Among the multitude of courses offered at SCHS, one popular elective are the culinary arts classes. The two-part class allows students to gain authentic skills inside and outside of the kitchen.
Aimed to teach students to cook, work in teams and maintain hygiene, Culinary has been a beneficial experience for many. Junior Aislinn Hernandez Caballero believes her cooking abilities have changed for the better after joining Culinary 1.
“I tried poaching an egg before I took Culinary 1. It was very hard,” Caballero said. “But then we did eggs benedict, and we had to poach an egg in class. I came home and was able to do it.”
Similar to Caballero, sophomore Tristan Ye was able to translate the recipes he acquired from Culinary into his daily life.
“My favorite dish I’ve made in Culinary so far is the clam chowder,” Ye said. “The reason I chose that one is because I remade it at home for my family, and they all enjoyed it.”
Though many may feel apprehensive taking the class without previous cooking experience, freshman Darren Salazar shared that students go through a learning process during the first couple of months to be introduced to culinary basics.
“He (the teacher, Chef David Keith) prepares you before the first few months of Culinary. You don’t cook anything. He just works on skills, and he’ll always demonstrate stuff before you work on the lab,” Salazar said.
Additionally, many underclassmen can be hesitant to join Culinary due to its mixed population of students from all grades. Salazar, however, believes his experience was facilitated by their presence.
“Most of the people I’ve worked with have been really nice and have helped me across the way to get to being a better chef,” Salazar said.
In addition to becoming better chefs, some Culinary students will have the opportunity to compete in the California ProSTART competition. Students participate in teams of 2-5 for opportunities to win scholarships of up to $200,000. Culinary Arts teacher Chef David Keith elaborated on the expected difficult parts of the competition.
“They have to make an appetizer, a soup or a salad, an entree and then a dessert. But there’s no electricity, there’s no running water, there’s none of that. They have to do it all by hand,” Keith said.
While Culinary arts can be entertaining on its own, challenges in the cooking process can contribute to the delight as well. For Ye, the most difficult part of cooking is carefully following complex recipes.
“It might sound easy, just following instructions, but when there’s an in-depth recipe you really have to make sure you read it all the way through so you know how to prepare for the next steps,” Ye said.
Culinary arts can be an eye-opening experience while simultaneously allowing students to compete, gain real world skills and develop connections with one another.
“If anyone wants to join Culinary, I highly recommend it. I think it’s a very fun experience,” Salazar said. “It gives me a little break in my day from the stressfulness of other classes.”