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What We Create
Since we began, Emerging Chefs program provides ample opportunities for young people to explore their relationships to food and participate in the food system. We are eager to share our work with the community and spotlight youth voices from our program. While we spend most of our time in the kitchen with our students each semester, we love opportunities to be active in our community through hosting pop up meals and bringing our youth on field trips to see various elements of the local food system.
Classes
Fall and Spring Semesters + Summer Intensives
Each semester a class of ~16 students in respective schools collectively decide what food they want to cook together. Classes last for 10 weeks and culminate in a showcase where students cook a meal for family and community. Classes weave mindfulness, kitchen basics, food histories, cultural influences in cuisine, and topics relating to food justice, farmworker rights, and ethical consumption.
Summer intensives last for one week for each school in June or July. Our program dives deeper into food system discussions and prepare complex recipes for students to learn. Past topics have included fermentation, pickling, and pastry-making.
Field Trips
Visiting Local Farms, Restaurants, and Farmers Markets
Each semester and summer intensive involves at least one field trip within our local food system of the Shenandoah Valley. This provides youth the opportunity to hear from other farmers and chefs about their work. Some of the sites our program has gone to include:
- Chocolate Apalache (Harrisonburg, VA)
- BoBoKo Indonesian Cafe (Harrisonburg, VA)
- A Bowl of Good Cafe (Harrisonburg, VA)
- The Harrisonburg Farmers Market (Harrisonburg, VA)
- The Friendly City Food Co-Op (Harrisonburg, VA)
- The Farm at Willow Run (Harrisonburg, VA)
- Hobbit Hill Farm (Mount Crawford, VA)
- Hickory Hill Farm (Keezletown, VA)
- Silver Run Forest Farm (Keezletown, VA)
- Carter Farms (Orange County, VA)
- Slyde at 23 Restaurant (Staunton, VA)
- Jones Gardens (Staunton, VA)
- Rooting DC Food Conference (Washington, DC)
- Real Food for Kids Culinary Challenge (Alexandria, VA)
Community Meals
Hosting Fundraiser Meals at Local Venues
Starting many years ago with a "restaurant takeover" at the Little Grill Collective, these meals have been such a joy to create with our students. To name a few, in 2019 our team hosted a "Mardi Gras" meal at Our Community Place, and in December 2022 we hosted the biggest event- a Food and Fashion Show- in our program's history! Serving 120+ people and providing 16 different dishes that all paired with cultural dance performances, runway walks by students displaying traditional clothing, and poetry. Our most recent event was July 2023 where our team and students catered a meal for a Pendleton Community Bank community convening. Please feel free to contact us if you have any interest in collaborating!
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