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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

The Sylvia Center

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The Sylvia Center

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Educating young people and families through culinary programming to promote health and wellbeing.

10/16/2026

🍕What can a pizza oven teach kids about food? Quite a lot, actually!

At The Sylvia Center's Learning Garden, our wood-fired pizza oven is one of our most versatile teaching tools, bringing together gardening, cooking, science, and seasonal eating.

🌱 Food literacy: Students harvest ingredients grown in our garden, sometimes from seeds planted by other students months earlier.
👩‍🍳 Cooking confidence: They stretch fresh dough, experiment with seasonal toppings, and make their own culinary decisions.
🔥 Food science: They explore how a wood-fired oven differs from a conventional oven, how heat transforms ingredients, and why cooking methods change flavor and texture.
🌶️ Seasonal discovery: Recent visitors from Perfect Ten, Roots Academy, and La Salle experimented with late-summer peppers, cucamelons, dill, edible flowers, and even husk cherries!

And the best part? Students can see, smell, and taste the results of their decisions in minutes.
From garden to pizza oven, it's hands-on food education at its most delicious.

🔗 Read more about how we're turning food, fire, and curiosity into learning : https://www.sylviacenter.org/more-than-pizza-food-fire-and-learning-at-the-garden/

10/14/2026

📍 Did you know The Sylvia Center serves students across all FIVE New York City boroughs AND upstate New York?

From Manhattan to Staten Island, and from the Bronx to the Capital District, we're bringing hands-on cooking and nutrition education to young people in communities across New York.

Different neighborhoods, different classrooms, same mission: helping kids build cooking confidence, discover new foods, and develop skills for life. 🌻

Check out where we're making an impact! https://www.sylviacenter.org/were-in-your-neighborhood-where-the-sylvia-center-works/

10/07/2026

18.6 miles. Manhattan from top to bottom. And that’s just the training. 🏃‍♀️🗽

With the TCS New York City Marathon less than a month away, Cooking for Change Champion runner Morgan is deep into the final stretch of preparation.

One recent highlight? A sunrise run from Brooklyn Heights all the way to Marble Hill—the northernmost tip of Manhattan—and back down the island. 30 kilometers later, her legs were “jelly,” but she had another favorite training memory in the books.

Since returning to running, Morgan has logged miles everywhere from New York and Cape Cod to Montreal, Berlin, and Las Vegas. But on November 1, she’ll take on 26.2 miles through all five boroughs in support of The Sylvia Center.

Why TSC?

“I love that TSC brings food education to young people and families in the region. I'm so grateful to be able to support them in return for the way that they and Great Performances have supported me!”

Head to the link in our bio to catch up on Morgan’s training—and help cheer her toward the finish line with a donation to Cooking for Change Champions. 💙

https://www.sylviacenter.org/2026-nyc-marathon-morgan-the-sylvia-center/

10/01/2026

Basil season may be ending, but this harvest has a lot of life left in it. 🌿

Our upstate team has been busy harvesting and processing basil from our Learning Garden—including beautiful opal basil—to keep it showing up in our programs all winter long.

Some leaves are being dried whole for future recipes, some are joining other garden herbs in popcorn seasoning and teas, and fresh basil is making its way into marinara and other sauces for the freezer.

A little planning now means the garden can keep feeding our classes long after the growing season ends. Around here, a good harvest never goes to waste! 💚

09/30/2026

Food education doesn’t stop at the classroom door. 🌱

Last week, our Education Programs Director, Beth Bainbridge, joined food educators and leaders at Food Tank's “The Future of Food Education” Summit, in partnership with Pilot Light, during Climate Week NYC for a conversation about what happens when food education extends beyond schools, into homes, farms, gardens, kitchens and communities.

That idea is at the heart of our work.

Hands-on food education gives young people opportunities to understand where their food comes from, explore how it connects to their health and communities, and build the skills and confidence to participate in the food system themselves.

