High School Mentoring/Competition

So part of my absence from my blog has been partly due to the fact that I've been helping mentor 5 high school students to compete in a national competition this week.  A reporter came in and wrote this nice little blurb!  Needless to say, I'm happy to be a part of this event and think it is even more awesome to be in print now!

The Article:

Cooking Under Fire

valley students prep for cooking comp

From the outside it looks like an ordinary high school classroom door. But when you step inside you can hear clamor of pots, the crisp slicing of vegetables, and the bustling boil of a kitchen under the pressure of time. Professional chefs gather around their protégés, turning Francis Polytechnic Senior High School’s class kitchen into a pressure cooker for five students.

The five will compete against each other Saturday, May 5, at the Long Beach Hyatt. One will go on to a bigger competition in Houston, Texas, representing Poly, and the city of Long Beach, to compete nationally against several other cities across the US.

In his white chef’s garb, sophomore Jose Garcia, takes his time hovering over a water-spotted metal table, intently placing the finishing touches on a gourmet “Strawberry Field” salad. Dressed with a tangy balsamic vinaigrette and accented with a crumbly type of cheese, the tuft of greens seem to pop off the pristine white plate. The dish looks more like an artist’s creation than a first course.

“I feel like this is my stepping stone for my new career because this is was what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Jose said. “[I’m] Excited because this is my first time [competing]. I really want to do it because it’s not for winning but for having the experience and enjoying myself.”

Saturday’s judges will have to put Jose’s Strawberry Fields against four other equally decorative first courses, including  11^th grader Karina Yepez’ dish. Karina will present an Asian cuisine-style of diced carrots, red and green peppers brilliantly placed on 3 large endive leaves. Like bright green boats of flavor, the dish has a timeless, zen-like quality reminiscent of a leaves floating down a creek.

The theme of her dish seems to fit her cooking style. She usually goes with the flow when she cooks at home, freely mixing ingredients from the family fridge to create dishes her family enjoys ­– like chicken and bacon, or whatever’s there, she said.

“I’m glad I’m in it,” she said of the competition. “I just need to improve a little better.”

Jose and Karina are among the students being mentored by a dedicated group of professional chefs and educators behind the program in the days running up to the event. Executive Chef and mentor Christopher Haydostian, along with other volunteers from Sodexo and professional food educators , have spent the last few weeks putting in extra hours after school with the help of the Keep Youth Doing Something afterschool program staff.

“It’s phenomenal to see people that are younger and have the ability to take on this program. They come in…on their own time after school to learn this and do this,” Haydostian said. “They’re dedicated to do it.”

The executive chef goes on to sternly mentor the students, being as tough on them as the 2-and-a-half hour time limit the students will have to prepare 3 plates of an appetizer salad and 3 plates of a main course. It seems like plenty of time but the executive chef assures the students they will have to use their time wisely. As one other executive Sodexo chef put it, come competition day, “the clock will be your worst enemy”.

As the students prepare all week for the competition, Food and Learning will follow the students in a multi-part series as they prepare and go on to the next level of the competition. The competition is hosted by several groups including Hyatt Hotels; the Afro-Academic Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO);  and the food service company Sodexo with KYDS, Inc.