Learning Cultural History Through High School Culinary Classes

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Do high school students really want to learn to make a béarnaise or béchamel sauce in their culinary classes? Or do they find it more engaging to explore multiple cuisines that may be part of their family’s history?

At Learn4Life, a network of 80+ public charter high schools, instructor Chef Richard Willis has crafted a curriculum that is different than most culinary CTE (career technical education) programs – moving beyond the traditional French and Italian cooking and delving into ethnic cuisine and its history… and his students are loving it.

“When students see themselves and their families in what they’re learning, the more entertaining it is and they grab ahold of it. I want to create a more relatable course of learning,” he explained. “We have so many other cultures and cuisines, so why not bring the world to them?”

Willis points out that many of his students don’t know much about cuisine beyond what they get at home. He helps his students learn about their own history and traditional foods and to see their identity in the things they taste. He wants to show the connection between culture and cuisine. Plus, he demonstrates why it’s best to use food that is in season and available – the basics of farm-to-table.

Once students master the basic sanitation/safety certification, master knife skills and other proficiencies, they move on to cuisines of Latin America, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Oceanic, African and more. They enjoy preparing Fish Surawa with pineapple rice (a curry inspired dish from Fiji), Jamaican brown stew chicken with rice and peas and Lomo Saltado from Peru.

Chef Willis is opening his students’ eyes to the multitude of career options with a culinary degree – beyond just cooking in a restaurant. He takes them to visit nearby culinary schools and talks about options from restaurant management and catering to running a bakery or even becoming a personal chef.

The only mistake you can make in Chef Willis’ high school culinary class is to say that you are not good at something. “We all make mistakes and sometimes get down on ourselves, but Chef won’t let us get away with that,” said student Andrew R. “He doesn’t want to hear any negativity whatsoever. I feel like that has made me into a much more positive person.”

Another skill Andrew and fellow students have learned beyond basic kitchen skills is time management. Whatever they are cooking in class, there is a time limit to get everything ready to serve at a specific time. “Now I can apply these skills at home or when I get a job,” he added.

Andrew admits he was a bad kid in middle school – getting in trouble and not following the rules. The happy high schooler today is a different person and just coming into his own self. Taking risks in the kitchen, sometimes failing but often succeeding, he’s now interested in pursuing a culinary career. “Chef took us to tour one school that has an interesting and deep culinary program. I hope to go there after I graduate,” he said.

For more information about Learn4Life, visit www.Learn4Life.org

About Learn4Life

Learn4Life is a network of nonprofit public high schools that provide students with personalized learning, career training and life skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to succeed. Serving more than 64,000 students through a year-round program, we help them prepare for a future beyond high school. For more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.