Beth brought nearly two decades of TSC’s experience to “Beyond the Classroom: Community Connections in Food Education,” alongside Gerardo Martinez of Wild Kid Acres and Shanon Morris of Harlem Grown, moderated by Kim Severson of The New York Times.

Because learning about food shouldn’t end when class does. 💚

🎥 Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/D-SLkGzHmEM?si=0jS-JaIc6qvwCWwt
📷 Ryan Rose / Food Tank

09/25/2026

A strong class starts before class. 🍎📝

This week, our Chef Educators came together for our first fall Professional Development session, and this time, the focus was putting all the pieces together.

Over the past year, our team has explored everything from nutrition and Heritage Diets to taste, ingredient function, positive youth development, peer connection, and using program data to strengthen our teaching. This session asked: how do we bring all of that into one intentional, engaging Sylvia Center class?

Then we put it into practice. Working in teams, Educators started with a curriculum lesson, chose an age-appropriate recipe, planned their class and recipe flow, built in nutrition, Heritage Diet, and PYD/SEL connections, and created visual aids to support student learning.

Finally, each group taught their lesson back to the room, sharing ideas, learning from one another, and adding a few new tricks to everyone's teaching toolkit. 💡

Because a great cooking class isn't just about what you make. It's about what young people learn, experience, and discover along the way.

A huge thank you to our Chef Educators for bringing so much thought, creativity, and care to the work. 💛

09/24/2026

Our Chef Educators come to this work from all kinds of paths. They’re professional cooks, nutritionists, photographers, community food advocates, TSC alumni, artists, athletes—and often several of those things at once.

That range of experience matters. Our Educators don’t simply teach recipes. They help young people build the skills and confidence to make nourishing food, explore the cultures and traditions behind what they cook, experiment with flavor, make decisions, and learn to trust themselves in the kitchen.

And their impact extends beyond their own classrooms. They develop recipes and activities, mentor colleagues, share what works with our team, and help our curriculum continue to grow.

Meet five of the people bringing our programs to life, and discover the special sauce they bring to the table. 🍎🥕🔪

https://www.sylviacenter.org/the-educators-who-bring-our-programs-to-life/

09/16/2026

Happy National Guacamole Day! 🥑

There are plenty of reasons we love making guacamole with young cooks.

Avocados are rich in unsaturated fats and fiber, making them a satisfying base for a snack. Add a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt or skyr for some extra protein, then grab whatever you like for dipping—crunchy veggies, whole-grain crackers, tortilla chips, or a little of everything.

Even better? Guacamole is easy for kids to make and make their own. They can mash, mix, taste, adjust, and experiment with different textures and flavors along the way.

And if you want to take your guac up a notch, we’ve got you covered. Head here for 5 Easy Chef Tips for Better Guacamole, including how to pick the perfect avocado, keep your guac greener for longer, and get the texture just right: https://www.sylviacenter.org/5-easy-chef-tips-for-better-guacamole/

09/15/2026

Hispanic Heritage Month begins today!

And in true Sylvia Center style, we’ll be celebrating deliciously all month long, highlighting Latin American and Caribbean recipes and food traditions in our classrooms.

Throughout the year, our students explore food through a heritage diet lens, cooking recipes rooted in cultures and traditions from around the world. Food gives young people a delicious way to explore culture, history, and community, while making space for them to share the foods and traditions they bring with them, too.

This month, we’re especially celebrating the richness and diversity of Latin American and Caribbean food traditions, and the many ways food can help us learn about one another.

09/11/2026

September is where summer meets fall in New York! 🍇🥕🍎

Late-summer favorites are still going strong, while cooler-weather crops and early fall fruits are starting to arrive. It’s a great time to look for grapes, peppers, carrots, broccoli, leafy greens, apples and pears at markets and farm stands.

Swipe for a little seasonal inspiration, including two delicious ways to put September produce to work: our Sweet + Spicy Grape Salsa and Roasted Carrots with Ayib + Awaze.

🍇🥕 What seasonal produce are you cooking with this month?

Address

2417 Third Avenue , Suite 301
The Bronx, NY
10451

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12123376066

Website

http://sylviacenter.org/

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