Cooking Up Community: New Leaf Kitchen and Xavier Jesuit Academy

Every Friday afternoon at Xavier Jesuit Academy, the aroma of fresh ingredients fills the air as students gather for cooking class with New Leaf Kitchen. Since XJA opened its doors in August 2024, this partnership has been part of how we care for the whole person.

New Leaf Kitchen, a Cincinnati nonprofit founded by Annie Streitmarter, brings mobile cooking programs directly to schools throughout our region. Their focus is on teaching young people to prepare simple, nutritious foods using affordable, accessible ingredients.

For XJA students, Friday cooking classes are more than enrichment. They are formation. When a young man learns to prepare a meal, he gains confidence, practices patience, and develops skills he can share with his family. This is cura personalis in action.

Learning by Doing
New Leaf Kitchen arrives fully equipped with child-safe tools and accommodations for allergies, transforming any space into a hands-on learning environment. Their "root-up" approach teaches students where food comes from and how it nourishes their bodies.

Students learn to use every part of their ingredients. When making applesauce, for example, they discover how to turn apple peels into crispy chips and compost whatever remains. Nothing goes to waste.

Throughout the year, XJA students have prepared dishes like mac n' squash, scooping seeds and mashing the vegetables themselves. They've blended oats, water, raisins, and cinnamon into creamy oat milk. They've mixed up batches of pumpkin granola with warming spices. Along the way, they learn how fruits and vegetables grow, what nutrients do for their bodies, and how to find fresh food in their own communities.

Skills for Life
Every cooking class reinforces classroom learning. Measuring ingredients builds math skills. Following recipes strengthens reading comprehension. Working together teaches cooperation and responsibility.

Each student takes home a recipe card so they can recreate what they've learned with their families. Streitmarter hopes students will carry these skills home and inspire healthier choices at the grocery store and around the dinner table.

This is what it means to form Men for Others. When our students cook, they are not just feeding themselves. They are learning to care for the people they love.

A Shared Mission
At XJA, we see transformation every Friday. A student who once rushed through lunch now takes time to appreciate his food. Another brings home recipes and cooks dinner for his mother. These are the moments that matter.

Our partnership with New Leaf Kitchen reflects what Jesuit education has always understood: forming young leaders means attending to every dimension of their lives. Body, mind, and spirit. Faith and food. Knowledge and practice.

To learn more about New Leaf Kitchen, visit newleafkitchen.org.