Jackson Free Press

When a group of students from Provine High School walked into Taqueria La Reata, an authentic Mexican restaurant in Jackson, they hadn't been expecting cow tongue to be included in a menu of genuine Mexican food. The members of the Provine Culinary Society also hadn't expected that they would find themselves enjoying it.

"When I tried it, it tasted just like regular beef," society member Quindon Nichols told the Jackson Free Press. "All the food we had that day, (like seasoned rice, a red pepper-seasoned chicken dish, cow tongue and chorizo tacos, and a fresh avocado-based hot sauce), the real thing all had so much more flavor and was a completely different experience (than) what I'd always thought of as Mexican food before. I was looking forward to more and curious about what other new foods I could try and where I could find them."

Matthew Freeman, a counselor at Provine, founded the Provine Culinary Society in 2014 with the goal of exposing to students to healthy, diverse and international cuisine they could find in their own communities. With the help of grants from organizations such as the Junior League of Jackson, Freeman has taken the club's members to dine at numerous locally owned ethnic restaurants in the Jackson metro area, including Taqueria La Reata, Spice Avenue, Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant and Aladdin Mediterranean Grill, as well as locations such as raw-food restaurant Liquid Light Cafe and The Palette Cafe inside the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Members have tried such dishes as fish-oil sauce made from fermented anchovies at Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant, freshly made natural garlic hummus at Aladdin Mediterranean Grill, Tandoori chicken at Spice Avenue, vegan tacos with shells made of flaxseed and nuts at Liquid Light Cafe, and venison carpaccio that Freeman prepared himself.

"Through all of this, the purpose of the society is to broaden kids' horizons, to let them sample other cultures and places through food and expose them to food that is more nutritious than what they normally have available to eat," Freeman says.

In his proposal to receive grant funding to start the group, Freeman pointed out that 50 percent of Provine's students live in what are known as food deserts, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as areas where a majority of the households are located more than one mile from the nearest supermarket. Families in food deserts usually rely on cheap, unhealthy fast-food options or food from convenience stores. Freeman said in his proposal that international cuisines are frequently more affordable and healthier than the foods Provine students eat regularly.

"After seeing how different cultures make their food and experiencing how good ... it is, I wanted other people to be able to experience what I have," society member Helena Barker said.

"A lot of people I know just eat at McDonalds or go to convenience stores, and I want to be able to help other students explore new foods and think more about what they eat."

Among Freeman's future goals for broadening the Provine Culinary Society is organizing culinary field trips to experience more foods farther from home and setting up a leadership team of "culinary ambassadors" within the group whose duties would include scouting out new places in the metro area for the group to visit.

"Ultimately, I would like to see kids who don't get to travel much get a chance to acquire a broader perspective on cultures in and around Jackson and find healthy alternative foods," Freeman says. "I want to stimulate their curiosity about the greater world around them. I love how enthusiastic the kids are to try new things without reservation."

Freeman is currently applying for a grant to continue taking students to different restaurants next year.

For more information, call Matt Freeman at 601-613-1695.

Where They Went

Here are restaurants the students in the Provine Culinary Society visited this year.

Taqueria La Reata (1923 Highway 80 W., 601-665-8649)

Aladdin Mediterranean Grill (730 Lakeland Drive, 601-366-6033, aladdininjackson.com)

Liquid Light Cafe (224 E. Capitol St., 769-208-8689)

Spice Avenue (4711 Interstate 55 N., 601-982-0890)

Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant (2640 Lakeland Drive, Flowood, 601-420-4848)

The Palette Cafe at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St., 601-965-9900, msmuseumart.org)