Guest Chef Day Goes Local at Winchester High School

On Nov. 17 hosted a  “Guest Chef Day”, featuring fresh products sourced from local farms and businesses.

Chef Rich Sandmann from Whitsons School Nutrition and Kevin Silvia, Food Service Director at Winchester School District, created a menu using ingredients from the following local establishments: Wilson Farms from Lexington; Bella Ravioli from Medford, and Mamadou’s Artisan Bakery from Wichester.

This menu included dishes for all tastes and preferences, such as a hearty soup, vegetarian and non-vegetarian sandwiches and paninis, a fresh pasta dish and a pasta salad, and a vegetable pizza.

Students were pleased with the menu, so much so that the most popular comment in the cafeteria was “When are we having this again?”

Mia Gustin, Lead Administrator at Winchester High School, mentioned that the teachers and staff were thrilled not only with the food offered, but also the overall outcome of the event, “I know I speak for lots of staff members in saying thanks to the cafeteria folks for putting on such a great lunch yesterday: the food and preparation were amazing, not to mention there probably aren’t too many high schools out there bringing in chefs to serve organic and locally harvested offerings.”

The Guest Chef Going Local event at Winchester High School is part of Greenleaf Cuisine, Whitsons’ local produce initiative. The main goal of Greenleaf Cuisine is to provide the best produce the region has to offer, fresh from farm to fork.