Christina's a Lunchroom Hit — John Steward's Next

Eager Eater, Sidney Foster Scholfield

Contributed by Madie Murray

When a first grader asks for seconds, you know you’ve done something right, and Christina had lots of requests for seconds from kids feasting on her Celebrity Lunch items this past Thursday at the public school cafeteria. Christina and the enthusiastic cafeteria staff’s freshly prepared menu of Spaghetti with fresh sauce, Tuscan Bread Salad, pumpkin bread and applesauce drew 302 students in for the Farm to Cafeteria’s second Celebrity Lunch.

January 21 will be the next Celebrity Lunch featuring one of our special island gourmands, John Steward, owner of Maple Rock Farm. Probably best known for the fresh oven baked pizza he treats our school kids with when they tour his farm, he’ll be switching gears a bit this time to a menu of beef stew, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and apple dessert. The perfect comfort food for what will probably be a typically Orcas cool winter day, and you know it will be good.

Fab Five: Bing Mowrey, kitchen assistant; Debbie Guilford, Food Service Director; Kate Long, volunteer; Zach Holley, cook; and Christina Orchid, Celebrity Chef.

Lunches like these, which are mostly made from scratch and from fresh, locally procured sources, take a considerable amount of preparation time over the pre-packaged, highly preserved items previously served in school cafeterias across the Country. It is only because our island is truly blessed with incredible organic farms, our community has supported it with generous funding and volunteers, and our public school is taking the necessary steps to support our school cafeteria and it’s hard working staff, we are able to provide our Island children with increasingly healthfully prepared, wholesome school breakfasts and lunches.  And our reward is happier, healthier, brighter kids across the entire economic spectrum.

Other professional and amateur Island chefs are putting in their dibs on months to come, so it looks like the Farm to Cafeteria Celebrity Chef lunches are well on their way to becoming a regular monthly occurrence at the public school cafeteria.