[Photo] Two Environmental Charter High School students showcase their healthy creation at The People's Food.
It’s not everyday that you catch high school students in the kitchen cooking—much less preparing a healthy, sustainable meal crafted after careful planning, budgeting and shopping by the students themselves! Yet, on December 10, 2015, 130 10th grade students in the ECHS Green Ambassadors class did just that at The People’s Food, a student-led cook-off held at Environmental Charter High School. Students prepared and presented a variety of delicious eats for their teachers, families and community members. Dishes ranged from chicken biryani and homemade chicken noodle soup to sustainable salsa and vegan cupcakes!.
At the event, a team of invited judges selected the “best of” dishes across a range of categories, including vegetarian/vegan meal, locally-sourced ingredients, traditional foods, healthy “budget” meal and organic food. A big thank you to The People’s Food judges from Growing Great, South Los Angeles Food Coop, Manhattan House, Food Forward and EarthShare California.
Congratulations to the talented participants and award winners:
- Healthy Budget meal – Kaira Castillo
- Local Food – Maria Posada, Manny Gonzalez, Abdul Kadri
- Vegetarian/Vegan Food – Niko DeCuir and Dinorah Hernandez
- Organic Food – Valerie Romero, Evelyn Lopez, Vanessa Aburto, Samantha Escamilla, Jalen Rodgers
- Traditional/Cultural Food – Shameem Akhtar and Oscar Sanchez
[Photo] The judges smile for the camera before the delicious tasting begins!
#salsaGame presents on their #organic #locallyGrown salsa made of fresh local tomatoes! #ECHS pic.twitter.com/HZXxbE166p
— EnviroCharterSchools (@EnviroCharter) December 11, 2015
Our student Natalie made #yummy #Vegan #cupcakes for our #ThePeoplesFood #sustainable #StudentRun #cookoff! Yum!!!! pic.twitter.com/UxaNz2nVCU
— EnviroCharterSchools (@EnviroCharter) December 11, 2015
Green Ambassadors teacher, Betsy Rivera, created The People’s Food event to get her students involved in their local community, and to make them more aware of the healthy, sustainable options available to them.
"I was so proud to see all 130 of my 10th grade students be so excited! To be so young and already understand the value of sustainable foods is so amazing!"
– Betsy Rivera, 10th Grade Green Ambassadors Teacher
Following the cook-off, students celebrated with dance performances and spoken word on the topic of what it means to eat healthily in their community.
#Talented #ECHS #Students share with our #community at #thePeoplesFood our #Community #Event! #Lawndale pic.twitter.com/mGw8LxPsCM
— EnviroCharterSchools (@EnviroCharter) December 11, 2015
Students Perform after the food-tasting
Our students present an amazing spoken word piece about the foods they see in their community and the ways that they eat healthy! #Echs #EnvironmentalCharterSchool #SpokenWord #Poetry #StudentArt #LocalFood #HealthyFood
Posted by Environmental Charter Schools on Thursday, 10 December 2015
Student Spoken Word Presentations about Healthy Eating
Check out Facebook for more photos of the event:
Posted by Environmental Charter Schools on Monday, 11 January 2016
