Temple Turner, Chef de cuisine at StoneWater Golf Club’s Rustic Grill in Highland Heights, was a guest chef at Freshtoberfest: Cleveland’s Youth Garden Battle on Thursday, October 11. Freshtoberfest supports new or existing youth gardens by motivating and empowering youth to dig deeper in the neighborhood or school garden and become creative and healthy leaders.
The event pairs local chefs with youth gardens for a tasting competition and fresh food celebration. More than 60 kids participated in the event that utilized the freshest food grown by Cleveland’s youth.
Turner, who is heavily involved with Fostering Hope, wanted to become more involved in Freshtoberfest. This was her second time participating in the event that was held at the Tri-C Hospitality Management Center.
“It is a great way to educate kids on how to grow, harvest and cook healthy meals,” said Turner, who, along with the kids, made collard green fritters with a poblano sauce. “The students had a blast! To see pure joy on their faces when they described what they made was priceless.”
All of the participating students said that they at tried at least one new food at Freshtoberfest and are more likely to eat, grow and cook fresh food. Their favorite part of the evening was to cook and to learn how to prepare healthy foods to make them taste good.