Co-founders Dina Feldman and Lindsay Smith of Sowing Seeds of Change hosted their second annual Garden Chef Competition on Saturday, showcasing the talents and passions of their students.
Smith, a former Long Beach Unified School District special education teacher, taught at Nelson Academy for 10 years before meeting Feldman during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, they realized that they shared a mutual interest of creating a safe space for learning and growth through their educational farm.
Sowing Seeds of Change is a nonprofit organization that uses agriculture as a way to teach sustainable living. The organization has created a place for neurodivergent and foster youth to explore their passion projects. Seeds of Change also offers vocational training, agriculture workshops and volunteer opportunities all within their plotted garden.
The Garden Chef Competition is one of the ways the organization hopes to connect with the Long Beach community. The lighthearted competition had Sowing Seeds of Change students paired with a professional chef to work on elaborate and uniquely crafted dishes.
The competition was comprised of four teams of two. Each team had one chef and one student with 25 minutes to prepare their dishes. Dishes were judged based on four criteria: Execution, presentation, creativity and flavor. Teams also had to incorporate two secret ingredients, thyme and passionfruit, while maintaining an elevated garden cuisine presentation.
Rather than operating as an intense cooking competition, Sowing Seeds of Change launched the Garden Chef Competition as a way to showcase students’ skills. Throughout the competition, the chefs aided and taught students, while volunteers ran food and sponsors like Dew Drop Mobile Bar provided beverages for attendees.
“We really want to highlight local food. So, not only is it sourced from our garden, but we’re highlighting other local gardens and farmer markets,” Smith said.
Each team cooked within their allotted time and the food was plentiful. The panel of judges had esteemed chefs from the local Long Beach community like chef Eugene Santiago, a first-generation Filipino American CEO, executive chef of BARYO and restauranteur. Chef Luis Navarro, a Los Angeles native known for heading Lola’s Mexican Cuisine, The Social List and Navarro Hospitality Consulting, also appeared on the panel.
After careful judging, chef Brennan Villarreal and David Jackson were declared the winners of this year’s Garden Chef Competition.
“Not only are they learning how to grow food, but they’re learning skills on how to harvest, what’s sellable, how to weigh, how to get orders together and then setting up a free farmers market,” Smith said.
Much of the mission behind Sowing Seeds of Change is to maintain sustainability, with reusable mason jars used for drinks and mostly compostable material used to reduce as much waste as possible. All of this coupled with providing opportunities and employment to adolescents with disabilities and foster youth shows the commitment that Feldman and Smith have to the Long Beach community.
“Just to be a part of this chef competition and seeing my friends grow as well, and seeing other people work with other chefs it’s just a dream come true,” Edward Scott Baughman, a fellow student and previous Garden Chef Competition winner, said.
To learn more about Sowing Seeds of Change, click here for more information.