We have had a busy week in Food Studies last week starting off with an early start for the year 11 team to travel to Melbourne to volunteer for the morning at FareShare in Abbotsford. We have received a lovely follow up letter from the team at FareShare and I am sharing it with the College.

Thank you for bringing the Clonard College students into the Schools Kitchen on Monday 20 October. We appreciate your time and support in providing much needed nourishment and peace of mind for less fortunate people in our community.

While you were here, you:

Trayed schnitzel for 220 meals

Decanted 75kg Hungry Jacks sauce

Trayed 380kg tomatoes for roasting

Trayed chicken for 244 meals & turkey for 200 meals

Open and trayed rice for 700 meals

Chopped 70kg bacon (for 800 meals)

Trayed-up pasta for approximately 750 meals

Prepared 12kg mushrooms

Sorted crates

Cleaned and reset the kitchen

I would also like to add my thanks to the families for supporting the early morning drop off at school and for other families hosting a school friend the night before so they could get to the early start. Thanks to the students for their respect, engagement and support in the commercial kitchen and to Mr Groz for helping with the whole day.

It was a terrific morning and such a wonderful opportunity to support this organisation. Food Insecurity & Food Waste is a growing concern in our community and part of our key knowledge studies in VCE Food.

For a treat while we were “up in the big smoke” we took the students for lunch at A1 Lebanese Bakery in Sydney Road Brunswick. Also part of Year 11 Food Studies is to learn (and experience!) how migration has influenced Australian food.

Then we had the same year 11 group complete their last SAC where they had to:

Design and develop a practical food solution in response to an opportunity or a need in a domestic or small-scale setting. This included being able adapt recipes to suit individual’s dietary requirements (food intolerances and allergies) and explore the opportunity and pathways for the transition of practical food skills from domestic to entrepreneurial or commercial settings. Some of the terrific prototypes prepared included GF meal kits for Overnight Night Oats, Meat or Vegetarian GF, LF Microwave Baked Potatoe Meal Kits, LF Chicken Katsu, Pizzas with GF, DF and Vegetarian options and a Burrito Wrap that can be adapted to GF, DF and Vegetarian also.

On Friday the Year 10 class were treated to a MasterClass from 2 of our visiting japanese exchange students – Hana and Aya. They conducted the demonstration for the students at the start and then guided them throught the practical lesson to all produce an authentic and delicious Bento Box.

And yesterday – our first year 8 class for Semester 2 produced their own design for healthy pizzas as part of their assessment task 2. They were able to show all the skills they have been developing over the semester in the prac room and independently and confidently make their own pizzas. Their fabulous results are shown below. We really hope our families can encourge the students to keep using these “skills for life” at home and can also enjoy some delicious pizzas and other family friendly foods being made for them at home!