NEWS
Chef In The Garden Program Application
Applications still being accepted.
Slow Food Phoenix’s (SFP) mission is to create a diverse and inclusive food community that supports good, clean and fair food for all by educating, advocating and connecting. Blue Watermelon Project (BWP), an Initiative of Slow Food Phoenix, is a grassroots group of chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, and community food advocates.
Blue Watermelon Project’s Vision:
We see a future in which all people have a taste for a diverse array of food, one in which schools have served students fresh and healthy options, families have been given equitable and culturally-appropriate access, and all have been given the knowledge and freedom to be nourished, ready to learn and poised for academic and social success.
The Chef In The Garden program is simple: chefs design a recipe inspired by garden ingredients, then teach students how to cook a meal. The school administrators and teachers prepare the logistics and invite parent volunteers. Chefs also partner with local farmers and vendors to supplement the garden ingredients.
In 2020, BWP needed to adjust our Chef In The Garden approach to continue to serve our school children during the COVID pandemic. Thus, CITG School Kits were created, along with virtual learning lessons. In the 2020-21 school year, BWP’s Virtual CITG has reached 13 schools, grades PreK-6th, across Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix. At the close of May 2021, our project will have reached a total of 1,415 students in 6 months.
REQUEST FOR APPLICATION INFORMATION:
Key Dates:
● Awarded applicants will be placed into groups for participation on a monthly rotation for Virtual and/or In-Person CITG experiences offered by grade group or classroom up to 30 students. (Note: BWP staff will work to identify gaps in V/CITG rotation needs).
● For awardees participating in the first rotation, expect to receive your first kits as early as August 2021.
Eligibility:
Who can apply for Blue Watermelon Project’s Chef In The Garden Program 2021-22?
The following types of organizations are eligible to apply:
● Public Schools
● Public Charter Schools
● Private schools with 501c3 non-profit status
● Private charter schools 501c3 non-profit status (US)
● School districts supporting a garden at a public or a non-profit private school
● Childcare Facilities including center-based or community-based licensed childcare facilities.
In order to achieve BWP/CITG goals, we require the following at each school site:
1. A Garden: Ideally, each school will have a garden, but at the very least, the desire to implement a school garden with or without BWP support. Our impact is tied to connecting students to their food, engaging them in the process of growing their garden, and using the ingredients to prepare a meal with local Chefs, so having a garden onsite is imperative. A school committing to being a Chef in the Garden School, will have, or be working toward, a garden of some sort. We will be developing a toolkit for schools to grow a garden, if they do not have one already, to assist in this process.
2. A Site Representative and a Parent Committee: Additionally, we require a school staff member to be willing to spearhead the program, and/or a parent committee dedicated to CITG in order to ensure successful coordinator and garden sustainability and longevity.
Site Representative Responsibilities:
● Coordinate CITG experiences with rotating grades/classrooms and CITG Project Manager
o Student and Teacher Evaluation (Monthly and Annual)
o Curriculum Integration Needs (Ongoing)
● Assemble or attend school garden committee meetings to take note for on-site needs
● Assist with funding and school staff/volunteer engagement pipeline for sustainability.
To apply, please fill out this Google Form. Questions may be directed to Nicole Lynch, bluewatermelonproject@gmail.com
Cholla Buds: How to use them and where to buy
The desert teaches us that even in dry and stagnant times, there are still ways to thrive off of the land. A great example of this can be found in cholla buds, which were added to Slow Food’s Ark of Taste in 2015. Their versatility and importance in Tohono O’odham cuisine makes this food so vital to the Sonoran Desert and its surrounding ecosystem.
Slow Food Phoenix board member and research expert on American Indian food sovereignty, Cristal Franco, says ciolim—the O'odham word for cholla bud—has so many great uses for cooking. These buds are specifically found on different species of the cholla cactus, which grow as clusters or “little forests,” and should be harvested carefully as they are covered in spines. Watch as Velvet Button of Ramona Farms carefully removes the spines from the cholla buds.
So how does one prepare cholla buds?
“I like to completely air dry the ciolim and store them for the year,” Cristal said. “When you want to cook with them, rehydrate the buds in a bowl of water before adding them to your pan. My go-tos are chopped cholla buds in omelettes and burritos or whole buds tossed into salads.”
Dehydrated cholla buds from San Xavier Food Co-op Farm
Sara Aly El Sayed, Slow Food Phoenix’s Advocacy Chair and specialist in regenerative food systems, says the taste of cholla buds reminds her of okra, a traditional food in Egypt, where she is from. This context is key when talking about food education and how different cultures can utilize ingredients that are similar to that of their own heritage’s dishes. It creates a great opportunity to connect people to food, culture, and preservation—especially when someone is unfamiliar with a food that grows so abundantly in their own environment.
When searching for cholla buds to try at home, look to support native growers and producers who care deeply for the preservation of these cacti, like the Ajo Farmer’s Market, Native Seeds/SEARCH or the San Xavier Food Co-op Farm.
November News & Virtual Events
See what Slow Food Phoenix and Blue Watermelon Project have been up to this last month.
Terra Madre Salone Del Gusto
Terra Madre events are still happening! Last month, Slow Food’s Terra Madre Salone Del Gusto went virtual, offering classes, panel discussions, recipes and more! Many of the virtual events are FREE, and anyone can register.
