Healthy lunch at ISLA Academy

A priority at ISLA Academy is providing high-quality, healthy food for our children. It is very important that children receive the proper amount of calories and nutrients in order for them to function at their optimum level. Our lunch program is largely vegetarian (with the exception of fish procured locally, and one free-range chicken day per month), we provide a variety of tasty, well-balanced meals using fresh, locally-sourced ingredients.

Our new chef, Paola Mallen, is a Santo Domingo native with a passion for healthy, fresh, delicious food. After finishing her culinary arts degree, she relocated to Cabarete where she has worked at Cabarete gourmet restaurants Miró, and Tabüle. In addition to her work at ISLA Academy, she currently has a personal project called @freshfoodbymallen where she offers services as a personalized chef.

Chef Paola is a lover of fresh food, made from quality ingredients, and we are very excited to have her on our team. Check out her Instagram feed for snapshots of some of the tasty dishes she's prepared for ISLA academy so far!

In the Domincan Republic, there is an expression at mealtime, "Barriga llena, corazón contento" which means "Happy heart, full stomach".

Photos by Olive Wang