Now We're Cooking! Workshops Offer Benefits for All

Teachers, administrators and many other professionals receive professional development training, and it's every bit as important for the food service professionals charged with producing healthy, delicious meals for students every day. 

That's why VT FEED partners every year on a series of culinary professional development workshops for child nutirition professionals: Now We're Cooking. Along with the School Nutrition Association of Vermont, New Enland Culinary Institute, Vermont Department of Health, and USDA, we are proud to help produce these hands-on cooking sessions that support staff in cooking healthier dishes that meet school food guidelines AND student approval. Topics range from cooking lower sodium meals and using whole grains to building exciting breakfast programs.

This spring's workshops are just wrapping up, and the learning is already trickling back to cafeterias and school communities around the state. "The benefits to workshop participants are learning new methods, networking with other School Nutrition Professionals and being exposed to new ideas that can be brought back into their own school’s kitchen," said NECI Instructor Jim Birmingham. "All of these things serve to further the professional experience of both the workshop presenters and participants.“

The workshops aren't just important for child nutrition professionals, but they also serve as an invaluable service learning experience for chefs-in-training at the New England Culinary Institute (NECI).  Student chefs plan the workshops, design the curriculum, and teach the courses. “The Service Learning course is a key element to education at New England Culinary Institute," said Birmingham. "Service Learning provides students a real world application for their education and benefits both our Community Partners and the Service Learning Students. The students' efforts at planning and leading these workshops engage them in unique applications of their course material, reinforcing their education and exposing them to a segment of their industry they may not have previously considered."