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Meals
Kitchen Mission Statement
It is our goal to provide nutritional meals and healthy snacks to the student body of Buxton School by using only wholesome, quality, seasonal and, whenever possible, local ingredients.
A Brief History
When Buxton was founded in 1928, food counted. It still does. Today Buxton is in partnership with the New England Culinary Institute, which provides many positive benefits to the nutritional and soulful environment of the school.
Meals are prepared daily by the professional staff of Chef Scott Sanfilippo, a Chef Instructor, and a graduate from the New England Culinary Institute. Dana Roy is the fantastic evening Sous Chef. Marin Iwashko is the beloved morning Chef. There is constant kitchen support from Linda Lavanway, Bonnie Worth and Donna LaFleur.
Students have kitchen responsibilities as well and, for those interested in learning more, opportunities abound. Everyone has the chance to try his or her hand at various culinary techniques and can learn about foods from various cultures, ingredient pairings, and exciting culinary techniques. Two students also work with the Baker, every week, during the Tuesday Work Program.
If any word sums up meals at Buxton, “extraordinary” does. Chef Scott takes pride in departing from the norm. Take Dinner Theme Nights, for example. Students choose a theme and challenge Chef Scott and his staff to design an appropriate menu. As part of Work Program, a crew of students will help in the kitchen, making foods like homemade pasta and fresh mozzarella cheese from scratch for Italian Night or Phad Thai and chicken satay for Thai Night, or flan, caramel, and corn tortillas for Mexican night. Dining at Halloween? How about Roast Beast and asparaguts? At these events, dinner is transformed into a combination of theater, costumes to fit the occasion, activities like homemade piñatas, and of course the cuisine.
Daily Meals
The student body is made up primarily of meat eaters, with some vegetarians as well. The kitchen staff takes pride in making reasonable accommodations for our vegetarian population, as well as for those people with special dietary needs.
Breakfast includes homemade muffins and scones baked daily, in addition to homemade granola. Students may order fresh eggs, omelets, pancakes and Buxton Breakfast Sandwiches, a Buxton favorite. Also, a variety of cereals, yogurts, English muffins, bagels, and fresh fruit are served daily. We serve only locally farmed and produced whole and skim milk from Highlawn Farms in Lenox, MA. Soy milk and a variety of juices are available, as well. Lunches and dinners always include meats or seafood, tofu, beans or tempeh, a starch, fresh, local seasonal vegetables, homemade breads, and salads.
Lunch each day also includes homemade soup and a deli bar consisting of luncheon meats, cheeses, lettuce, and tomato. Our 24-hour Peanut Butter and Jelly Station is always available. Dessert is served at dinner only. We are fortunate to have a professional baker on staff to prepare our fresh breads, muffins, cookies, and many other desserts daily. No food goes to waste. Friday is leftover day.
Sunday’s meals are very special and wrought with tradition. There is a large brunch served in the early afternoon and dinner is a formal affair where everyone is nicely dressed and the dining room tables are donned with white linens and candles.
Two of the three daily meals are served family style. Faculty members have assigned tables and students choose where they want to sit. Student “heads of waiters” will choose a crew of students to serve, bus and clean their designated tables. A rotation of students will help with dishes in the kitchen after the dinner meal service.
Saturday Kitchen Crew
This team plans, prepares and serves meals every Saturday. Two student “kitchen crew heads” take responsibility for establishing a kitchen staff, as well as coordinating menus and ingredients with Chef Scott while meeting real deadlines.
The Extras: Snacks
Two snacks are served daily: one mid-morning and another during the evening. Chef Scott is always ready to try a new recipe or give taste tests to interested passers-by. Peanut butter cookies, dirt and worms or blueberry coffeecake are favorites. Fruit, yogurt, freshly baked pretzels, homemade ice cream and homemade granola are also available. In keeping with Buxton tradition, two student “snack heads” always take charge of serving evening snacks, as well as locking and cleaning up the kitchen afterwards.
All Day
Always on hand are fresh muffins, cookies and fruit, as well as milk, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. For those students who miss a snack or meal, the Peanut Butter and Jelly Station is also available throughout the day.
Our Commitment to Diversity
Within the Buxton community, you can find people with a broad array of food preferences. Special dietary needs are accommodated by a concerned and educated kitchen staff. The student body is made up of 50 percent meat eaters, 40 percent vegetarians, and 10 percent vegans.
How We’re Achieving Our Goals
For the past several years, Buxton has been a member of Berkshire Grown, which is an organization committed to supporting sustainability in the Berkshires. Chef Scott, for many years, has also been affiliated with the VT Fresh Network, which is an organization that works directly with Chefs and farmers to promote sustainability.
Our current dairy purveyor is Highlawn Farms in Lenox, Ma. Highlawn is a family owned and operated dairy farm. The farm has been in the same family for over five generations. They have kept the same closed herd of Jersey cows. The size of the herd started at seventy-five heads and is currently at one hundred seventy five heads and will grow no larger than three hundred heads. This will insure quality standards are not compromised, by becoming too large. The feed for the cows, the milking, and all of the processing of the milk is completed by the family, and all on the one farm. Jersey cows produce milk of higher calcium and proteins than other types of milks.
Buxton kitchen for several years has had a relationship with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which is leading the way with “Free Trade Coffees” and corn based cups. Green Mountain works in a cooperative directly with South American Farmers, which helps to avoid dealings with corporate middlemen.
Buxton kitchen is also currently working with Black River Produce to source quality produce and seafood on a year round basis. Black River is dedicated to only the highest quality standards, and many of their products are purchased daily at the Boston markets.
We are very pleased to mention our new relationship with John and Joy Primmer of Wildstone Farms in Pownal, Vermont. The Primmers are supplying the school with organic local produce. We are also currently working with Chuck and Lisa Currie from Mighty Food Farm in Pownal, VT, and Scott Duppee From Green River Farm in Williamstown, MA, as well as Mike and Becky Darling of Darling’s Farm in Pownal, VT.
Our butter comes from Cabot Creamery in Cabot, VT and we are continuing our long lasting relationship with Crescent Creamery in Pittsfield, MA. Crescent Creamery is also committed to sourcing only the most wholesome and local dairy products. King Arthur Flour supplies Buxton with all of its organic flours.
Chef Scott is currently buying fresh local ground beef and artisan cheeses from Amy Jeshawitz and Jason DeMay of Cricket Creek Farm in Williamstown, MA.