Blue Watermelon Project
Blue Watermelon Project and our volunteers have been hard at work preparing and delivering Chef in the Garden kits for students across Arizona—an integral part of their Chef in the Garden/Pantry series. The goal is to work with schools every month to deliver kits to students packed with different recipes, planting resources, cooking ingredients, and food resources. BWP works with nine different schools from Phoenix to the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community, and determines their needs for different grades. BWP focuses on half of the schools each month, alternating between two groups, which allows school partners to receive kits every other month, focusing on new ingredients and curriculums each time. For November, BWP delivered roughly 150 kits and will send 150 more in December.
In November it’s all about chickpeas! Students in 4th and 5th grade get to watch virtual videos, produced by BWP, in their classes and learn how to plant chickpea seeds, create chickpea pancakes and understand how to integrate chickpeas into their diet.
These efforts are all made possible by the Neighborhood Grant from Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.
Gather Film Screening
Slow Food Phoenix is proud to partner with Arizona State University’s Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems to present a FREE screening of the film GATHER. Join us in the virtual screening on November 19th at 5:30 PM, and stay after for a discussion about the importance and wisdom of Indigenous foodways, with panelists Melissa Nelson and Kathleen Merrigan, from ASU, and Cristal Franco, a Slow Food Phoenix Board member.
RSVP to our Facebook Event Page for updates and registration information regarding our post-screening panel discussion.
Fall Updates from Slow Food Phoenix
It has been a busy end of the summer season for Slow Food Phoenix and we’re excited to share some news and resources for you all!
Community Spotlight
Did you know there is a national Slow Food Turtle Island Association that exists
alongside Slow Food USA and all its local chapters? Beginning this month, Slow Food
Phoenix will be spotlighting the foodways work occurring here in Arizona within our
Indigenous communities. We are proud to feature and promote the resiliency and
commitment to traditional foodways that Indigenous peoples have continued through
each generation.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Ndée Bikíyaa opted to have their 8th annual
Apache Harvest Festival virtually. Each Friday, in the month of September, live and
recorded discussions and demonstrations were posted on their Facebook page. These
included topics such as “Food is Medicine,” “Gathering Culture,” “Food Preservation,”
and “Building Resilience,” all highlighting Apache food sovereignty. Head to their Facebook page to check out their foodways work and 2020 Virtual Apache Harvest Festival.
Watch Distribution Manager Shalitha Peaches demonstrating acorn stew cooking on the farm.
Restaurant Aid
Slow Food Phoenix has also been working alongside local chefs and hospitality professionals in an effort to advocate for the Restaurants Act. The Restaurants Act has recently been included in the House's revised HEROES Act. Our goal is to put pressure on our congressional representatives to help support the Heroes Act. You can help local restaurants, farmers, hospitality professionals and more by calling our representatives at 202-224-3121 or sending emails. Visit the Independent Restaurant Coalition to learn how you can help.
Blue Watermelon Project
COVID-19 has had a big impact on how our team behind Blue Watermelon Project continues to work with local schools. When schools began shutting down in Phoenix and across the country, the Blue Watermelon Project focused on processing locally-grown carrots for students who still relied on school lunches, processing over 1,500 pounds of carrots for 25,000 meals in four weeks. Now the team has shifted its approach to food education and has started a “Chef in the Pantry” video series to provide students with valuable lessons on how to prep, cook and stay organized in their kitchens at home.
Learn more about what the team is up to from our feature on Slow Food USA.
Terra Madre
We invite you to attend Terra Madre this year, it is a virtual event and it’s free. This is a great opportunity to experience a worldwide Slow Food festival that unites our food, our planet and our future. Physical and digital events run from October 2020 to April 2021, starting on October 8th. Did we mention that access to these events are FREE? Unlike previous editions, all the content published on this platform is free for all—though some formats will require you to register.
Subscribe to our email list to stay up to date on all things Slow Food Phoenix!
A Better Tray Every Day: Phoenix Chefs Rising for a Common Cause
In spring 2017, a small group of Phoenix chefs joined forces to become better advocates for childhood nutrition and food education.
On a cloudy April morning, FnB’s Charleen Badman called together a handful of Arizona’s culinary leaders for a workshop with Katherine Miller of the James Beard Foundation’s Chef Action Network. Fueled by nourishing food and local wines, they spent the day learning the tools necessary to engage more powerfully in the local for a common cause.
While recruiting more allies over the next few months, the group worked together to determine the most effective ways to make an impact in their community. After gathering information from stakeholders including childhood nutrition professionals and, of course, students themselves, they settled on a plan to spark change from the ground up.
They came as chefs. They left as champions for a common cause.
Now operating under the umbrella of the Phoenix chapter of Slow Food, these chefs raise money to help schools and school districts to rethink relationships with food. They go into the classroom to teach kids about the importance of nutritious food and where that food comes from. They provide resources for educators and parents so their work at schools can be reinforced at home.
Today the group includes some of the state’s top chefs such as Chris Bianco, Tracy Dempsey, Justin Beckett, Aaron Chamberlin, Doug Robson, Danielle Leoni, Sacha Levine, Sasha Raj, Casey Lynn-Hopkins, Aric Mei and many more.
Their goal is to foster a better food system and they believe it starts with a better tray, everyday.