Through two, four-week afterschool classes, the Youth Black Excellence Life Readiness Cooking Class & Local Meal Kit Program (Youth BE Program) provides meal kits containing locally sourced ingredients that highlight Wisconsin's harvest seasons, allowing students to explore, connect, learn, and create food culture. Each week, participants join a virtual class led by diverse instructors in the Madison food community. Classes include a kitchen science lesson and virtual field trip that introduces students to places and careers in local food systems.
Pasture and Plenty held a very successful June 2024 series of the Black Excellence Life Readiness Meal Kit & Cooking Class program. The series highlighted five local food leaders as instructors and hosts, featured four local organizations and businesses who nourish the community in different ways through virtual field trips, and included four kitchen science lessons. Students reported an increased sense of connection to where their food comes from, a greater capacity to plan and prepare a meal with fresh ingredients, and a greater knowledge of basic cooking skills as a result of the curriculum. Throughout summer 2024, Pasture and Plenty served 120 students and their families across 48 local schools, and their programming reached students in third grade through 12th grade. 480 meal kits full of local ingredients (almost 2,000 servings!) were delivered. Fall 2024 planning is happening for the next series, taping Kitchen Science and Virtual Field Trips in September and executing the live class with meal kit deliveries in October.
Contact: Christy McKenzie
Email: Christy@madlocalfood.com
Website: https://pastureandplenty.com
Facebook: Pasture and Plenty
Instagram: Pasture & Plenty (@pastureandplenty)
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