Kindergarten Visits Chef Chris in the AFS Cafeteria

The kindergarten classes were so excited to visit Chef Chris in our very own AFS cafeteria as part of our study on nutrition and food. To prepare for our in-school field trip, the students brainstormed a variety of questions that they were ready to pose. Some of them included:

Where is the refrigerator?

How do you make all the food?

Where does the food come from?

Do you make vegan food?

Did you make the food for our fall picnic?

How do you keep track off all the orders?

How do you decide what to make each day?

Do you make cookies and pretzels?

Do you know the five food groups? We do!

How did you get to be a chef?

                                              
Some of the different food groups we saw: protein (chicken), dairy (cheese), vegetables (salad) and fruits (apples, bananas and strawberries)

 We saw all the food groups in the cafeteria: protein, fruits, vegetables. grains and dairy. Chef Chris was even preparing chicken cordon bleu as we watched and he talked with us. The children were fascinated by all that was happening in the kitchen during our trip and remembered all of the questions they had previously thought of and more. They had many questions about foods that some  students could and could not eat, (vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free)  and they were so happy that Chef Chris and all the friends in the cafeteria could make foods that each child in kindergarten could eat and enjoy!

The children were in awe that the cafeteria serves 300 to 400 people per day and that Chef Chris often uses his very own recipes to cook new items. We learned that Chef Chris can not do it alone and that each person in the kitchen has two or three jobs so that all the prep, cooking and clean-up can happen each day. One person may do all of the baking and work the register, and another may be in charge of the salad bar and also make deli sandwiches during lunch.

        We ended our visit with a special "sometimes" snack from the grain food group, cookies

Chef Chris and his staff were impressed that our students knew all of the five food groups that make up a healthy meal and the class even shared what they know about "sometimes" foods and "a lot" foods! The depth of the questions our students asked easily displayed the developing critical thinkers that the kindergartners are quickly becoming! The thoughtful and engaged manner in which they expressed their thoughts and ideas to Chef Chris was delightful to witness! And just importantly, the students were active listeners focusing their attention on Chef Chris in a very busy kitchen!
The kindergartners learned so much from this in-house field trip and we were thankful to be able to use the resources available to us on campus to support our study of nutrition and food.