Students in the ECTC culinary arts program show themselves to be a cut above the rest

The News-Enterprise
February 3, 2005

Students in the ECTC culinary arts program show themselves to be a cut above the rest

In a matter of seconds, Tito Zalaya's eyes are watering, his face red, as he reduces a red onion to a pile of slices and begins a hurried relay from cutting counter to prep counter.

From a cooking family in New York, he is used to a bustling kitchen. He can tune out the scurrying of other cooks, the whir of the industrial-size vent sucking steam from the cooking area and the clanging of stainless steel pots, pans and utensils on the walls, racks and counters.

But he can't tune out the fact that he always cries when he cuts onions. It's something he's done many times.

Wearing a white chef coat buttoned double-breasted to the top, a black chef's hat and black-and-white checkered chef's pants, Zalaya said his future goals resemble those of many other culinary arts students at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College.

Most want to pursue a career in the food and service industries when they complete their studies at ECTC. For Zalaya, that will mean traveling to Italy for more schooling. For others, it means owning their own restaurant or catering business.

At ECTC, they're learning the fundamentals. Sharing a kitchen that doubles as a lab and business center, students in the program are taught to prepare all types of food — appetizers, soups, sauces, salads, dressings, breads, meats, seafood and desserts — with an emphasis on creativity and presentation.They also run the school's cafeteria.

Open from 10:45 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, the cafeteria serves 75-100 customers a day.

Still early on a Wednesday, the mood in the kitchen is somewhat relaxed. In the early stages of preparing entrees, soups, salads and desserts to be served that day, the students in advanced baking and fundamentals classes still have time to chat.

"OK, we need to go ahead and get started," instructor Susie Swink announces to a group of three at a brief meeting beside the grill. It is 10:15 a.m.

As the intensity heats up in the kitchen, it becomes evident that life in ECTC's lab is intended to resemble that of a restaurant.

"I am here to prepare people for the work force," Swink said. "They are to look professional, act professional and to perform as such. We are here to serve and to accommodate."

For that reason, in addition to preparing the food, each student is required to take a turn in each of the cafeteria stations: entree, short order, bread, dessert, salads and management.

Matt Thomas is a second-semester culinary student and this week's kitchen manager. He is in charge of everything from menu selection to personnel management, but for Thomas, it's no different from any other day on the job.

He helps run the kitchen at Chef's Place in Brandenburg, where he has worked for two years and hopes to one day own. He has been around the restaurant business most of his life.

"This is not bad," he said.

Though he is already confident in his kitchen management skills, he chose to go to school for a degree in culinary arts so he can own his own business.

"A lot of banks won't give you a loan unless you have a culinary degree," he said.

The program offers a two-year associates degree, as well as diploma and certificate programs, which require fewer hours.

When a student completes the program, they are equipped to work in restaurant, hotel and motel food services, institutional cafeterias, hospital and health care food service, deli-bakery operations, private restaurants, clubs, catering and business operations.

"They're an educated cook at that point," Swink said.

Preparing and serving lunch in the cafeteria is only a part of the lab classes, which begin at 8 a.m. and run until 2:20 p.m.

In addition to cafeteria experience, each student enrolled in the catering course has a hand in running the program's catering business.

Students in the catering class do 95 percent of the in-house catering at ECTC, instructor and program coordinator Jane Masse said.

"We do any meetings coordinated through the college; breakfast, lunch and full dinners, sit down and buffet style," she said.

The students also cater off-site events for organizations such as the Elizabethtown Country Club, the St. James Church senior group and Leadership Elizabethtown. Last year, the business catered a wedding reception for 500 and has already scheduled two banquets of more than 450 people in April.

The only catch is class has to be in session for the students to be able to cater the event.

"We get a lot of calls for Christmas parties," Masse said. "But, there are no students here after the first week of December."

Cafeteria and catering business work is considered classroom and lab credit. In addition, each student is required to have 180 hours of practicum or cooperative education credit, which is as valuable, if not more valuable, than classroom instruction.

In a real-life commercial kitchen environment, students learn "everything is not an ideal situation," Masse said. They also learn they're not going to start at the top, wherever they go.

"They have to start at the bottom," Masse said. "You know how, first, you're an apprentice, then a journeyman, then a master. Well, here it's first you're an apprentice, then a working chef, then a master chef."

Students in the program come from all walks of life and are all ages, ranging from high school seniors to senior citizens. Most of them seriously want to pursue a career in the food industry.

Tracing his finger over a formula for cornbread in a "Food for 50" book, Justin Meredith is an exception.

A LaRue County High School senior, he is one of many high school students who chooses to complete his high school studies at ECTC while also getting a jump start on college courses. Meredith doesn't expect to go into the restaurant or catering business, though he does plan to complete the degree.

"I just wanted to learn to cook," he said. "I grew up in a fast-paced family and never really learned to cook. Nobody cooks."

Already, he is doing most of the cooking at his home, he said.

Jessie Matthews and Deana DelaCruz hope to graduate and start their own catering businesses. Both are single moms who chose the Elizabethtown program because it's close to home and is less expensive than traveling to Louisville schools.

ECTC is a member of Skills USA, a program that has more than 200,000 members nationally and sponsors regional, state and national competitions in the culinary arts and other technical and professional areas.

Last year, seven students from the school's culinary arts program competed in the state competition, bringing back seven medals. Three were gold medals, which entitled those students to compete against 20,000 others in national competition.

Already, students are pursuing extra training before and after class in preparation for this year's regional competition March 4.

"It's an art; it's a lot of practice," Masse said. "But, that's why we have them do catering and the cafeteria."

In the past three years, Swink has seen the number of students who enroll in the program grow from nine to 30.

Though the program has been at ECTC more than 20 years, Masse has jokingly toyed with the idea of changing the program's name to Fun with Food. But, she won't. It's more professional than that.

But, it is a field in which you can have fun, she said, "especially if you love what you do."