Senior Alex LoFaro has published a cookbook combining his passions for cooking and service. Both were brought to life through his ISP project at Taft.
After spending most of his life living abroad, Alex LoFaro ’21 moved to the United States when he was twelve. There were a lot of things about life in the US that he wasn’t expecting
“Walking through the supermarket, I was surprised to discover that a large bag of chips was cheaper than an apple,” Alex recalls.
The idea that socioeconomic status could drive food choices and overall health not only perplexed Alex, but made him want to dig deeper. Taft’s Independent Study Program (ISP) gave him the opportunity to do just that.
“I started my ISP during my junior year by exploring food insecurity and heightened obesity rates in America,” says Alex. “I immediately noticed that people of lower socioeconomic backgrounds and communities of color are disproportionately served by the fast-food industry.”
To better understand this correlation, Alex interviewed a nutritionist and an executive at Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit organization fighting nutrition insecurity by building infrastructure and systems to increase access to healthy food. He also visited local farms to learn about sustainable farming. Then he took action
“After combing through the menus of many fast-food chains, my price analysis showed that a meal at a fast-food restaurant averages $3.04 per person,” explains Alex. “I created five cost-effective recipes, each packed with macronutrients and containing only healthy fats. Those healthy meals cost less than $3 per person to prepare.”
Alex planned to share his research and recipes with families in need in the greater Waterbury area. When COVID-19 shut down Taft’s campus in the spring, he lost his opportunity to work with those families directly, and needed a creative solution: he built a website highlighting his research, recipes, and recommendations. Alex’s website was well received. So well-received, in fact, that it sparked a new idea: a cookbook.
“Writing those simple, cost-effective recipes reminded me that cooking is something you share with those you love,” Alex says. “I’d always wanted to share my passion with friends, and it was time.”
Alex spent last summer choosing recipes for his cookbook. During the process, he prepared more than 200 dishes.
“I cooked them at my house, at friends’ homes—anywhere there was a stove and a hungry audience.”
Alex’s cookbook, Cooking through Childhood, contains 87 recipes inspired by his life. It begins when he was three years old, sitting on the kitchen counter in New York City, “begging Paola to let me taste the minestrone,” and traces his Italian roots. In addition to writing the book and testing the recipes, Alex also shot all of the photos, and researched and negotiated publishing options. Alex will begin selling his book online this week; he regularly posts mouthwatering photos of his dishes on an Instagram account dedicated to his food, @lofarocooking.
“The book grew out of my ISP and the website I shared with families in the greater Waterbury community. Working with those families was incredibly enriching; the opportunity to give back to the community is what was most meaningful about the project,” says Alex. “And while I hope the research I did provided some help, I realize the problems of food and nutrition insecurity are substantial. This realization has inspired me to commit to donating a large percentage of the proceeds from the cookbook to Wholesome Wave.
Established in 1964, Taft's Independent Studies Program (ISP) was the first of its kind in the nation. Now, more than 50 years later, it continues to challenge Taft students to think about learning in new ways, offering ISP scholars both avenue and opportunity to extend their learning beyond the traditional curriculum. Learn more about Taft’s Independent Study Program and about Wholesome Wave.