Culinary Arts is a popular elective at Horizon Honors, available to all secondary students. Along with culinary skills, this class incorporates life lessons such as teamwork.The skills taught in the course include how to properly prepare food and ingredients, basic kitchen safety, and listening skills. Each class period, the students are assigned a recipe and make a new dish; over the past three quarters, they have made a variety of dishes ranging from frittatas, brownies with raspberry mousse, and crumpets, to salmon, stew, and lobster. People who are a part of the course appreciate the control factor over the recipes and flavors because they are the ones preparing the food. When the end result is in the hands of the chefs, it encourages them to do better.
Mr. Tamburino and Mr. Agostini, who each teach a section of the elective, both have a passion for cooking and teaching. “I want students to be willing and open to try new foods,” said Mr. A. “The purpose is to understand how to cook properly and be comfortable in the kitchen. Once a person becomes comfortable in the kitchen, there is nothing he or she can’t do.” This philosophy is enhanced through the student-centered structure of the class.
In addition to working in the kitchen at Horizon Honors, students also have opportunities beyond our campus. On February 15, the class took a field trip to the Culinary Arts Institute, where the chefs in training cooked a four course meal and taught the students more about professional cooking. “The best part was that we got to eat everything,” commented Chris Bailey, grade 9. In addition, Josh Taylor, grade 12, has recently been accepted to Le Cordon Bleu, another post-secondary culinary school, for classes beginning in August. Taylor credits the Horizon Honors elective, in addition to the support of his mother, to further his education in the field.
