ST. PAUL ACADEMY AND SUMMIT SCHOOL | CHRISTEL HOUSE MÉXICO
COMIDA UNIDA FOOD UNITED a cookbook collaboration between two schools:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.......................................................... 3 Foreword............................................................. 4 Entrées............................................................... 7 Butter Chicken......................................................8 Pastel Azteca........................................................10 Quiche de Puerro..................................................11 Enchiladas Verdes.................................................12 Frijoles Negros.....................................................13 Chilaquiles Rojos.................................................. 14 Empinadas...........................................................15 Tamales................................................................16 Salmón Glaseado con Arce.................................... 18 Vegan Chili..........................................................19 Milanesa de Pollo................................................. 20 Chilaquiles Verdes................................................21 Brisket................................................................. 22 Caldo de Pollo..................................................... 23 Mole de Olla........................................................24 Lentil Soup...........................................................25 Macaroni con Queso..............................................26 Tacos Dorados......................................................27 Pambazos............................................................ 28 Picadillo.............................................................. 30 Sides.................................................................. 33 Arroz Rojo........................................................... 34 Popovers............................................................. 35 Crema de Frijol.................................................... 36 Chex Mix............................................................. 37 Desserts............................................................. 39 Pay de Queso.......................................................40 Flan Neapolitano.................................................. 41 Crazy Cake.......................................................... 42 Platanos Fritos...................................................... 43 Arroz con Leche................................................... 44 Rice Krispie Cookies............................................. 45 Gelatina de Fresa..................................................46 Galleta Truffles..................................................... 47 Fresas con Crema................................................. 48 Tarta de Limón......................................................49
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Acknowledgments................................................ 50
St. Paul Academy and Summit School
Christel House México
INTRODUCTION ST. PAUL ACADEMY AND SUMMIT SCHOOL: Our core belief in the power of personal accountability has led us to create the “accountable classroom:” a small and vibrant learning community where master teachers discover and strengthen individual talents. But the accountable classroom is much more. It’s a place where children of all ages learn that they have a responsibility to engage and contribute. We believe that our culture of support and academic rigor teaches resilience and a love of learning. It also creates a community where people are judged based on what they contribute, not what they have. It takes a special kind of faculty and leadership to cultivate an accountable, yet innovative culture. In turn, the students inspire our staff to do the best work of their lives in fulfilling the school’s mission: shaping the minds and the hearts of the people who will change the world. CHRISTEL HOUSE MÉXICO: Christel House is a non-profit charter school that is almost wholly funded by a single patron whose sponsorship is supplemented by donations. It’s a model we don’t see here in the U.S. often. Students who pass the entrance test are subjected to rigorous screening and those with the greatest economic need are given spots. Along with school for their children, parents and guardians get mentoring and classes so the whole family is lifted up and can in turn help their community and other relatives. Robust K-12 education and a strong character development program are complemented with regular health care, nutritious meals, guidance counseling, career planning, family assistance, and college/career support. 3
FOREWORD
WORDS FROM
Mollie Ward | St. Paul Academy and Summit School When my son, Harry LaVercombe, came to me with the idea to collaborate on a cookbook with his 10th grade English language students, I thought it was a great opportunity for a few student clubs to exercise their skills in service to another community, but what happened ended up being more than I imagined. Harry’s students wanted to help their school, and hoped the project they’d just completed, compiling family recipes for English class, could do that. The original idea was that SPA students would raise money to print a cookbook then sell that book and donate those proceeds to his school, Christel House México. I brought this idea originally to two student groups, StartUp: Entrepreneur Club and Community Action and Service, and they ran with it. Later, members of Latinos Unidos affinity group helped with editing the entries from Mexico, and everyone, including members of Students for Social Justice, met with the English class via Skype and chipped in with baked goods for a sale that earned over $1,200. StartUp took it from there, assigning tasks like paper selection, layout, seeking partnerships, and putting together a marketing plan, then COVID-19 hit. But, instead of letting that stop them, the project went on. As a teacher at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, I’ve been involved in service and community engagement for over a decade. I wanted to make sure anything we took on had a learning component — that SPA kids learn and grow from the experience and do more than donate money. We could have just had a bake sale for Christel House and sent the money to the school — $1200 goes a long way in Mexico — but that wasn’t the point. For both the students in Mexico and those at SPA, deeper participation in the project meant more ownership, pride, and a sense of accomplishment and collective effort. Mexican students wanted to provide content for the cookbook, and SPA students wanted to learn about how to be allies and engage in philanthropic work. The result is a book that I and all the adults who were around played a very small role in. This cookbook is a product of student work, persistence, and learning.
