Peace Corps volunteers share recipes
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Ten culinary students from the First State Community Action Agency are set to graduate on May 24. The students, as well as their chef, Lee Stewart, founder and former owner of Po’ Boys, hosted the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Sussex County May 8.
Five of the 25 RPCV members were present and shared the recipes they gathered while serving in the Peace Corps. “Back in the ’60s, they served in the Peace Corps and were all over,” Joann Kirwan, FSCAA business coordinator, said. “Some were in Sierra Leone and Kenya, others were in the South Pacific, Nepal and Panama. They came together to make a cookbook based on their travels and are sharing it with the students.”
The students, who embarked on a four-month training in the world of the culinary arts, were extremely gracious.
When asked about why they decided to write a cookbook with all their different recipes, RPCV member Phil Fretz responded, “Part of the Peace Corps is you’re supposed to bring back experiences. This is our way of doing that.”
Stewart, who has 35 years in the culinary business and also works with the Sussex Correctional Institution preparing inmates with valuable culinary skills before they are released, has been instrumental in changing the lives of his students.
“A lot of local restaurants have been working with us to employ the students,” Stewart said. “All 10 students in my last two classes received jobs right after graduating.”
The five RPCV members shared their recipes with Stewart and the culinary students, who then made some of the meals as a demonstration. “We normally just hold the classes,” MaryAnn Morris, FSCAA program manager, said. “But Joann was instrumental in getting them all to come together to do a demonstration for us.”
The meals consisted of rice pudding, Panamanian sancocho, Sierra Leonian groundnut stew and others.
The 10 culinary students included Shaneka Gibbs, Zachary Mills, Angeline Saintilme, Marie Gaston, Francisco Lorenzo, Francesca Alexandre, Gary Spires, Jose’ Serpa, Raymond Kendy and Deah Treas.
