Students crowded the back of the cafeteria to sample Caribbean and Korean dishes during Chartwells’ first Global Eats event of the year Wednesday, Oct. 16, during all three lunch blocks.
“I definitely prefer this over the regular cafeteria food. They need to stop buying stale foods like pizzas,” said senior Dalton Johnson.
Chartwells, which was recently introduced to Newton Public Schools (NPS), created the Global Eats program two years ago to expose students to food from countries around the world, according to the program website.
“The purpose is to encourage students to eat together and taste new foods and flavors while learning about different cultures,” said Nicole Brooks, the Student Engagement and Sustainability Manager at Chartwells. “There’s a more diverse population of students in schools across the country, and our company recognizes that we need to offer these foods because students are asking for them,” added Stacia Fritz, Newton’s food service director.
The Caribbean food featured was Ropa Vieja, braised beef with stewed black beans, brown rice, and Haitian-style pickled vegetables, created by Tavel Bristol-Joseph, a Chartwells chef. According to the Global Eats website, the flavors in this dish were inspired by his childhood experience cooking and baking alongside his aunt in Guyana.
“Food is an essential aspect of many family traditions in Caribbean culture. At holidays and special events, it is very common for people to spend many days preparing food,” according to Bristol-Joseph’s description on the Global Eats website.
The Korean dish featured was Korean-style Bulgogi Tots, which are tater tots with chicken bulgogi and kimchi cabbage on top, created by Angel Barreto, a Chartwells chef.
“Growing up in a military family, I learned to enjoy regional dishes and flavors, but nothing surpassed my mom’s homemade Korean cuisine. She loved creating meals from her time spent living abroad, and I shared her passion,” according to Barreto’s description on the Global Eats website.
Fritz served dishes at the Global Eats table for all three lunches.
“We did see an influx of students in the line with specialty entrees as opposed to the pizza and other stations we normally see,” said Fritz.
Many students took the opportunity to try new foods.
“I’ve never had either before, so it was cool to try these,” said junior Becky Zhou.
According to Fritz, Chartwells works with international chefs to be sure that the dishes are high quality.
“Chartwells has a culinary team, but a lot of times, we engage with national and regional chefs specializing in that cuisine, so they help us develop recipes,” said Fritz.
Though the locations and dishes have been pre-decided by Chartwells, a Student Choice system allows students to vote on which dishes they prefer and to bring back. According to Brooks, the Korean-style Bulgogi Tots received the most votes to make a comeback.
According to Brooks, students can expect more Global Eats events throughout the year, which will feature foods from Mexico, Italy, India, and China.
“We usually do one location at a time, but today was special, so we did two. It happens at least once every few months,” said Brooks.
As both of the event’s dishes were meat-based, some students with dietary restrictions were unable to participate.
“I think they look better than the cafeteria options but I can’t try them because I’m vegetarian,” said junior Nikki Rao.