Educated Palates

by Greg Roach, Executive Chef

If you have stopped by the Buxton kitchen anytime in the past six years, you know that things are somewhat different than they were back-in-the-day. Food has always played a major role in the campus life of Buxton students, but it’s been my goal since my arrival at Buxton in the fall of 2015 to do more than just provide nutrition to the campus community and go home at night.

Food is so much more than calories for our bodies to burn. It carries culture, history, science, emotions, as well as a direct connection to our own health. Helping our students realize the significance of what they eat, as well as how and with whom, is always the overarching principle. Food is universal.

This past school year was different. COVID created some serious challenges to both my personal philosophy and to the food-centric traditions that make Buxton Buxton. Disposable plates and plasticware, no student waiters, lots of prepacked snacks, eating meals in dorm rooms, no student dishwashers, daily announcements via email rather than at lunch and dinner, etc. … are all antithetical to what we believe Buxton should be.

As necessary as all those precautions were, it was still heartbreaking. We understand better than ever just how critical mealtime and the kitchen are to the life of a Buxton student.

This fall we are building back many of the most critical elements of our food program—and even expanding a few. We will be offering more kitchen-centric learning opportunities, including the Culinary Logistics class, a winter-study course, and a food systems unit on the All School Trip, led by me. We will be taking the year to examine the most effective ways to integrate the kitchen with the agriculture program, and bringing the Environmental Club into the kitchen to help us walk the walk of being good stewards.

And thanks to a very generous gift, the kitchen will be getting a new stove and walk-in cooler, as well as an expanded cold bar to expand our salad and deli offerings.

The prognosis for the Buxton Kitchen has never been better.