From learning how to ice a cake to chopping carrots, the Culinary Arts students are constantly improving and learning new skills in the kitchen.
In order to keep up with the cut throat industry, culinary students must be exposed to advanced appliances and tools. For this reason, Chef Jamey Hunt, the culinary instructor at MLEC has turned to DonorsChoose.org in search for donations to buy advanced equipment.
DonorsChoose.org is a website where teachers are able to post projects for their classroom. There, they can raise money for computers, equipment, field trips, etc.
On the website, Chef Hunt wrote essays explaining his student’s need for new tools and appliances to, “make their dreams come true.” These donations will allow the students to familiarize themselves with equipment they will be using throughout their entire culinary career.
Several companies donated to the cause, such as Chevron and the Clorox Company. The goal of these companies is to provide students with the critical skills they will need to succeed in future jobs.
Some of the items the Culinary Program received include: a pasta machine, a sausage machine, an ice cream machine, and molecular gastronomy equipment. With these items, the students will be able to keep up with modern cuisine techniques.
In fact, many high-end restaurants work with molecular gastronomy—the physical and chemical transformation of ingredients—creating interesting meals such as transparent ravioli and mango spheres.
Chef Hunt is grateful for the donations because they will, “take the course to the next level and give the students a competitive edge in the market.”
Providing the students with background knowledge of modern equipment will improve their chances of being accepted into the top culinary schools and restaurants.
The students are ecstatic about receiving new appliances and tools. Amber Diez and Natalie Torres, sophomores in the culinary program said, “we can’t wait to use the pasta machine in our capstone.” With a Japanese style menu in mind, Amber and Natalie plan to use the new equipment to make ramen.
Briana Alvarez, a junior in the program describes the most exciting part as, “being able to learn all new kinds of recipes with the equipment.” The new machines and tools will allow them to learn fun recipes such as ice cream and chocolate filled candies.
The equipment opens an entire world of culinary possibilities for the students; these machines have even inspired the beginning of a culinary club at MLEC.
Other projects are also in the works according to Chef Hunt. He has posted more projects on DonorsChoose.org and hopes to receive enough money for a smoker machine to smoke food.
Through the donations, Chef Hunt has provided his students with an enriched learning environment. He has received over a thousand dollars in donations and hopes to continue receiving more in order to provide the best experience for his students.
