Cooking Together
 photo by B. Wenger
This summer Modern Tea and The Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group teamed up with youth particpating in the local Beacon Youth summer progarm and Nora, their garden educator at Koshland Park's vegetable garden. We spent Monday afternoons coming together around a recipe, gathering ingredients, cooking as a group, sitting down and eating together, and cleaning up together. Here are some quotes from a group of 10-14 year olds who participated in these classes:
"I went home and cooked ths recipe again with my mom and we sat down and ate it together."
"I didn't know salad could taste this good. I lost 10 pounds this summer!"
"Maybe I'll be a chef when I grow up."
We could never have imagined how much fun cooking together and then sharing the results could be. Sitting around a table and enjoying a meal brings a true sense of community (like sitting around a pot of tea) something we all value.
 photo by B. Wenger
By closing one more day a week, we can focus our energies on continuing to provide our customers with delicious meals and tea at Modern Tea, while organizing a lasting program that can continue to build a "garden to table" connection with our local youth. The potential is exciting but the first step is providing the space and opportunity for neighborhood youth of all ages to cook, sit down together and enjyoy the results we know already makes a difference.
Look for more information here, and in future newsletters, including volunteer opportunites.
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