Earlier this month, The Sylvia Center’s Community Chef instructors, assistants, office staff, and dietetic interns came together for the annual staff training. In preparation for the new season, our team reviewed essential steps for a healthy kitchen, participated in fun team building activities, and created outstanding recipes for a mock community event. It was not a surprise that the recipes the chef and chef assistants made were creative and well-executed despite working with limited ingredients and a time constraint.
In our twist of the newlywed game, chef instructors and assistants sat back to back and completed questions to see if they would have the same answers. Every task in the kitchen is a team effort from cleaning, prepping, and planning for the next class. Communication is the key ingredient for a harmonious team.
For the mock community event, teams of three were each assigned a theme and then judged on creativity, overall presentation, and the menu item. There was ‘Parfait Night,’ where you could experience all the different types of flavor profiles. One of the points brought up from this recipe was how best to introduce greek yogurt when people unfamiliar to it can be turned off by its extra tanginess and less sweetened flavor compared to that of regular yogurt. Our chefs decided that by layering greek yogurt with a host of favorite fruits and toppings, it made it much more appealing to anyone whose taste buds weren’t familiar to the yogurt. At another table, ‘Salsa 2.0’ demonstrated different flavor profiles and used nontraditional and classic ingredients for salsa that was delicious. Last but not least, there was ‘Prom Night,’ which truly was a perfect menu item for the occasion – bruschetta with seasonal veggies and curried yogurt on the side (allowing someone the option to taste first and then see how much they would like to use).
The Sylvia Center team is excited to start the new season and everyone is prepared to set up a successful classroom!
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