola oil is made), horseradish, and mustard. The students were very curious about how mustard comes from a plant, so we discussed how the cross-shaped flowers eventually become seed pods and how the seeds in turn can be ground up with vinegar and salt to make the condiment we are all familiar with on hot dogs.

These pancakes are inspired by the Japanese dish okonomiyaki. Okonomi means “what you like” and yaki means “cooked” and this is a recipe you can put anything you want into. In class, we used Tokyo turnips, kohlrabi (which the kids loved snacking on raw), lacinato (aka dino) kale, purple and green cabbage, and green garlic (not a Brassica but it never hurts to throw a little taste of spring into a winter meal!).

We also talked about how rich in vitamins Brassicas are and how eating fruits and vegetables that are deeply colored (like the kohlrabi and purple cabbage) is especially good for you. Like citrus, Brassicas are high in vitamin C, a particularly ingenious way for nature to help us fight off the flu and the cold during the winter months.

Before heading into the kitchen, we checked in on the students’ cured squash seeds from last week. We watched a short video featuring Eatwell Farm founder Nigel Walker talking about saving seed. Ms. Reynolds mentioned that her students will be starting the seeds in the classroom for transplanting when it’s warmer either at home or in the school garden.

Breakfast Around the World Week 6: Belgium

Next week will mark the one-year anniversary of the first class we ever taught as The Breakfast Project. That first week we made waffles with the kids, and we’ve decided we’re going to make it a tradition during a week in February from now on in celebration of the milestone.

This overnight recipe is versatile (use any combination of grains as long as you keep about half of the base all-purpose white wheat flour) and delivers a ton of flavor due to the long fermentation process. It’s also a recipe young people can do every step of with confidence, including the most important one - licking the whipped cream bowl at the end!

We discussed the official languages of Belgium and looked at a map of Western Europe, noticing how French, German, and Dutch are spoken in the countries that border Belgium as well. A couple of our students used to live in Belgium and could attest to our fun fact about the mind-boggling large amount of chocolate sold in the Brussels Airport every day.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 4

We continued our celebration of seasonal produce this week by learning about winter squash and making a simple soup from four different varieties: Sugar Pie pumpkin, Blue Hubbard, Butternut, and Acorn. Students discussed what differentiates fruits like squash from vegetables and the differences between summer squash like zucchini (ripens in warm weather, soft exterior, should be eaten soon after harvest) and winter squash (ripens in cool weather, hard exterior after curing in the fields, lasts many months after curing). We read a book called Benji and the 24 Pound Banana Squash with Room 207 and a book called From Seed to Pumpkin with Room 209.

The soup was delicious, but the most exciting part is yet to come. Both classes saved the squash seeds and will be curing them in the classroom next week. All students can take some seeds home to plant or start them in the classroom and do a planting activity in the school garden with Ms. Mallory when the weather warms up!

Breakfast Around the World Week 5: Indonesia

Fried rice is one of the great breakfasts of the world, and this week our students made a version featuring seasonal vegetables and the flavors of Indonesia. We fried our own crispy shallots for garnish, and made a spice paste with garlic, turmeric, coconut sugar, and star anise. Adding tomato paste, soy sauce, and soy-chili sauce to the mix brought the dish to a new level. It was slightly sweet, fiery hot, soft, and crunchy all at the same time. A LOT of water was consumed before the start of school!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week we talked about community supported agriculture (CSA) and used everything out of an Eatwell Farm CSA box to make a stir-fry. We watched a short film from The Lexicon of Sustainability and PBS Food highlighting the benefits of the CSA model. Then, we got to chopping! Two items in the box were not typical ingredients in a Chinese stir-fry: lemons and grapefruits. Never mind, it turns out lemon zest brightens the flavors of anything you’re cooking and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice makes a delicious marinade for tofu when paired with soy sauce and sesame oil.

We truly had a great time. Special thanks to our tireless parent volunteers Ms. Rikke and Ms. Catherine, and to Ms. Aurelie for taking beautiful photos of class in action.

We hope to partner with Eatwell Farm for an event in the spring. Stay tuned!

