Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 1 PM – 4 PM
Questions about this event? Please contact Blue Watermelon Project.
Move over frozen fish sticks and microwave pizza: Phoenix’s top chefs are taking on the lunch tray and giving school food a major makeover.
For a third year, Feeding the Future unites top Phoenix chefs and high school students from around the Valley to create a new vision for school food. The event is hosted by the Blue Watermelon project, an initiative of Slow Food Phoenix.
With mentorship from professional chefs, teams of high school students have crafted meals that adhere to both the nutritional and budgetary restrictions of the National School Lunch Program. Each team spent months testing and costing recipes with the help of Blue Watermelon Project chefs to better understand the challenge schools face everyday: how to provide delicious, nutritious and affordable lunches to students.
On Saturday, January 11, 2019 from 1-4 p.m. at The Farm at South Mountain, attendees can taste and see these re-imagined cafeteria trays at a special tasting event and competition. Students and their mentor chefs will serve samples of their school lunches, alongside bites, drinks and desserts from other Blue Watermelon chefs.
This year Blue Watermelon Project chefs have partnered with Valley schools to help students better understand the challenge school food professionals face: how to provide tasty, nutritious and affordable lunches to millions of American children everyday. With mentorship from professional chefs, teams of high school students spent months testing and costing meals that adhere to both the nutritional and budgetary restrictions of the National School Lunch Program. During the tasting event diners will stroll through the Pecan Grove at The Farm at South Mountain enjoying these inspired visions for the future of school food. The teams include:
- Students from Casteel High School mentored by James Beard Award nominated chef Charleen Badman of FnB.
- Students from Perry High School mentored by Tamara Stanger, executive chef at Cotton & Copper in Tempe.
- Students from Paradise Valley High School mentored by chefs Dina Altieri, Director of Culinary Enterprises, and Doug Robson of Otro Cafe and Gallo Blanco.
A panel of judges also will select one team to receive a $5,000 scholarship from the Blue Watermelon project. An additional $5,000 of scholarships will be awarded to second and third place teams through a donation from Noble Bread.
Attendees will be invited to vote and help select one team for a People’s Choice Award.
