Opening of the Dining Commons for the Edible Schoolyard

Lou and I attended the opening of the new Dining Commons at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley yesterday.

The Dining Commons is a new, open eating space for the 950 6th, 7th and 8th grade students at King Middle School. In addition to feeding the students at King both breakfast and lunch, the kitchen staff also prepares meals for all the other schools in the Berkeley Unified School District.

The commons completes the plan to integrate the school's lunchroom with the Edible Schoolyard, an instructional garden on the school grounds where students participate in experimental learning in the garden. The work and learning in the garden connects to formal academic instruction in the classroom, and the commons is the eating place where the kids can eat fresh, healthy food. Both the Commons and the Edible Schoolyard are incredible projects of the Chez Panisse Foundation.

Before the lunch began, we toured the garden. The lunch menu included yellow lentil soup with spicy yogurt, roasted organic chicken (not from the schoolyard coop!) with herbs from the Commons garden, garlicky potatoes, grilled fall vegetables, lettuce salad and fruit and cookies tisane.

My photos from the day follow.

Two of the garden teachers welcoming a group for the tour:



The chicken coop:



A view of the garden:



Inside the commons (it looks nothing like a cafeteria):



Another inside view from our table at the start of the program:



Back in the garden: