SVdP has teamed up with the great people of the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association in conjunction with Operation Frontline to bring cooking classes to our neighbors here in Downtown/ West Oakland. Operation Frontline and PCFMA provide a nutritionist, professional chef and organic groceries and we provide hungry cooks and a great facility.
Today was our first class together we look forward to using our kitchen to spread the word (and the access) of nutritious, sustainable, organic foods throughout the community. Here are a couple pictures from today; students made a vegan carrot soup with roasted corn and a spring greens salad with mandarin oranges. Please contact bforeman@svdp-alameda.org if you are interested in participating in a future 6 week (one day per week) culinary adventure, usually from 2:30pm-4:30pm and completely separate from the Kitchen of Champions Culinary Job Training Program.
Chef Jonothan Luce of Bellanico in Oakland came to cook with, inspire and ultimately hire our Kitchen of Champions students in late 2009. Here are some pictures taken by the talented Brian Espinosa.
Chef Jonathan Luce briefs the FOH crew on the evening's menu
Kitchen of Champions graduate Obie speaks about his experience with SVdP and subsequent successes in the workforce as a kitchen manager.
Students prepare the first course
A standing ovation for another wonderful Guest Chef
Sous Chef instruction
Chef Luce poses with the front of the house staff, which is mostly comprised of KOC graduates coming back in support of the program
Every couple months we invite a local "celebrity" chef to entertain roughly 120 customers with a 4-course meal prepared with a little help from our dedicated culinary students.
Oaklandnorth.net (a project of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism) covered our September, 2009 event where Kitchen of Champions students had the opportunity to train with Matt Colgan, head chef at Rockridge’s À Côté French-Italian restaurant.
In this video you will meet Serina Elliott, a Kitchen of Champions student from North Oakland’s Golden Gate neighborhood. Just four weeks into her program, Elliott aspires to one day become “a Food Network star.” She has since maintained an A average in Laney College's culinary program.
Every now and again we will bring out our food trailer Chef Michael likes to call "St. Vinnie's Taste of Home." We are able to pay a rotation of 10 Kitchen of Champion graduates to staff our trailer and are constantly looking for opportunities to showcase our program and its delicious eats.
At last year's Eat Real Festival in Oakland we prepared a beef brisket sandwich with potato salad for the meat-eaters and polenta with a mushroom ragu and marinara sauce for the veggies.With our very own POM Julep to wash it down we completely sold out each day. As warmer weather rapidly approaches stay tuned for some more Bay Area appearances.
The Kitchen of Champions is a culinary training and job placement program brought to you by The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County. Over the past 2 years, the Kitchen of Champions has provided opportunities for over 100 people to transform their lives, while also serving over 500,000 meals to disadvantaged men, women, and children.
Thank you for supporting the Kitchen of Champions!
SVdP has teamed up with the great people of the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association in conjunction with Operation Frontline to bring cooking classes to our neighbors here in Downtown/ West Oakland. Operation Frontline and PCFMA provide a nutritionist, professional chef and organic groceries and we provide hungry cooks and a great facility.
Today was our first class together we look forward to using our kitchen to spread the word (and the access) of nutritious, sustainable, organic foods throughout the community. Here are a couple pictures from today; students made a vegan carrot soup with roasted corn and a spring greens salad with mandarin oranges. Please contact bforeman@svdp-alameda.org if you are interested in participating in a future 6 week (one day per week) culinary adventure, usually from 2:30pm-4:30pm and completely separate from the Kitchen of Champions Culinary Job Training Program.
