West Tisbury School chef Jenny DeVivo is a force of nature, a cheerful dynamo of can-do energy who has transformed the school’s cafeteria into a farm-to-table dining experience that many restaurant patrons would envy. Freshly-caught fish, grass-fed meats and local vegetables are staples of Ms. DeVivo’s menus, which soon will have a much larger audience. An estimated 12 million viewers — per episode — will see her in action when the new season of the Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race premieres next month.
Hosted by celebrity chef Tyler Florence, the popular reality television series sends seven teams of chefs on a barnstorming food truck tour of Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and Las Vegas. At each stop, the teams have to meet culinary challenges and compete for customers. At the end of the six-episode season, the winning team takes the $50,000 prize.
Competing in a food truck painted to look like a school bus, Ms. DeVivo and her Team Lunch Ladies are the first school chefs — and the first Vineyarders — to take part in the contest over its 12 seasons. The new series premieres at 9 p.m. March 26.
But first, this weekend, Ms. DeVivo is teaching a cooking class at the Farm Institute in Edgartown.
Cooking Seasonally All Year Long is the theme of the monthly class, in which Ms. DeVivo uses the latest crops from Island Grown Initiative’s Thimble Farm and what is available from other Martha’s Vineyard growers to create comforting dishes with local, seasonal ingredients.
Each class is a hands-on workshop in the Farm Institute’s well-appointed kitchen, with participants preparing three locally-sourced recipes to share around the table at the end of the session.
This month’s class is Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Pre-registration is required at thetrustees.org/tfi. The cost is $24 for Trustees members and $30 for non-members.
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