On Thursday, March 6, the Advanced Foods classes taught by Ms. Daus at the Jr/Sr High School took a field trip to the Times Union newspaper facility in Albany where they toured the facility and met with Steve Barnes, restaurant critic and author of the newspaper’s Table Hopping column and blog.
Barnes gave the students some insight into a food related career that is not within a restaurant.
“He shared some of the stories that he’s covered, the time he ate a cockroach, another time when he ate a roasted goat head, and a recent push for legislation to ban salt from restaurants were some of the student’s favorite stories,” Ms. Daus said.
After meeting with Barnes, the group met with Greg Stapleton, who oversees the newspaper’s distribution, as well as the classroom enrichment program. He gave the students a tour of the facility and showed them their new state-of-the-art printing press. The students were surprised at the size with some commenting that they imagined it to be more like a printer they would have hooked to their computer at home or in the computer lab.
After the Times Union visit, the group enjoyed the “Koto Experience” where many students had their first hibachi meal.
“They really seemed to love it. Their faces were priceless so many times and they told me they enjoyed the Japanese food,” said Ms. Daus. “They asked me to teach them to cook like that, but I respectfully declined.”