Step right up ... Chris B. serves vegetarian food to Pam Allen and Regina C.
FFS Kitchen Offers Vegetarian Menu
By Nicole K.
Finding it hard to decide what kind of food is right for you? Don’t have a cow, have a veggie burger! Along with many other significant changes, the kitchen and administration have put together a new menu for those veggie lovin’ staff and students.
The idea of creating a menu for vegetarians had been discussed many times before, but the decision was finally made when an alumnus who had attended the school years ago expressed his unease with no alternative meals for students who were vegetarian. It had been an ongoing issue in and outside the school for him, so he contacted Family Foundation School vice president Rita Argiros. Argiros found this to be a very personal issue. “When I heard how upset this student was about eating meat, I realized this was a wrong that we had to make right, and although this won’t change the past, this menu is the school’s way of making amends,” she said.
Staff and students are able to sign up on a monthly basis to try the vegetarian meals. For lunch and dinner they get a different entree than the regular meal. The entrees vary from black bean burgers to spinach and egg quiche. “I love the meals; next to getting two phone calls a week, the vegetarian menu is the best thing to happen to this school,” said student Denise T.
When the kitchen took on the task of coming up with a new menu, they knew it was going to be a challenge. The types of ingredients that are available for a boarding school are very limited compared to vegetarians at home. But the staff involved in cooking the meals try to make them as diverse and flavorful as possible. The whole menu, made up of 40 dishes, took about three months to finalize, and several weeks to order and receive the products.
There has been a lot of feedback from students and hopefully more will sign up next month. After the first month, however, Head Chef Joe Barbiere hopes to come up with even more dishes to get everyone’s taste buds popping.
