With safe-distancing measures being eased, Stroobant plans to discuss with the two schools on how to implement this practice again. Previously, at the Stamford American International School, the three- and four-year-olds have their meals in their classrooms communal style, where they learn to set the table according to the cuisine and serve the food. Dishes range from lamb rendang with biryani rice and chicken stew with carrots and macaroni to stir-fry kway teow with vegetable gyoza. With more than 20 nationalities among the more than 800 students and teachers at XCL, Stroobant sees an opportunity to expose children to a wide variety of food in a delicious yet educational way. Nursery and kindergarteners (three- to five-year-olds) get 200g, Year 1 to Year 4 students (six- to nine-year-olds) receive 250g while the rest of the students up to Year 12 get a 300g portion, with the option to upsize an additional 150g. Portions are catered to specific age groups. The last thing you want is for them to take one mouthful then throw it away.” We can teach them a lot through food, but we still need to give them something they recognise and enjoy. At first I was very ambitious I wanted to go organic, have 75 per cent vegetables, then I realised we’re dealing with young customers who are very flexible. Stroobant said: “We want to give the children homemade, balanced meals cooked daily. He makes sure that each dish looks and smells enticing, and Mycelium’s staff eat the same meals they dole out to the kids. Vegetables are brunoised and mixed into patties, mashed potato or lasagna to ensure the children eat them willingly albeit unwittingly. He said: “I’ve no issue giving (pizzas and burgers) to the kids, as long as I know where the ingredients come from.” The burgers are made from sirloin cuts that are minced in-house and paired with sauces made from scratch. Would a fine-dining chef eschew fast food? Thankfully no, in the case of Stroobant, whose daughters are now 10 and 13 years old and studying in a local and international school respectively. Mycelium is also in charge of the canteen offerings at EHL Campus (Singapore), the Asia Pacific branch of Switzerland-based hospitality institution Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne. It has been operating the canteen at international school XCL World Academy since August 2021 and was just appointed by Dover Court International School in August 2022 to do the same. Last year, he decided to venture into school meals again and launched institutional catering arm Mycelium Catering. In 2016, Stroobant took a hiatus to focus on his restaurants. For four years, he worked with the school not only to deliver nutritious meals but also implement engaging ways to get students interested in what they were eating. In 2012, a chance encounter with a representative from the Stamford American International School resulted in him being appointed to operate their canteen. It got the chef-owner behind the Emmanuel Stroobant Group, which includes two-Michelin starred French restaurant Saint Pierre and edomae sushiya Shoukouwa, thinking about what he could do to improve the quality of school meals. “I asked the teacher, ‘Where are the veggies?’ and she pointed to the ketchup and said, 'There’s tomato in there'," recalled Stroobant with a wry smile on his face. It helps if you have a large mouse pad or open space, since you will need to do a lot of scrolling back and forth.Some of the tasks seemed overly difficult, because they require you to guess at things you can’t possible know unless you’ve played before.When one of his daughters was in pre-school, Emmanuel Stroobant once saw nuggets and ketchup being served to them as snacks. Plus, there’s lots of interesting facts thrown in before each recipe.The mouse proves to be a decent controller, and it’s actually a lot easier to control than the Wii remote in Cooking Mama, making it easier to be precise and get better results. While the recipes won’t give you exact proportions, they are fairly accurate in terms of ingredients and the general cooking process. The recipes might include more steps, but not always, and you use the same skills in the beginning of the game as you do in the end.Variety is provided by the recipes themselves, and the constantly switching between different mini-games.What’s pretty cool about cooking academy is that you can actually learn a thing or two about real cooking. The exams generally get harder, but not by much. The recipes include both themundane (like spaghetti and pancakes) and the exotic (like gyoza and creme brulee), but all are interesting and detailed.If there is a progression in difficulty level as you advance, it’s hard to notice as you play. Instead of food arranged by ethnic origin, Cooking Academy breaks up recipes into meal classifications.
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