Creating gastro training grounds for aspiring young chefs As the menu’s “Bite” rolled out of the kitchen at Commune NFK restaurant in Norfolk, it became clear what the guests should expect for the rest of their meal. These were no ordinary oysters. The creative offering consisted of one oyster chilled with lemongrass and one caviar-fried, served with chickweed, rutabaga relish, sweet corn, beet, apple cornbread, cashew and goat cheese. That’s quite a “Bite,” and we watched as the young students who prepared it, plated it for serving. Yes, 14-19-year-old students prepared and served fig and apple wood-fired sourdough bread with wild onion butter; a salad of local kale and greens with beets, wildflowers, corn breadcrumbs, arugula, and strawberry vinaigrette; and charred rainbow carrots with whipped cheese. They followed it with heirloom polenta, sausage ragout and parsley cake with carrot and brown butter ice cream. Since starting The CROP Foundation in Delaware in 2014, Kip Poole, executive chef and executive director, has watched his mission grow, providing education and real-world learning opportunities for young culinary enthusiasts interested in a career in food service, hospitality, food advocacy and sustainable food-related fields. Poole moved to Virginia Beach in 2018 to serve as the Virginia Beach public schools district chef. He and
his staff helped numerous schools turn their kitchen staff into skilled cooks, creating scratch-cooked meals with student-grown, school garden produce and crops from local farms rather than simply reheating institutional products. Cafeteria staff even took field trips to local farms to learn about crops, pastured poultry and slaughtering techniques. In the summer of 2020 Poole and Kevin Jamison, owner of Commune restaurant in Virginia Beach, Commune NFK, Prosperity Kitchen & Pantry and New Earth Farm, collaborated to provide The CROP Foundation with a location at Commune NFK for a student-led kitchen called CommuneXCROP. Their team includes Brent Hillard, sous chef—Commune VB and chef consultant of The CROP Foundation and Meghan Raftery, program director. After leaving the public school system to focus on CROP in Virginia Beach, Poole reached out to various high school students to develop and prepare a new menu for the restaurant and create ticketed, themed seasonal dinners. They continually sell out. When school opens and culinary programs start again, Poole plans to have CommuneXCROP students also participate in educational community events and outreach, cooking classes, on-the-farm training and more for a comprehensive industry experience. While
by jill doczi 22
feb-apr 2021 | boulevard
