Run a Luncheonette Camp with Brooklyn Apple Academy 2016

During the heat wave in August, I co-taught a week long cooking camp for a small group of boys between 7 and 10 years old. My partner was Noah Mayers, whose work in life is to think up and organize fascinating, hands on experiences through which children can learn about themselves and the world. His does this amazing work through his school and home school resource center Brooklyn Apple Academy. The cooking camp is one of many programs that they offer and if you have kids or (like me) are just interested in alternative education, I encourage you to check them out!

The cooking camp meets for a week at the Sunview Luncheonette in Greenpoint Brooklyn. The Sunview is an old, classic Luncheonette turned social club and microvenue for art, poetics, regionalism, mutual aid, and commoning. Members of the Sunview can hold community events, such as teaching seven young boys how to cook and then helping them to prepare and serve a three course dinner to their families at the end of the week.

This was our second year with (mostly) the same group of boys. The young cooks spent a week cooking their own lunches, running a lemonade and snack stand, going on food themed field trips and preparing a diner that they serve to their families on Friday Evening.

Our menu for the first year was Italian and you can read all about those recipes in at this link. This year, our menu was heavy on the vegetables and Asian themed. I intend to post all of the excellent recipes that this year’s young chefs prepared this week for their future reference and the enjoyment of all! Follow the links to find the recipes. I’ll be adding more links each day this week!