SALT TO TASTE

A series of afternoon gastronomical explorations.

Each Wednesday throughout the fall season, we will come together in the warmth of the Kite’s Nest kitchen to draw on this season’s bounty, creating meals and treats for the coming winter months. We’ll work under the guidance of chef and food-educator Nicole LoBue, and alongside a number of inspiring, local crafters and experts.

Nicole will share tools and methods in the kitchen to support autonomy with guidance: allowing children to follow their own slippery intuitions and inclinations, to become interested in the subtleties and properties of food, and to feel more empowered around food choices. We’ll encourage explorations that free us from recipes and measuring implements. We’ll design recipes that transform basic ingredients, honing our attention to these transformations and chemical reactions. We’ll develop our palates by identifying tastes and flavors, tucking them into our personal archives for later use, while becoming aware of the roles and qualities of salt, fat, and acid. We’ll learn to use heat skillfully and safely, becoming more attuned to each other and our surroundings.

Leading with our senses and tastes, together we will put a finer point on what it is we crave, and how to create it.  Through family interviews and food-memories we’ll explore and experiment with the culinary traditions of our local community, creating a dialogue between generations, traditions, and practices.

During a few evenings in the Fall, we’ll open our café to families and guests. Children will step up as chefs and servers, operating their own mini-food business and sharing what they’ve learned. The ten week program will culminate in an intimate dinner for families and guests.

A workshop by Nicole LoBue.