2020’s challenges make way for 2021’s opportunities.
After a year where so much changed, Roots for the Home Team participants steered our organization in new directions, expanding our reach, and sharing more bowls of good.
2021 Highlights
We're baaaack — at Target Field.
July 15th, 2021
The return of the SaladUP! concession cart is a welcome sight at Twins’ games, providing ROOTS teens the opportunity for real-life experience with foodservice sales, hospitality and customer service. Loyal fans have welcomed them with open arms – and raised forks.
Score Roots Salads in-store
Pick Up Fresh at Kowalski’s
Four of our hearty and refreshing salads are available ready to grab and go at metro area Kowalski’s grocery stores. Swing in to enjoy some of the best summer salads in town.
2021 Recipe Creation Day
Recipe Day is everything fun about food.
Recipe Day is like the best in TV’s cooking competitions, up close and in real life. Local celebrity chefs mentor teams as the youths’ concepts are brought to life. The youth steer the process, pushing the chef’s creativity and knowledge to make cool new mixes. The recipes are made onsite, the youth name their salads, present the story behind their dish, then everyone tastes everything. What’s so impressive is how eclectic, unique, colorful and flavorful each dish is: these are no sissy salads.
2021 Salads
ROOTS youth team up with chef coaches to create 6 new tasty dishes.
Six youth teams + six celebrity chefs + one big day creating resulted in six super salads.
Salad Recipes and Stories
Check out our salads from previous seasons!
Every season’s a winning salad season. Ever year ROOTS youth create bowls full of deliciousness. Get in on the good eats and the stories behind their creation.
2021 Chef Coaches
From recipe brainstorming to recipe creation day and into the summer, our Chef Coaches work along side ROOTS' youth to inspire, guide and share in the result.
Stay tuned… New salads and new recipes coming soon for 2021!
Ann Ahmed
Owner, Lat14 & Lemongrass Thai Cuisine
Ann's two, soon to be three, celebrated restaurants have graced the covers of magazines and earned rave reviews for her vibrant Southeast Asian dishes. Ahmed's family emigrated from Laos when she was just two years old. Her mother worked long hours to care for her family, but when she was home and in the kitchen, Ann was always by her side. Years later, it was her mother who found the restaurant space that would become her first, Lemon Grass Thai. Ahmed's joy in the kitchen can be traced back to her young years, and she shares her love of fresh, vibrant flavors, and the pride in creating great things from humble beginnings with Roots.
Bertrand Weber
Minneapolis Public Schools Culinary & Wellness Services
Bertrand's impressive career spans almost four decades as a leader in the hospitality industry. He has worked at the highest levels of fine dining. Weber's compassion and passion for building a better future through students and their nutrition has garnered him national attention, through his work with schools. Weber's has worked to build a direct line from farms and fresh, nutrient-dense, delicious foods to youth. He shares all of that experience and passion with Roots.
Jametta Raspberry
House of Gristle
Jametta has worked in many of the top kitchens in the Twin Cities and worked as a private chef to celebrity athletes. She is also the founder and leader of the House of Gristle, an exciting pop-up that fed protestors in the wake of George Floyd's killing, and frontline workers during the pandemic. Raspberry is at the forefront of change in the Twin Cities culinary world, and she's sharing that knowledge and passion with Roots.
Jorge Guzmán
Petite León
Jorge Guzman's groundbreaking work at Brewer's Table, a fine dining restaurant inside a brewery, won him national acclaim, but it's is new restaurant Petite León, that brings his considerable skill to a much more personal level of cooking. Guzman incorporates his Mexican roots, and fine dining training to create food that has critics raving.
Nettie Colón
Red Hen Gastrolab
Nettie was born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico, learning the values and passion of cooking at her grandmother's side on her farm in the remote central mountain town of Utuado. Colon has traveled the world, learning about food, and sharing her knowledge with those she meets. She currently operates the persistent pop-up Red Hen Gastrolab, serving weekly bodega dinners. Colón is generous with her passion and knowledge, a leader known for clearing space around her, to raise up others, and illuminate pathways for others to lead.
Sameh Wadi
World Street Kitchen; Milkjam Creamery & Grand Catch
Sameh is used to building his own path. When he opened his first restaurant, he was in his early 20s. Saffron was revolutionary for its time, serving Mediterran fare in a fine dining setting. The ambitious chef continues to be an industry leader, with his casual World Street Kitchen and Milkjam Creamery pulling inspiration from the chef's love of music, travel, family, and always, always food. He's a cookbook author, entrepreneur, and now teacher through his Instagram cooking series, Social Deliciousness.
Get ROOTS salads for your next event.
This year our youth made and served more than 12,000 Roots for the Home Team salads throughout the Twin Cities. We are always looking for new ways ROOTS youth can actively experience sharing their salad creations in the community. Contact us today about your idea.
Find our salads at Kowalski's Market.
We are proud to have Kowalski's Market as a ROOTS partner. You can find a seasonal selection of our salads featured in the deli and prepared foods department.
Get Involved with Roots
Step up to the plate and become a ROOTS Youth, Supporter or Mentor.
Become a Roots Food Partner or Program Sponsor
Are you an Urban Farm or food supplier? Are you a retail business interested in selling ROOTS salads? Would you like to serve Roots salads at your next event?
Volunteer as a Youth Mentor or Chef Coach
Would you join one of our workshops to discuss your professional career experience and pathway? Are you a chef who would share your talent by guiding ROOTS youth as they create their salad recipes?
Donate
Simply put, money makes many experiences more attainable. Roots for the Home Team does everything in its power to clear pathways to success for our youth. Will you join our team to make these bright futures all the easier to reach?
Become a ROOTS Youth
All Roots for the Home Team participants connect with our organization through Minneapolis and St. Paul urban farms. Are you a teen interested in joining Roots for the Home Team? Check out our youth Garden Program partners.