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Mollie Ward History Teacher
WORDS FROM
Harry Guest LaVercombe | Christel House México In an ESL class at Christel House of Mexico, we had a unit on food cultures. We interviewed people from different backgrounds about their traditions surrounding meals. We discussed who cooked, who ate, what we ate, and when. After pouring through several talks from immigrants from around the world, we discovered an important element of Mexican food culture. The question was “what does food mean for your family.” Many respondents from (U.S.) American families mentioned sustenance, in China it represented togetherness, and in India we learned that it was a way of taking care of each other, providing food so its receiver can reach their full potential. In Mexico, the students shared, food is an important way we show and spread our love to others, and you can find these elements in the very recipes themselves. Moles and chiles rellenos are labor intensive, requiring patience and time to perfect. Snacks are shared and invariably accepted, to do otherwise would be to shun another’s friendship. Frozen food sections are miniscule and lacking in the stacks and stacks of quick meals we Americans walk by at every grocery store. Our students at Christel House are still high schoolers, their recipes are accessible and forgiving as they are learning to cook themselves, but in them there is a passion and love that has been passed down carefully from generation to generation. I hope you find in this cookbook stories and anecdotes that remind you why we cook when it is often easier and cheaper to grab something from McDonald’s on the way home: cooking is an expression of our love. To those we cook for, to the fresh ingredients from the hands of farmers around the Americas, and to ourselves. Begin cooking with families—there are so many family friendly recipes for all ages—and remind yourself of how many memories and relationships we have grown around the dinner table. Appreciate food for what it is around the globe, a simple message: “I love you.”
Harry Guest LaVercombe English Language Teacher
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This cookbook could not exist without St. Paul Academy and Summit School teacher Mollie Ward, who brought us the idea to collaborate with an English class at Christel House taught by her son, Harry Guest LaVercombe. When Ms. Ward proposed the idea of international collaboration to our clubs — StartUp: Entrepreneur Club, Community Action and Service (CAS), and Latinos Unidos — her enthusiasm for this project was infectious. Throughout the many month-long journey to craft Comida Unida, Ms. Ward and Mr. Guest LaVercombe never wavered in their confidence with our students’ ability to take their vision and run with it, so for that, thank you. Over the many months that we worked on Comida Unida, members from each club rose to the occasion, fully investing themselves in their contributions to the project. Thank you to the members of StartUp, led by Co-Presidents Levi Mellin and Nikolas Liepins and advised by Ben Bollinger Danielson. Thank you to Mia Schubert, Henry Burkhardt, Rashmi Raveendran, and Aman Rahman for crafting the beautiful design and personality of Comida Unida. To John Hall, Josh Meitz, Alessandra Costalonga, and Isabel Toghramadjian, thank you for helping to build and refine Comida Unida’s vision through innovative brainstorming, forward-thinking, and thoughtful critiques. Becca Richman made the physical copies of this book possible through her persistence and relentless effort fostering our partnership with Midland Paper, Packaging + Supplies; we wouldn’t be able to hold copies of Comida Unida without her, so thank you. To all members of StartUp: thank you for your dedication and logistical support that made this book a reality. To CAS, led by Co-Presidents Annika Rock and Lynn Reynolds and advised by Andrea Moerer, and Latinos Unidos, led by Co-Presidents Pilar Saavedra-Weis and Karla Garcia, we are grateful for your fundraising efforts that created this project’s budget; we are also thankful for your editing work to ensure the translations of the Christel House students’ recipes were accurate and easy-to-read. Thank you to the members of both CAS and Latinos Unidos for making and selling baked goods that raised over $1,200 dollars to fund Comida Unida. Thank you to Midland Paper, Packaging + Supplies for donating the paper used to craft the physical copies of Comida Unida.
Thank you to all the students who filled these pages with their recipes and stories: Ale (Alexa)* Aman Rahman** Andy “Baby”* Bere (Berenice)* Bombi* Checo* Dani G.* Dani H.* Diana* Elisa* Fer (Fernanda)* Gio* Itzel* Jenny* John Hall** Joshua (Josh) Meitz**
Karla Garcia^ Levi Mellin** Mari (Mariana)* Mario* Maru* Mia Schubert** Nikolas Liepins** Pato (Patricio)* Pilar Saavedra-Weis^ Rebecca Richman** Renata* Saraí* Sofi* Viri* Ximena* Yorch*
*Christel House México **St. Paul Academy and Summit School - StartUp: Entrepreneur Club ^St. Paul Academy and Summit School - Latinos Unidos
Comida Unida United Food
Comida Unida Food United
The product of international youth collaboration and storytelling, Comida Unida pairs personal stories with the food that inspired them. As students from the United States and Mexico, we’ve come together to reinvigorate the true meaning of food: love.
Comida Unida is more than a cookbook. It’s a living memory of the stories fed by the recipes it holds. Each dish is accompanied by an anecdote from its student-author, which opens a window into their family’s kitchen. Cooking isn’t about what you’re eating, or how fast you’re eating, it’s an expression of our love: to those we cook for, to the farm-fresh ingredients and those who harvested them, and to ourselves. As you look into each of our kitchens and learn our stories, from Ciudad de México to Minnesota, we hope Comida Unida will inspire you to pick up a spoon, cook something new, and make memories while eating with the people you love.