In October, twelve youths, ranging in age from elementary school to high school, took part in a unique Culinary Camp experience at UH Maui College. In four fast-paced days, they got a taste of a range of careers in the culinary arts, learned skills they can use every day, and had a lot of fun doing it.
Preparing a different meal each day, they learned about nutrition, food safety, preparing, cooking, seasoning, and presenting each meal. They learned how to use recipes and measure ingredients, and how to use an array of kitchen tools and appliances. Cooks have a special term for organizing everything to work efficiently – mise en place – and cleaning up is part of everyone’s job. Working in a kitchen takes teamwork, and everyone pitched in.
They were given recipes and a budget, and had to develop shopping lists and go shopping for their ingredients. Keeping the cost of the ingredients under the budgeted amount meant having to track the total as they shopped, or put some back once they reached the cash register!
Chef instructors from UHMC shared their knowledge and passion, introducing such culinary arts career paths as prep cook, pantry cook, line cook, and pastry cook, and the different roles and responsibilities of each.
Working with professionals who love what they do was inspiring: several attendees are now seriously interested in culinary careers. Hey, everyone’s got to eat, right? So it’s a good bet that these satisfying careers will be in demand for a long time.
