Unlike a culinary arts training program targeted toward aspiring professional chefs, the typical high school culinary arts program instructs students who do not have much prior knowledge of cooking techniques or ingredients. Its purpose is to cultivate an interest in food and cooking among a student group that, for the most part, doesn't have a clear sense of their vocational direction. In addition to introducing students to the possibility of a culinary career, a high school culinary arts program should also be a format for bringing good food to a demographic surrounded by junk food and fast food.
Instructions
1. Design course material that integrates culinary arts program material with a mainstream high school curriculum. Print and review recipes in order to instruct students in properly follow them. Teach and demonstrate recipe equations and conversions, such as convert ounces to grams or calculate the number of ounces in a given number of pounds.
2. Plan cooking classes that start with basic skills and flavors. Choose simple, interesting dishes that use a wide range of ingredients, instructing students in the basics of working with meats, produce, beans and legumes. Tailor your lesson plans for the purpose of creating complete meals, with appetizers, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. Use demonstrations as well as hands-on practice.
3. Offer classes that teach a range of international cuisines. Include background material about how these cuisines developed, linking information about historical influences and cultural exchange with insights relevant to the natural sciences, such as how and where different plant foods evolved and how they spread. Explain how different plant and animal species changed because of the interactions with humans and our history of using them as food, such as the evolution of cows from monstrous, prehistoric beasts into the docile animals we know today.
4. Provide a dining area where students can enjoy the food they have prepared and serve it to their peers. Use every possible strategy to make this space look and feel different from a typical high school cafeteria, to reinforce the perception that it is for food that has been prepared with skill and care. If you can afford it, use attractive tables and chairs, and decorate the room with pictures and colors that do not have an industrial feel.
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