On September 12, Chef Andrew Lindsey from the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts visited the Intro to Culinary classes and demonstrated how to make biscuits and gravy from scratch. Lindsey also taught the kids correct terminology and technique for creating the dish, and allowed student volunteers to participate. The hands-on aspect of this class helps students not only learn proper food handling skills, but also implement them in their daily lives.

“I took the opportunity to help the chef because I had never met a real chef before,” Lucas Dos Santos, ‘27, said. “And helping him taught me about the teamwork aspect of cooking.”

According to a study completed by ScienceDirect, 14% of students reported that they never cook for themselves. Regardless of a student’s career aspirations, meal preparation is a valuable skill for students. While mom and dad may be cooking for students now, eventually everyone must learn to provide food for themselves, and making home-cooked meals pushes students one step closer to becoming responsible adults.

Intro to Culinary Arts is an optional elective that offers students the opportunity to get a head start on adulthood as well as learn to create fun and simple recipes on their own.

“Students gain basic meal prep and cleaning and sanitation skills,” said Tandy Allen, Intro to Culinary Arts teacher. “When students are out on their own in college or in the workforce they will be able to make meals for themselves and make recipes which they learned here that they can actually feed themselves.”

Many students choose electives based on their hobbies. However, electives are not only an opportunity to be creative, but also to learn life skills.

“I love getting to learn how to cook and being able to depend on myself,” Paige Gordillo, ‘25, said. “I definitely will be using these skills when I move out and go to college and start living on my own.”

Several meals are created throughout the course, and some of the food labs are holiday-themed meals such as Christmas sugar cookies or Valentine’s Day cupcakes. Although it may seem small, keeping kids excited for school while also engaging them in learning is a challenging task that Allen strives to accomplish.

“Into culinary is learning basic skill sets for preparing small meals and baked goods, and learning proper procedure for the restaurant industry as far as sanitation and service protocols,” Allen said. “It’s special because students are able to use their abilities in different ways and have fun learning to cook.”