Food

The meals we prepare at La Mandorla are fresh, healthy and generous.

Nearly everything is made for when we need it, although we do now have a freezer which runs on solar energy.

Most of the food we eat is organic. All the basic foodstuffs – flour, sugar, pasta, rice, lentils, polenta, coucous and seeds – are organic and come from "La Grana".

Nearly all the seasonal vegetables come from our garden. Our goal is for the garden to provide all the vegetables needed for the summer camps and other stays. At the moment some are bought from the village greengrocer, who also has a vegetable garden.

Children who are not so keen on vegetables rediscover them when they come here. When they’ve picked them in the garden and helped prepare them themselves, they appreciate them all the more.

We eat meat at the most 3 times a week. Some is organic, otherwise we buy it from local butchers. We’re starting to produce our own mutton, and will soon have our own chicken too.

Dominique is a talented and creative cook. There’s plenty to eat and the children can always come back for seconds.

He makes bread every week with his own yeast and organic flour (white, rye and whole wheat).

Crusty on the outside and light on the inside, it’s up to professional bakery standards! For the moment we make our bread in a gas oven, but in the future we’ll have our own wood-fired oven.

Accompanied by a panoply of delicious home-made jams, it’s perfect for breakfast.

Cooking is at the heart of our daily activities, and the children love taking part at least once a week in a cooking or baking workshop.

And they can often be found sneaking a peek in the kitchen to see what’s cooking.

Meals are balanced (vegetables, carbohydrates, proteins, sugars and dairy products). And as everything is home-made, we can easily adapt to different dietary needs.

For certain summer camps, depending on the theme, cooking is also part of the adventure.

During our week on the Aztecs we ate chicken with mole sauce, grilled corn, stuffed peppers and home-made Mexican tortillas accompanied by sauces, meat, coriander and vegetables.

Our Indian menu includes rice and citrus quinoa, samosas, naan bread, salad and yoghurt sauce.

Meals at La Mandorla are moments of pleasure and shared experiences. They also provide the opportunity to talk to the children about the world at large, getting them to think about where the food on their plate comes from, and how it got there.

To talk about the fact that we are what we eat. And to pay homage to Mother Earth.