COMMUNITY PROFILE: The Three R’s: Reading, ’Riting, & Recipes
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Story by
Heather Brand
In an expansive back room of the elegant midtown
restaurant Brennan’s of Houston, executive chef Randy
Evans stands before three rows of tables decked out in
white linen. There, 25 eager diners look up from their
plates of Creole gravlax to watch in rapt fascination as
he concocts a cocoa nib–crusted Chateaubriand at a mirrored
chef’s stand. He exudes boisterous enthusiasm as
he prepares the somewhat exotic dish, which he follows
up with a homemade peanut butter cup. Evans is offering
more than just a meal here—he is conducting one in a
series of evening dining experiences that raises funds for
the Houston organization Recipe for Success. The meal
the chef has prepared is, admittedly, on the high-calorie
end: “It’s not adult obesity we’re fighting,” Evans teases
the adults in attendance. “It’s childhood obesity.”
Launched a year ago as part of a citywide effort to combat
obesity among Houston youth, Recipe for Success has
already made great strides. Among its various initiatives,
the organization pairs 21 professional chefs from some of
the city’s top restaurants with individual fourth-grade
classes in six HISD schools with underserved populations,
reaching approximately 450 children every month.
Evans leads a class at MacGregor Elementary, where
he has taught children how to prepare healthy dishes
such as shrimp scampi, gumbo, salmon, and lentils. He’s
always careful to choose recipes that use fresh, natural
ingredients. “The whole idea is to get kids to realize
that food comes from somewhere besides a box or a bag,”
Evans says. “You’ve got to get kids excited about food,
not about eating.”
The hope is that these children will share the recipes
they have learned with their families and in the long run
will develop better eating habits. Evans remarks, “We’re
really creating new memories for them. When they think
of salmon they’ll have a new combination of memories.
It’s always about what you remember as a child. Food
brings up a lot of emotions in people—that’s why they’re
binge-eating. Now maybe when they turn to comfort food
they’ll turn to something healthy.”
Charles Clark, owner and chef at Ibiza and Catalan
restaurants, got involved with Recipe for Success for
personal reasons. “My daughter is autistic,” he says, “and
she needs a gluten-free diet. I want to do anything I can
to help her eat better.” His mission includes promoting
better eating habits for all children—and he thinks the
answer lies with parents. “It’s all about instant gratification—
not for the kids but for the mothers and fathers,”
he explains. “So many of them will pull into a fast-food
restaurant just because the place gives away a toy and
it’ll keep their child entertained for a while.” Clark has
devised better options to entice kids to eat good food.
“For kids, it’s all about color and texture. I can get them
to eat beets if I cut them into star shapes and dinosaur
shapes,” he says. Setting a good example works, too. “If
they see me eating it, they usually want a bite too.”
The power of good example was a revelation to another
chef working with the program. “One thing I have been
surprised about,” says Jim Manning, “is that the kids are
pretty good about trying anything, especially if they’ve
watched me prepare it.” Manning, the owner of Jim
Manning Catered Affair and the Market on Avenue L in Galveston,
thinks it’s because he always includes his students in the preparation
process. “Recently,” he notes, “I showed them how to put on a party.
We all worked on goat cheese tarts and grilled salmon—and the kids
gobbled them up.” Besides teaching food basics, Manning and the other
chefs weave in other subjects—such as math and history—during the
classes. “It’s a good way to relate food to what they are studying in
school,” he notes, “and to show how food figures into the larger world
around them.”
In fact, not being a “real” teacher is probably an advantage. Peter
Garcia, the chef-owner of El Meson, specializing in Spanish, Cuban,
and Tex-Mex cuisine, claims that it’s important to have professional
chefs involved in the program; he feels that the kids are more receptive
to what he has to say “because I’m not a teacher. I’m from the outside
world. I’m like their uncle. I can spoil them.” Garcia certainly doesn’t
look like a teacher. With his hair pulled back in an unruly ponytail,
and wearing designer jeans and tan cowboy boots along with his chef’s
jacket, he is a very hip “uncle” indeed. During a recent class at Gross
Elementary in southwest Houston, he helped the children make a fatfree
angel food cake from scratch. Garcia circulated between tables,
guiding the children as they separated egg whites, sifted flour, and
folded bittersweet chocolate into the batter. “Gently!” he called, leaning
over their shoulders as they folded the batter. “Like it’s a baby! We’re
not stirring!” The kids huddled over the mixing bowl, watching in
anticipation as the ingredients came together. In any given class there
is an element of chaos; the noise level fluctuates wildly, and sometimes
the portable convection oven blows a fuse. Yet Garcia wouldn’t have it
any other way. “I did a lot of community service in the nineties. I don’t
want to go to any more board meetings. I want to be on the front lines.
. . . For children who have a strong background at home, the program is
doubly powerful, but for kids who don’t have it at home, it’s a lifesaver.
They’ll always remember this.”
At the end of the hour, the batter was complete and ready to go into
the oven, but the time was up. Then one of the program’s volunteers
produced a pre-baked cake for the kids to sample, drawing cheers. “In
France they have a technical term for this,” Garcia said. “Voilà!”
The kids echoed exuberantly, “Voilà!”
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