In celebration of Earth Day, this week we learned that our food system and the health of the planet are intricately linked. In the classroom we read To Change A Planet by Christina Soontornvat and illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell and Maybe You Might by Imogen Fox and illustrated by Anna Cunha. Both books remind us that each of us has the power to change the world.
In the kitchen we worked with fava beans, a plant that grows easily in the San Francisco Bay Area at all times of year and fixes nitrogen into the soil as it grows. Instead of leaching all the soil’s nutrients, beans actually enrich and prepare the soil for future generations. Notorious for being fussy to prepare, fava beans are a wonderful legume to shell in a big group. We got through two pounds per table in no time, blanched them, and then popped the bright green beans out of their coats a second time.
We ate our hummus with local bread from Josey Baker Bread and carrot and cucumber coins. To make things a little fancy, we added some edible flower petals grown at Dearborn Community Garden just down 18th Street from Harvey Milk: borage, California poppy, calendula, and nasturtium. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mash the beans up with a fork and blend the hummus together in a bowl with a spatula. Plant protein for the win!
