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Publication Date: Friday, January 16, 2004 Stirring it up
Stirring it up
(January 16, 2004) Catering class heats up the kitchen
by Teresa C. Brown
On the first day of class, the students may walk in and not know the difference between sautˇ, simmer or sear. But by the end of the school year, that all has changed.
The teens, all members of the Village High's catering class, will not only have experience cooking, serving and planning events for the Village Cafˇ, they can also handle the catering operations from the menu selection down to the last detail of presentation.
"Our slogan is 'We like to stir things up,'" said Village catering teacher Kit Little of Village Cafˇ. The catering class is Little's brainchild and was launched at Foothill High some eight years ago.
"My idea behind getting catering going was to provide a way for kids to learn skills and provide a service for the school district and the community," she said. Little joined Village four years ago and brought the catering operations with her.
In addition to teaching the catering class for two periods, she also teaches a regular food class, appropriated titled "Home on the Range," and a "skills of survival" class for Consumer and Family Studies, a home economics-based course.
"What I love about it is it teaches kids transferable skills, things they can use in any job - time management, organization, leadership, soft skills like that."
The students come to class with varying skills, some with no experience in the kitchen.
"Students at Village are at-risk for a variety of reasons," Little said, explaining that often their parents move and their family life can be unstable. Because of the nature of the alternative high school, students come and go throughout the year.
But regardless of where the class is when a student joins the group, they all begin at the same place: studying a training manual authored by Little. The manual covers everything from safety and sanitation to room organization. After studying the manual, the student is tested.
"They must pass the test by 90 percent or higher, or they have to take the test again," Little said.
Little acknowledges that she has set high standards for the teens, but said it is a hurdle they all pass.
"They all get through it," she said adding that if they need it, she helps them learn the manual. The high expectation builds self-esteem.
"They understand high standards and that hard work is not a bad thing," she said. "And the high standards continue with the catering operations."
The Cafˇ does a bustling take-out business. "We do everything pretty much word-of-mouth," Little noted. To order box lunches, call Little at 426-4260, well in advance.
Every year the new class begins its catering operation with box lunches. "We have guinea pigs right here," Little laughingly said of the school district office on Bernal Avenue. "The guts of the whole district is here including Horizon High School and Independent Study, about 250 employees on this block." By e-mail, she notifies the school district staff of menu choices for pre-order early in the week.
The box lunches are packed with goodies and all for $6, Little said. A typical box may hold a chicken salad sandwich, fruit salad, bag of potato chips, a homemade dessert bar, bottle of water, napkin and plastic utensils.
Taking pre-orders, the catering class has prepared box lunches for as few as five to as many as 45 in one take-out order for school district employees or community members.
From box lunches, the catering group progresses to more complex meals that may include a buffet dinner for events in the district's multipurpose room. The students learn to make everything from bacon and cheese scones to tiramisu desserts. "Every entrˇe you can imagine. We're not just serving the public," Little said, "I am teaching the kids how to cook."
Little monitors the students' cooking skills through the year; they learn to grill, fry, roast and bake. They also learn to manage catering projects.
"I start out doing a lot myself and I train, train, train," Little said of the catering operations. "Then I pull back. Right now I'm striking that balance where (the students) are taking more responsibility than I am."
On Fridays, the students learn another useful cooking skill: how to prepare something from whatever is left over in the refrigerator. As part of the weekly maintenance schedule, that includes cleaning the refrigerator. This exercise gives them a chance to discuss how the meal could have been made better and what menu title would be appropriate. They also discuss "descriptors," the text description of the meal on a menu, Little said.
Everyone learns how to do each part of the job, she said, all in preparation for the final examination: to prepare a catering proposal complete with event planning from start to finish, including the theme, decorations, menu, floral and staff.
Some of Little's students have carried these lessons over into careers. Several have gone on to major culinary institutes, hotel management or directly into food services, she said.
But when her students leave, regardless of what career path they follow, Little hopes they will have developed skills for a lifetime.
"Someday, students will look back at the skills they've learned in this class and they'll be glad they learned them," she said.
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