Today the chefs went out of their way to engage the kids to think about food in a creative way. Chef Steve Catalano from Left Bank Menlo Park made vanilla ice cream. It’s a simple recipe but it demands lots of energy.

Steve Catalano

The Barron Park elementary kids got a good workout as they rolled the ice cream maker ball back and forth on the mats. The kids never imagined that cooking could be so physical. Meanwhile chef Jeremy Bringardner from LYFE Kitchen and his charming assistant tried to stump the fourth graders from Ohlone elementary by asking them to identify all sorts of vegetables and hers. The kids knew so much that the chef was very impressed. David Bastide from Left Bank on Santana Row visited the French American school in Sunnyvale and introduced many fruits and vegetables in all different textures and applications, for instance fresh pears, vanilla poached pears, tarragon compressed pears; beets in different forms and stages. One of the big highlights of the day was the hugely popular exhibition cooking at Nixon Elementary during hot lunch, which rallied 275 students compared to the usual 80 on a regular day. One child even tried to hire the chef to cater for his upcoming birthday party!