Byron Center — This summer, Food Service Director Vince Sturgis is teaching students how to cook classic kids’ meals, but with his own personal twist.
“I make something you love, but I make it different,” he said to second and third graders at Brown Elementary taking a break from summer school learning.
Dressed as his popular alter ego, Mr. Carrot, Sturgis enthusiastically asked, “Who loves mac and cheese?”
Student’s hands shot up quicker than you could say macaroni. To the few hands that weren’t raised, Sturgis asked if they would still be willing to give his recipe a chance.
Since joining the district in 2021, Sturgis said he has enjoyed getting out of the office and into schools to cook with students and expose them to new foods. Author of “Lunch Ladies Changing Lives: It’s Crunch Time,” he has a reputation for dressing like a vegetable and encouraging students to be adventurous and expand their palates.
“You can’t make kids eat fruits and vegetables, but you can make it fun,” he said.
The district feeds around 180 students during summer school at Brown and the Early Childhood Center, Sturgis said, and food demonstrations provide opportunities for students to learn about cooking and try new foods.
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Using tri-color rotini noodles, three kinds of cheese, a little bit of chicken broth and various seasonings, “Mr. Carrot” demonstrated his method for putting a nutritious spin on mac and cheese, unlike “that boxed stuff.”
One student asked, “Are you making homemade noodles?”
“Ain’t nobody got time for that,” Sturgis replied.
Distracted by another student’s question, Sturgis accidentally taught a valuable lesson in cooking — never take your eyes off the pan of hot cheese sauce.
Students gasped and laughed at the chef’s expense as they witnessed creamy cheese sauce boiling over the edges of the pan onto the burner.
“That was awesomely cool,” soon-to-be second grader Genevieve Willbrandt said.
Without missing a beat, Sturgis said, “This happens; you just go with it.”
He replenished the lost heavy cream in the pan and carried on. “I was distracted. Lesson learned,” he said. “When you cook, you gotta pay attention.”
As the cheese sauce thickened, a familiar, comforting smell filled the cafeteria. Students sampled the cheese sauce and eventually, got their own bowls of the finished pasta.
Soon-to-be third-grader Ella Mayo took her first bite, chewed slowly and thoughtfully. Moments later, her face lit up and she exclaimed, “It’s delicious! Ten out of ten!”
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