FIELD TRIP: Touring a professional kitchen

We headed over to the Minnesota Foodcrafters kitchen off Butler Pierce Road in St. Paul earlier this week. I was writing a news article about the kitchen and its artisan chefs, and needed to snap some photos to accompany the article. I've been thinking about everyday places that are important that we can tour, places that might inspire the kids to future careers, places that help them understand better how their world works. The Foodcrafters kitchen perfectly fit the bill. So, I brought the kids along.

Martha Glass of Bistro Meringues led us on a tour of the Minnesota Foodcrafters space. Once part of a larger company, it's been divided into space for a produce company, Sunrise Market and the Foodcrafters kitchen. There is office space available to rent, a few common areas to work and/or eat lunch, and a fantastic demonstration kitchen. Plus the kiddos walked inside two huge refrigerators and a freezer. We saw the individual cages where each of the 12 companies working out of the kitchen store their equipment and supplies. We saw the loading dock.

Then we walked through the large kitchen area that's actually 3 rooms. One for Gluten-free, one for regular food production and one that's kept dry for the meringue production.

I loved showing the kiddos how small business owners make specialized products, items that are gluten-free, foods and drinks that aren't packed with preservatives, and items that are more natural. It fits with our lifestyle and what I think is important. And they were fascinated to check things out.

Martha and her crew took items out of the oven. Pointed out the humongous mixing bowl they crack hundreds and hundreds of eggs into each time they bake. They let the kiddos taste test the mint and cherry cookies that weren't nice enough to sell. They showed them how they fill, then bag and add a twist-tie to each bag. We didn't see the cookies being made, but then we got to see the rest of the process.

It was wonderful!