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'The soup tasted fantastic'

Cristo Rey High School "The beans and Parmesan cheese add real taste to the soup," Essence Battle said after tasting. Jade Burke said that, without this program, she wouldn't have learned to cut up vegetables. "The soup is different than I thought," said Neriah Garrett. "I would have never tried it if we didn't make it."

At Russell Byers Charter, Soonae Shuler (left) and Gianna Rosado pour chicken stock. (Photo credit: Cindy Rappoport)
At Russell Byers Charter, Soonae Shuler (left) and Gianna Rosado pour chicken stock. (Photo credit: Cindy Rappoport)Read more

Cristo Rey High School

"The beans and Parmesan cheese add real taste to the soup," Essence Battle said after tasting. Jade Burke said that, without this program, she wouldn't have learned to cut up vegetables. "The soup is different than I thought," said Neriah Garrett. "I would have never tried it if we didn't make it."

- Michele Taplinger

LaSalle Academy

Chopping and peeling skills were put to the test this week, and the students observed that it was the same as last week, just vegetables instead of fruit. Luis Morillo said the soup "tasted like a mouthful of vegetables." Giselle Perez-Valdivia thought the soup tasted great, but different without noodles.

- Maureen Barrett
and Mariann Owens

William Loesche

We were fortunate to have Daniel Corso, a culinary student from Washington High School, to demonstrate and assist the students with all the chopping. We were surprised to see all those vegetables cook down to make soup, but it tasted delicious. Since one of our students is a vegetarian, we used vegetable stock.

- Susan Munafo
and Jane Pupis

William Hunter

The students were leery about the vegetable soup. "There isn't any meat in this soup? No chicken?" asked Nyajah Cruz. "This is the kind of soup you eat when you're sick," said Alexia Johnson. "Or you could think this is soup to help keep you healthy," I said. Nathan Ortiz and Maria Imperial thought it was pretty good and ate every bite. Everyone kept their promise and ate some, but Alexia and Nyajah said they would add chicken if they made it again.

- Dana Srodes

Russell Byers

"We used teamwork to cut all the vegetables," Kobe Supaswud said. The students were taught how to safely cut the round vegetables, by creating a flat surface by first cutting them in half lengthwise. Parmesan cheese was grated directly into our soup bowls, and all agreed it enhanced the flavor wonderfully. Bethany Swan said the soup smelled like a summer day.

- Cindy Rappoport

Bayard Taylor, Section 1

Jonathan Mendez eagerly shared with the group: "Me and Mikal were talking about cooking Mr. Stroni soup this morning." Our meal ended at the "family table," where the chefs devoured the soup without speaking. When they were asked why it was so quiet, Stephanie Valerio exclaimed, "It's too good to talk!"

- Nicole Molino
and Nicole Jackson

Bayard Taylor, Section 2

"That's a lot of boiling," Ivonne Garcia said as we read the directions. Teacher Sharyn Adelman demonstrated how to peel a turnip, as turnips were new to everyone. However, she may not have been the best teacher as she dropped one turnip in the trash can while peeling, and would have dropped a second had Brianna Chavis not been there to catch it with her cutting board! "You're lucky I was there," Brianna laughed. The end result - delicious! Everyone enjoyed the soup. They learned to eat new vegetables and found out soup can be a meal!

- Sharyn Adelman
and Lorrie Craley

Philadelphia Montessori, Section 1

Markee Love got knicked while peeling vegetables and needed a bandage, but it didn't spoil his fun. As he was leaving to go home, he exclaimed, "Now I have something really good to look forward to after school on Wednesdays." Markee enjoyed the soup so much that he took home a cup to share with his family.

- Greta Haebel
and Ilene Miller

Philadelphia Montessori, Section 2

Students were interested in learning that most of the vegetables that we used were from the roots of plants. Sampling a raw piece of turnip, Alias Stewart enthusiastically made the connection that it tasted "earthy" because it grew underground. Tasting before and after seasoning, the students were impressed at how just a bit of salt brought every ingredient to life in this hearty and delicious soup.

- Rachel Josloff
and Greta Haebel

Olney Elementary

Our second class was even better than the first. And our soup was absolutely delicious. The boys couldn't believe that we were making soup without meat in it, and they had really expected not to like it. They were all surprised at how tasty all of those vegetables were.

"The soup tasted fantastic," said Tamir Robinson. - Che Che
and Joe Bradbury

St. Martin of Tours

Alyah Figueroa shared with us that she had made the oatmeal at home for her brother and may have had a small explosion in her kitchen. Even after the explosion, Alyah's mother calls her "my little chef." As our chefs unpacked the ingredients and supplies for the soup, we noticed the orange carrots, the green celery and cabbage, the purple-and-white turnips, and yellow potatoes. "Like a rainbow," exclaimed Sara Hatter. Yes, just as the colors are different, so are the benefits of the different vegetables. Kaylee Lafty and Alyah thought the soup was "amazing," "earthy," and "hearty." Sean was pleasantly surprised and gave the thumbs-up sign.

- Chris Hoyler,
Frank Petrillo,
and Beth Stack

Wissahickon Charter School - Fernhill Campus

We started the lesson with a game of "Name the vegetable." Potato, onion, carrot, the students called out, before Laila Phillips correctly identified the purple-and-white bulb as a turnip. We talked about why we chose root vegetables to make our soup in March, but in the summer, they could make a minestrone soup out of tomatoes, summer squash, and corn.

- Kristin Stitz