In a city where music has risen to international acclaim and we learn every art except the one for which we’re best known, a renowned New Orleans chef is intensifying her ground-breaking crusade to incorporate the city’s other famous flavor, the culinary arts, into the local school curriculum by launching a “food fight” in the first of a series of classroom events planned throughout the Gulf Coast.
On Wednesday, March 23, students at the International High School of New Orleans became the first ingredients of Chef Dione’s new program. Developed to go beyond President and First Lady Obama’s initiative to make kids healthier,Chef Dione’s Food Fight has the ability for food arts to be implemented in any classroom and related to just about any subject being studied, such as geography through international dishes and math relating to preparing portions of a meal.
Known as the Fit Gourmet of New Orleans, Chef Dione is on a mission to integrate culinary arts into every school’s academic curriculum while also making healthy foods and nutrition an essential part of school lunches. Unlike music, a subject introduced at a young age, the culinary arts have never been part of any local elementary or high school program. Chef Dione debuted her school tour by transforming one of the region’s best-known seafood dishes – Crawfish Étouffée – into a delectable and healthy portion for the students at the International High School of New Orleans, located in the Central Business District.
In her 20-minute “food fight” demonstration at IHSNO, Chef Dione gave students a hands-on cooking lesson while teaching them how to make Crawfish Étouffée from scratch, delved into the historical origins of the Louisiana culinary delicacy and discussed the basic nutritional values of southern foods. Another of Chef Dione’s goals is to encourage students to take the lessons home and cook healthy, local dishes for their families.
Chef Dione partnered with HERO|farm to create Chef Dione’s Food fight and implement its launch. To get the ball rolling, HERO|farm developed the concept and then designed the initiative’s logo, which utilizes a boxing, food fight theme.