On September 8th, twenty-three chefs made their way to nearly as many Denver schools to work with students in school gardens and in school cafeterias.

As part of Colorado Proud Day, a program promoting locally grown food, the Denver Public Schools Food and Nutrition Service asked Slow Food Denver to recruit chefs to help promote the all-Colorado menu on Colorado Proud.  This year, twice the number of chefs participated and we showed kids that healthy foods could be delicious, affordable, and locally-grown!

At Brown Elementary, Chefs Daniel and Justin from Root Down made salsa from garden tomatoes and chiles with students in their school garden.  Xan Lynch, pastry chef at Argyll Gastropub, was so impressed with the students and their garden at Bromwell Elementary that he told me, “I have never done anything like this before but now that I have had my first taste, I would love to do more.  The new school lunch program (in Denver Public Schools) is long overdue and deserves all the support it can get.”  Finally, 78-year old chef Bill MacPherson was such a hit with the international students at Ellis Elementary, he has been invited back to teach the cafeteria staff to prepare some of their native dishes like baba ghanouj and tabbouleh.  As a result of our success, the Denver Public Schools Food and Nutrition Service  has decided to have a monthly Colorado Proud Day to showcase their efforts to bring CO products into school cafeterias when available.

Learn more about the Chefs Move to Schools program, or jump directly to sign-up page for chefs or schools.