Breakfast Around the World Week 4: Nigeria

This week we worked with an ingredient, plantains, that very few of us had cooked with before. Students found the firm, underripe plantains (perfect for the cooking method our omelette recipe required) difficult to peel, but fun to slice and fry in avocado oil. Other ingredients in our omelette included caramelized red onion, tomato, sugar snap peas, and spinach.

We discussed the fact that Nigeria is one of the most populous countries in the world; that because of the legacy of British colonization, English is the official language; and that regardless more than 500 languages are spoken there.

Our burners and lack of ovens didn’t allow us to fully cook the omelettes in one piece, so we ended up making a scramble, which was just as delicious. Students compared the savory flavor of the cooked plantain to roasted potatoes and another rare ingredient, breadfruit!

Rock and Rollers: Week 2A

Our after-school program is back in action! This week we made kati rolls filled with a spiced vegetable medley and a green chutney featuring mint from the Harvey Milk school garden. We had fun working with an unusual and exotic ingredient, fresh coconut, which we opened by banging the fruit against the concrete wall of the school kitchen outside!

Many kids drew parallels between the Mexican burritos we made last week and the Indian kati rolls. Pico de gallo and the green chutney both use cilantro and add a brightness to the savory flavor of beans or potatoes, and tortillas look a lot like the Indian flatbread called rotis, which we had made for us by our friends at local Castro restaurant Kasa.

The many spices we used for the filling made for a fragrant afternoon, and our kindergartners especially enjoyed listening to the Bangalore-based rock band Agam while we ate.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 2

We started class by reviewing the concepts from last week around eating locally: it uses less energy and is better for the environment, supports local farmers, preserves nature, and tastes delicious. This week, we discussed how eating locally also usually means we’re eating with the seasons. The second graders passed around a calendar of when specific fruits and vegetables are in season in San Francisco and The Local Foods Wheel, a beautiful educational tool produced through a collaboration between a local artist, a local chef, and a local food systems expert. We asked the students to locate their birth month and see what’s in season at that time of year!

One of the seasonal foods to look forward to during the California winter is citrus. For our Winter Citrus Extravaganza, the students worked with Minneola tangelos, Meyer lemons, Moro blood oranges, Tahitian Sarawak pomelos, Shasta Gold mandarins, Satsuma mandarins, Cara Cara navel oranges, limes, and Ruby Red grapefruit. They peeled and thinly sliced the fruit into half moons, then made a salad dressing using red wine vinegar, mustard, honey, lime zest and juice, extra-virgin olive oil, and fresh tarragon and mint.

The coolest part of class was hearing some students recognize the same citrus varieties they had purchased on their field trip earlier this year to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. We love being a part of connecting learning in the classroom, on field trips, and in the kitchen.

Breakfast Around the World Week 3: Costa Rica

We landed in Central America this week and prepared a classic breakfast from Costa Rico called gallo pinto, which literally translates to “spotted rooster” and refers to the speckled appearance of dark beans cooked with rice. On our world map, we noticed how Costa Rica borders Nicaragua, where our beloved janitor Suzette was born, and that Nicaragua borders Honduras, where our friendly morning crossing guard, Matilde, is originally from. All of these countries share Spanish as a language, as well as one of our students’ favorite foods, tortillas!

First, we reviewed the basic components of cooking rice: use 1 part rice to 1 3/4 parts water, bring it to a boil, cover and reduce heat, set a 20-minute timer, and voila! For the gallo pinto, students added an aromatic mixture of onions, garlic, and red bell peppers, and then black beans once the rice was done. We ate our breakfast atop warmed tortillas from La Palma Mexicatessen in the Mission with a healthy sprinkling of cilantro (check out those knife skills below!) and last but not least, homemade Salsa Lizano, a popular condiment from Costa Rica. Our recipe included ancho chilis, lemon, carrots, cumin, and molasses and provided a wonderful sweet-tart-smoky element to the dish.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 1

We had an incredible first week in the kitchen with Ms. Reynolds’ and Ms. Butler’s classes. For nine weeks, we will explore the food system and learn more about local producers and eating with the seasons. Our inaugural class started with a discussion of the drastic changes over the past century in how accessible local food is to the average American. In 1919, most Americans ate out of their own gardens and preserved the summer bounty to last through the winter; in 2019, we can get fresh tomatoes and bananas grown in Mexico at the corner store in January. Advances in transportation, government subsidies, and ignoring the environmental costs of large-scale industrial farming have all contributed to the current system where local food is harder to find and often costs more out of pocket, even in farm-dense California.

