Davies Culinary Learn Importance of Sustainability, Giving Back
January 25, 2016
Feed the Streets USA visited William M. Davies, Jr. Career & Technical High School on Monday, January 25, to share with culinary students their mission of providing sustainable and nutritious meals to the homeless in Rhode Island. Their outreach efforts predominantly focus on populations in Pawtucket, Providence, and Cranston.
Founded by Patrick Straus (JWU Culinary Arts ’15, MBA ’16), Feed the Streets USA launched in Rhode Island in the fall of 2015. They currently are manned by over two dozen volunteers, many fellow JWU grads with backgrounds in culinary and nutrition. Straus calls Feed the Streets a group of “people helping people.”
For Davies students, the Feed the Streets presentation offered 10th, 11th, and 12th graders the opportunity to see culinary entrepreneurism and community building at work in Rhode Island. Davies Hospitality instructor Chef Santos Nieves believed students would be able to connect to, and feel inspired by, the youth and age of the Feed the Streets leaders.
Over the course of 45 minutes, Straus explained to students how knowing food fundamentals (like using scrap vegetables, such as carrots, to maximum effect in recipes) helps Feed the Streets plan meals and even how jobs a high schooler may currently possess (like working at Burger King) can teach consistency and speed in the kitchen. Ultimately, Straus’ message, however, was one of sustainability and locally-sourced food: “It’s important to be producers, rather than consumers,” he told students.
Straus urged students, who may be curious about culinary start-ups and other endeavors, to follow their dreams. “Use your own creativity,” he said. “Use your own uniqueness.”