Our Menu

Little Owl is a proponent of the culinary philosophy that maintains cooking should be based on the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainably and locally. The Little Owl kitchen advocates for a food economy that is “good, clean, and fair.” We collaborate with a community of local farmers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures our kitchen a weekly supply of fresh and delicious ingredients.

In September 2012 Little Owl School became part of The Edible Schoolyard Project edibleschoolyard.org. Our teachers engage students in an “eco-gastronomic” curriculum. By actively involving students in all aspects of the food cycle, The Little Owl Edible Schoolyard is an education program that instills the knowledge and values needed to build a humane and sustainable future. Little Owl Preschool integrates gardening, cooking, and sharing meals and snacks into the core curriculum. We use food traditions to teach, nurture, and empower preschool students.

The following principles are used for menu planning guidelines:

• Appropriate portion sizes for each required meal component set by U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines of the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
• Consideration of students food allergies and special needs.
• Local, seasonal, and sustainable produce.
• Collaboration with the curriculum and planning of the Little Owl School teaching staff and students.
• Guidelines and menu ideas from farmtopreschool.org
• Using Alice Water’s Edible Schoolyard Project as a model.
• Recipes, experiences, and thoughts from “The Languages of Food”, by Reggio Children, “The Art of Simple Food” and ” Edible Schoolyard”, by Alice Waters.
• Ideas and recipes from local farm-to-table chefs and farmers.

Some of the ways in which we involve our students in food preparation, learning, and enjoyment: :

• Engage the senses: smell the aromas, notice the colors, feel, compare & contrast textures
• Discuss presentation
• Discuss seasonality
• Cultivating, planting, harvesting
• Prepare ingredients, organize components of a recipe, meis en plas
• Practice safe and healthy food preparation habits
• Combine ingredients together
• Add spices to taste
• Set the table together, present the dish
• Practice closure of a meal by cleaning up and practicing gratitude and reflecting on the food
• And so much more — the combination of possibilities are endless!

Our Reggio-inspired kitchen is a place of symbolic and cultural significance, expressing care, attention to our community, and the value of differences in customs and traditions. Our kitchen is open to students, teachers, and families. Several of our parents volunteer to help the chef in preparation, clean-up, and facilitating student involvement, thus opening the rich, fragrant, and delicate dialogue between children and the kitchen to their families and home kitchens as well.