Conference Day 2

The following is an account of the CKP Student Leadership conference. (Part 1 of the recap. Part 3 of the recap.) Click here for more first-hand accounts of the conference.

CKP National Conference Day 2
Date: October 6, 2006
Location: DC Central Kitchen, First Baptist Church, Gonzaga College High School

The second day of the conference began bright and early at DC Central Kitchen. We arrived at 6am, in the pouring rain, to begin volunteering in the kitchen. This cooking shift marked the 5th year anniversary to the day of the first ever Campus Kitchen cooking shift. Everyone wore their CKP 5th Year Anniversary t-shirts, and it was quite the sight to behold.

After a fantastic introductary speech by Becky, everyone got to work in a different section of the kitchen. I was placed at the vegetable station, cutting up celery and carrots. Cutting celery for three hours gave most of our team blisters on our cutting hands, but it was a small price to pay for such a worthy cause.

Celery boards and the celery team (L-R: Brian, Sara, Monica, Meaghan, James)

In addition to making the meals for DCCK's usual clients, we also made the meals for Gonzaga's delivery. The kitchen that we use at Gonzaga College High School is way too small to accomodate the more than 40 people that showed up for this cooking shift.

Following the cooking shift, DC Central Kitchen founder Robert Egger (Pictured Right) spoke with the group. Robert is one of the best speakers I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. The first time I ever heard him speak was at the 64th Graduation class of DC Central Kitchen's culinary job training course, and he keeps getting better ever time I hear him. The main aspect of his talk that I will remember is his analogy of the wishbone and the backbone. There are two bones one can cook with, the wishbone and the backbone. The wishbone will make thin soup, but the backbone will provide a full meal. In short, if you really want to start cooking, you're going to need the backbone.

After finishing up at DC Central Kitchen, the big group split in two. The leadership team members and volunteers stayed at the kitchen and worked on a new constitution, while the group of coordinators took the Metro over to the national office's building, the First Baptist Church.

While there, we had a cooking exercise taught by Barton Seaver (Pictured Left). Barton is the executive chef at two of D.C.'s finest restaurants, Bar Pilar and Café Saint-Ex. I thought it was fascinating that an accomplished chef who has travelled extensively around the world would be such a proponent of locally grown food. As his hat read, "No farms, no food." Barton brought a bunch of fresh, locally purchased, organic ingrediants for us to cook with. These included: tomatoes, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, vegetable oil, lemons, green beans, sausage, and bacon among many others.

After hearing Barton speak about the possible uses of all the fresh veggies, we split up into small groups and experimented with all the possibilities. Becky from CKP, Jen from Northwestern and I worked on a little dish with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and cheese.

When life hands you lemons...

... make delicious pasta! (L-R: Jen, Brian, Becky)

Following the cooking demonstration, we all sat down and ate lunch provided by California Tortilla. After that it was off to Gonzaga College High School for our usual Friday delivery shift, which went very well. Unfortunately, due to the rain the scheduled tour of the area was scrapped. There were three Gonzaga Leadership Team members that led three groups of volunteers to our locations. Because of our usual Friday food pickup, I wasn't able to go with them. I heard, however, that it was the highlight of the weekend for some of the volunteers.

After the delivery shift, there was some free time to explore Washington, D.C. and to prepare for the final day of the conference!