In the classroom this week we followed the young activist Genesis Butler (a grand niece of Cesar Chavez!) to the University of Oxford in England where she interviewed the food sustainability expert Dr. Joseph Poore. We learned that veganism (a plant-based diet/lifestyle) has the potential to drastically cut the level of harmful emissions that contribute to climate change.
In the kitchen we made a delicious vegan meal of parsley hummus and za’atar served with pita, cucumbers, and carrots for dipping. Chefs had fun grinding the spice mix by hand in the mortar and pestle, operating the food processor to make the hummus, cutting the pita into triangles, and making vegetable and fruit “coins” out of the produce. The finished hummus is piquant from garlic and lemon; one chef described it as having the same stimulating flavor as the popular snack Takis. If the fourth and fifth graders can get as excited for a handmade snack made from whole plants as for a processed and dyed food engineered to be highly addictive, they’ve truly mastered the art of cooking!