Ms. Katie introduced our recipe, Locavore’s Carrot Salad, which featured only ingredients grown or produced within 101 miles of Harvey Milk (with the exception of the salt and pepper): Nantes carrots from Full Belly Farm in Guinda (101 miles away), Meyer lemons from Live Earth Farm and cilantro from Hikari Farms in Watsonville (90 miles away), green garlic from Knoll Organic Farms in Brentwood (61 miles away), cumin seeds from Spicely Organics in Fremont (45 miles away), and extra-virgin olive oil from Séka Hills in Brooks (92 miles away). We plotted all these producers on a map of California and then watched a short film featuring local professor and writer Michael Pollan talking about why we should consider eating local food and took a virtual tour of olive oil producer Séka Hills, which is a business of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in the Capay Valley.

Then we walked to the kitchen and got to work! In addition to making the carrot salad, students also shook their own butter starting with cream from Straus Family Creamery in Marshall (48 miles away). When the spice grinding, carrot and green garlic slicing, lemon juicing, cilantro picking, sauteing, and tasting for seasoning were done, we shared the vibrant salad with the fresh butter on bread from Marla Bakery in San Francisco (4 miles away) and Firebrand Artisan Breads in Oakland (13 miles away). We particularly appreciate how well our second-grade chefs worked together sharing tools and how much they embraced our entreaty to savor the moment.

Breakfast Around the World Week 2: Taiwan

This week we brought back a favorite from last year’s Breakfast Around the World class, green onion pancakes, a classic Taiwanese breakfast dish. We started by labeling the island of Taiwan  on our map of the world. We discussed the modern-day politics behind Taiwanese independence and shared that bubble tea (or boba) was invented in Taiwan, sparking the attention of many of our boba-loving chefs.

Students made a simple dough with flour and hot water, stirring at first and then kneading by hand. They then sliced or cut the green onions thinly so the pancakes wouldn’t tear from bulky pieces and green onion flavor would be present in every bite. We cut the dough into individual pieces for students to roll out and brush with oil, then sprinkle with salt and green onion pieces. We rolled up each pancake, twisted gently down the entire length of the roll, then coiled the dough like a snail shell. We then rolled each coil to form a thin pancake, cooked the pancakes in oil, and topped them with a final sprinkling of salt before sitting down to enjoy our meal together.

Favorite quote of the week: “Oh come on! These are ridiculously good.”

Breakfast Around the World Week 1: Finland

It’s a new year, and Breakfast Around the World is back! We had quite a bit of cold and rainy weather this week, so it was nice to make a warm dish from Finland called puuro, or porridge, from rolled oats and kiisseli, a fruit dessert with origins in neighboring Russia.

The fun fact we discussed about Finland is that it is ranked the happiest country in the world. When asked what they thought might make a country particularly happy, students suggested time spent out in nature, having enough food to eat, and no war. We also talked about how Finland has universal healthcare and free tuition at public universities.

First we made the kiisseli by cooking frozen wild blueberries with water, a cinnamon stick, and sugar. Then we added lemon juice, lemon zest, and a small amount of potato starch that magically turned the dessert into jam as we slowly whisked it in. The oat porridge is made by simply boiling water with a pinch of salt and then simmering rolled oats until the water is absorbed. The end result is a truly delicious combo, especially with a little milk and butter on top.

Overheard at the end of our meal together: “What a fantastic way to start the year!”

Chefs in the City Week 7B: Castro - Pride Parfaits

Our final class this semester celebrated our school’s home neighborhood, the Castro District, and our school’s namesake, Harvey Milk, and his role in creating the now-iconic rainbow flag. Tuesday’s class had a very special visitor, Mr. Michael, one of the incredible community volunteers at HMCRA who gives his time and support to our students every week. Mr. Michael lived in the Castro for many years and marched alongside Harvey Milk and Gilbert Baker, the creator of the flag. Students listened intently as Mr. Michael described many of the local shops he used to frequent in the Castro and were astonished at what $1.50 could buy 40 years ago. Together we read the book Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders and illustrated by Steve Salerno.

