The Lewis Ginter Community Kitchen Garden (CKG) provides fresh produce to FeedMore – the umbrella organization coordinating the Central Virginia Food Bank, The Community Kitchen and Meals on Wheels Serving Central Virginia. Talk about thinking local: the CKG is 4.5 miles from the FeedMore facility. That means the produce is fresh, higher in nutrition and the consumption of gasoline and jet fuel is minimal. Just kidding, no jet fuel is needed.
Sally Pluot – VP of Food Services for FeedMore – granted access to the Kitchen this morning so we could see the CKG produce being put in use. The Community Kitchen is an impressive operation. I’ve been behind the scenes in a few food service operations (VCU Cafeteria system; Hyatt Richmond Hugo’s Restaurant – yep, I’m “old school”; Queen Mary Hyatt), and this operation is sparkling and PRODUCTIVE. An impressive stat: 77% of the hands-on labor is volunteer.
albert vick 
Looks wonderful! Fun to see what happens to the squash and tomatoes when it leaves the garden!
And there’s much more! I forgot to mention the “Summer Squash Souffle” (with Cheddar cheese) the Community Kitchen prepares for the kids, plus stewed tomatoes, and the tomatoes go in salads. The Kitchen has lots of ways to make nutrition tasty & colorful.