It’s a Tart Kiwi, you Know?

On Thursday, February 6th, Beach Fresh Participants learned how to cook chicken teriyaki with dragon fruit and mango salad. RBAC youth start trickling in before the program starts at four pm. While they work on their other projects, there is often laughter, conversation, and sometimes gossip going on. Sharply at 4pm, the youth wash their hands and put on their blue Beach Fresh aprons. Someone puts on a music playlist of indian hip hop beats, and then it’s time to start assigning tasks. The kitchen gets a little crowded, but everyone is still excited anyway.

The majority of the youth participating have never made teriyaki chicken before so it’s a learning experience for them. Someone is assigned to cut up chicken, make a sauce, cut vegetables, and make a fruit salad. Someone also scribes down whatever is happening so a recipe can be written later. Amanda guides the participants on skills they haven’t learned, like how to properly clean and cut carrots, how to cut dragon fruit, mangoes, and chicken, and how to make sauce.

After the cooking is finished everyone sits down and eats together and all the aprons go into the wash. Many of the Beach Freshers had never tried dragon fruit before, with Gabbie Price describing it as, “It’s a tart kiwi, you know?”