Training – Field Study: Green Pasta

Our May Field Study is currently being held on SIFAT’s campus May 12-25. Sarah Murphree, SIFAT co-founder Sarah Corson’s great-niece, is a participant this year. She will be blogging about her experience and giving readers a glimpse of what types of appropriate technologies and community development topics are being presented, as well as a look into who some of the participants are.  A 2012 graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Sarah recently directed and produced two short films, one taking first place in the 2013 Nashville Film Festival. She is currently working on her third film, a documentary about Camp Koinonia.

Wednesday, Dave and Therese showed us how to make green pasta. Green pasta is a simple recipe anyone can make to incorporate more greens into his or her diet. After making green powder, you combine the powder into pasta dough. We kneaded green powder into our dough until it was nice and thick. We then cut it into thin strands in preparation for dinner. It was a lot of fun to make green pasta, but the more exciting part was the anticipation of the evening. We could not wait to try the green pasta we made ourselves!

We made pasta using the green leaf powder.

This got me thinking, if we were this excited about some funky colored pasta, just imagine how children would react or people in developing countries. I can already see the excitement brewing among them. I can see curious eyes standing over a pot,  intrigued with the taste, enlightened with the nutritional aspects and more importantly eager to spread the word to their friends and family. This was Dave and Therese’s goal. This was our goal. This was an attainable goal, a goal we could all achieve.

After making the dough, we rolled it out before cutting it in strips. This is probably one of the only times we have been encouraged to play with our food!

After cutting the pasta, it dried for a few hours before the cafeteria staff cooked dinner.

Therese made sure our meal was perfect!

For dinner, we ate our homemade nutrient-filled pasta with a choice of sauces. Finally!