Sculpey Banquet

Sous-Chef Olivia explains the Sculpey Banquet to the Chefs-in-Training.

Sofia's plate of food.  She made more than just a taco!

Micah's banana and watermelon.  He also made a mug of orange juice, eggs, a pretzel, and applesauce, all because he likes to eat them.   

Gus's plate of fruit

Sculpey sells tubes of clay with designs already made.  You just cut off a piece and use it however you want.









Hannah writes her card explaining her food:  "I made pizza, salad, and lemonade because those are my three favorite things to eat."

Isaiah leans over his crazy watermelon: "I chose a crazy watermelon because it was interesting."

Sous-Chef Olivia's Food Art

Sous-Chef Olivia demonstrated a variety of foods for the Munchers.   From Tacos to cupcakes, Olivia can make it all!

Sculpey Food

Sous-Chef Olivia has been our Sculpey Maestro all week.  Here she is showing off her Pumpkin Pie Charm.  She generously cut pieces for whoever wanted one.  Thanks Sous-Chef Olivia!

A pasta maker is a key tool in making Sculpey food.

Chef-in-Training Avery shows off her Cinnamon Rolls.

 Chef-in-Training Gus displays his watermelon.

Chef-in-Training Hannah imagines her pizza plate in her belly.

Chef-in-Training Sofia offers us a bite of her peeled banana.

Sculpey food sits on a tray waiting to get baked.  13 minutes in the oven at 275° F makes for a lasting treat!

Carb-Snack Taste Test

On the way to the CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture) farm, we practiced our taste language on these snack items.  Interestingly, the Munchers tasted more butter flavor in the organic pretzels than in the "butter twist" pretzels (top right).  The Munchers also correctly identified the spiciness in the the Rosemary-flavored Triscuits.  We also discovered that, although the "Butter Popcorn" has artificial ingredients and the Pirate Booty next to it does not, the butter popcorn has real kernels of corn and the Pirate Booty only has corn meal.  The question is, Whole food or non-additives?

A "Free-Range" Chicken in Every Pot

In exploring the historical development of our food economy, Munchers have been reminded of the widespread hunger in this country in the 1930s and 40s.  As "Fork over Knives" reported, eating meat and dairy, and a lot of it,  was considered a sign of wealth in the 1950s (and probably a sign of the success of capitalism over communism and fascism).  The shape of today's food economy started as a response to widespread hunger, but in the 1970s, according to "Fork over Knives," it was transformed into the corporate insatiable monster it has become.  So as our Munchers grow up and help us solve the problems they were born into, it might be helpful to keep the good intentions in mind that have paved the way to our national culinary hell.

Munchers View "Food, Inc." and Discuss Industrial Foods

Munchers saw selections of the documentary "Food, Inc." and learned about the impact fast food chains such as McDonalds have on the food industry and on farming.  We learned about the huge market for hamburger McDonalds creates due to their immense size and their desire to sell the same styled hamburger everywhere in the USA and the world.  This has lead to the development of CAFOs (Centralized Animal Feeding Operations) that grow cattle as fast as they can and as fat as they can despite risks to the animals' health, and ours.

We also discussed the difficulty of eating a whole food, plant based diet when vegetables are more expensive than federally subsidized corn and the industries (meat and processing) that thrive off that subsidized product:  when a burger at McDonalds or junk food in a grocery store costs less than a bunch of broccoli.  That is when we remembered the CSA farm we visited yesterday (Van Thun Farms is a Consumer Supported Agriculture farm).  We discussed how the Hispanic family of four in the film could join a CSA farm, if they had one near them,  and then get cheap, table-to-farm produce to help them combat the father's diabetes and eat well.

The film gave a good overview of the problems that arise when concepts from industries, such as the auto industry, are applied to growing food.

Here is a link to a web site about "Food, Inc." (We watched it on Netflix)

Food, Inc. Link

Here is the PBS POV site that originated the documentary.

POV link

Here is a link with some criticism of the film.

Food, Inc. criticism

Visit to Newark Urban Farm Cancelled due to Rain

The rain came hard and threatened often so we cancelled the Thursday visit to Garden State Urban Farm's Newark Farm.


Here are the Patient Munchers waiting to see the GSUF hydroponic greenhouse on Tuesday.

While waiting we came up with our own version of Food Rules, following Michael Pollan's ideas in his book,  "Food Rules," a great read that Isaiah has been devouring at camp.

Here are some pictures of Garden State Urban Farms' Newark Farm from the end of last summer.   Feel free to visit it on your own.  It is across from Beth Israel Hospital in Newark and there is a farmer's market on Thursdays between 1 and 7 pm.

Nigel Fills in for an Absent Maggie

CHS graduate Nigel Hunter, County Champion in 50 Freestyle and member of the county champion  200 freestyle relay team, enjoys an easy life-guarding session filling in for First Team All-League Maggie Woodruff, our usual lifeguard.

What's Inside a Chicken Nugget? Chicken?

Once back in the air-conditioned cars, Munchers headed to a McDonalds to buy some nuggets to see what they were made of and to give them a taste test.  Hannah, Sofia, Avery, and Grace ate all theirs before we got back to Melissa's Kitchen, but Gus, Micah and Isaiah protested the "food" and made up a  long funny song about "McDonald's crappy food" (Gus' words!).

Once back at the kitchen, Gus dissected a nugget and cut a piece of roasted chicken, then, gulp, tasted tested both.  He didn't taste chicken in the nugget: only mushiness, paste, and blandness.  But the roasted chicken smelled like chicken, was textured like chicken muscle, and tasted like chicken.  We guessed it was a chicken.

Then the campers watched a couple Jamie Oliver videos (on Youtube) about how chicken nuggets are made from "mechanically reclaimed meat."  Yum!

Links below

Oliver teaching British kids:  The British Response

Oliver teaching American kids: The American Response

This is what is inside a chicken nugget.