In Our Fall 2018 Issue
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
Beginning with issue #30 (Fall 2016), we made what was likely a little-noticed change to Edible Nutmeg’s tag line. The line was altered from “Celebrating the Local Food Cu...
Philanthropy at Foodology: Chef Christina Hart's Bakery-Based Community Service Initative
Chef Christina Hart is a business owner, baker, educator, and mother. While any one of these jobs would make Hart a busy woman, considering all of them together begs the question, when does she sleep? The answer, almost certainly, is not enough.
Before Hart had any of these titles, she was a student at UConn, Storrs, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in psychology and communications before ultimately heading to culinary school. Hart always knew that she wanted to be a chef, but her parents had other aspirations for her, perhaps those more stereotypically lucrative. So it was, she says, to her parents’ chagrin that Hart decided to enroll at the Connecticut Culinary Institute, where she earned a degree in pastry arts. Since then, Hart has been a business owner in some capacity for 15 years. “Prior to opening Foodology, I was the owner of Christina’s Gourmet, which became Christina’s Gourmet Cookies, and later became Christina’s Gourmet Cookies, Classes, & Parties.
Photo 1: Photo by Samantha MacAvoy
Photo 2: Photo by Samantha MacAvoy
In July of 2016, Hart moved the business to its current location in Southington under her new brand, Foodology. “The model for Foodology was developed based on the increase in enrollment Christina’s Gourmet Cookies, Classes, & Parties was seeing for its cooking workshops,” she says. The new location accommodates three times as many students for workshops and provides Hart with the option of renting out her commercial kitchen, a benefit currently being taken advantage of by three other food-related businesses.
Hart’s smile and spirit are as welcoming as the cocoa-laced aromas that waft from her bakery. Thus, it should come as no surprise to learn that she values community engagement as a keystone of her business model. It was during one of her workshops with middle-school- and high-school-aged students that Hart got the idea for a class that would incorporate community service into the culinary education component of Foodology. After brainstorming with her students, she got in touch with Southington Community Services, a resource for Southington residents that provides support services, including a food pantry. They indicated a need for broadening their supply of children’s snacks, which led Hart to develop her Community Bake Shop course. This springtime class was open to students between 6th and 10th grade and met once per week over 10 weeks. Upon opening registration for the course, the available spots filled so quickly that Hart decided to offer a second session to immediately follow the first.
Each week, for one hour, 22 students learned to produce and package bulk amounts of shelf-stable desserts that Hart then delivered to Southington Community Services.
“The best part of my week is dropping off our goodies at Southington Community Services,” says Hart. “The workers and clients are so appreciative of the donations.” When asked which recipes the students in her class enjoy making the most, Hart says, “the students love all of the recipes, but particularly like the ones where they have some creative license, such as taking the basic granola bar recipe and jazzing it up with whatever we have…M&M’s, raisins, white chocolate, etc.”
Not only are Hart’s students expanding their repertoire of culinary tricks in this class, but they are also earning community service hours. At the end of the program, Hart hands out certificates denoting each student’s completion of 10 hours of community service. Students can then discuss their experience during the completion of these hours when they apply for jobs and internships to schools or even if applying to participate in other service learning opportunities. Beyond the hours, it is possible that, for many students, this class is a first taste of serving their community, perhaps provoking them to continue engaging in service well into their high-school or college years. Hart says that on one of the last weeks of the course, she asked the staff at Southington Community Services which of the recipes were the most popular among the children in the community they serve. “All of them,” was the reply, which Hart happily shared with her students. “I could tell they felt a sense of pride being able to create a bit of edible happiness for others in their community.
The Community Bake Shop course was so well received that Hart already has many of the same students signed up for the fall session. Chef Christina Hart’s passion in sharing her love for cooking, teaching, and her community make Foodology an interdisciplinary small business of which Southington residents (and her parents) can be proud. Hart says she feels lucky to be in Southington, too. “It was this community that supported me and allowed my business to become what it is today. It is my true pleasure, as well as my moral responsibility, to return that support to this amazing community in any way I can.”
> Foodology Cooking School & Bakery Café: 991 S. Main St., Plantsville; 860-426-9499
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