To honor the Castro’s significance to the LGBT+ community and the giant flag that flies above the neighborhood today, we made a pride parfait, with local organic fruit representing each of the six colors on the current version of the rainbow flag. (The original flag had eight colors!) The kids particularly enjoyed working with kiwis and pineapple guavas, which represented green. They whipped cream from scratch and then alternated layering cream and fruit in clear cups. Because it’s almost winter and most purple fruits like grapes, plums, and mulberries are not in season, we used fig jam to represent purple. It was a sweet way to end the session and to connect more deeply with our community. See you in 2019!

3rd Grade Social Studies: Week 12

Our last class started with a discussion of the word “bittersweet” - certainly something many of us were feeling as our three months in the kitchen with the third graders came to a close. We definitely saved one of the best recipes for last, though, with Chinese dumplings, a culinary tradition that dates back 1700 years.

The students watched a video about the history of dumplings and another showcasing dumplings from around Asia: Korean mandu, Chinese guotie (potstickers), Nepali momo, and Japanese gyoza. We talked about how Chinese food culture has influenced the rest of the world, for example, with the invention of noodles. Some were quite shocked to contemplate that spaghetti comes from China! But once we stop to think about it, it’s easy to see how the dumpling begat ravioli.

Our filling contained classic Chinese aromatics such as garlic, ginger, and chives, as well as shiitake mushrooms, tofu, cabbage, and carrot. We learned how much filling was just right, how to wet the edges of the wrapper before sealing, and how each dumpling shows a bit of our personality once we’re finished crimping its edges.

While the dumplings steamed, students made their own customized dipping sauce, with a choice of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sambal, chili oil, sesame oil, and green onions. We finished the class with a gratitude circle and implored the kids to keep cooking! Thank you to Miss Grace and Miss Lizzie for being such incredible teaching partners, and to all the many volunteers without whom we couldn’t do this work. Thank you to Aurelie David de Lossy, Melissa Brown, Cindy Peterson, Mr. Andrew, and Mr. Lorenzo for helping in the kitchen and to Jennifer Horner and Susan Canavan for laundering the class aprons. We are so grateful for all of you and look forward to more culinary adventures together soon.

Chefs in the City Week 6B: Richmond - Grechnevaya Kasha

This week we talked about the Russian Orthodox churches and Russian bakeries you find in the Richmond District. We discussed how large numbers of Russian immigrants and refugees arrived in San Francisco in the twentieth century following the end of the Russian Civil War in 1921, after World War II ended in 1945, and in the 1970s as a direct result of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. Several students drew a connection to the October shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, for which there is a memorial in the hallway outside the kindergarten classrooms.

We made a porridge from kasha, or buckwheat, using one part grain to two parts water. I mentioned to all our young chefs that this ratio will serve them well as they continue to learn to cook. They can make rice, lentils, couscous using this same ratio!

We topped our porridge with a simple apple salad dressed with a squeeze of lemon and cinnamon, then got to add cow or soy milk, honey, and butter. Because this was a simple meal to prepare, we had time for a rousing (but not at all Russian) game of Lotería (a Mexican game similar to bingo).

Soup Squad Week 5B: Miso Soup

Before cooking this week, we harvested greens and herbs from the school garden, adding our own Harvey Milk twist to a miso soup. Our recipe incorporated three different types of seaweed: kombu, wakame, and nori. Each played a different role in giving the soup flavor and texture.

The kids passed around the miso paste and learned that it is made from fermented soybeans and adds saltiness and umami to the broth. Another ingredient that incited both fear and joy was the dried shiitake mushrooms.

While the kombu broth was heating, students cut up chard, dandelion greens, and collards; diced tofu; and snipped chives and tore sheets of nori for the garnish. Some chefs enjoyed the soup so much they came to Soup Squad after school three days in a row!