Lake City High School’s culinary arts students gained hands-on experience in a working kitchen Thursday as they assisted in preparing food for the Dandelion Gala at the Bean Market Museum as a part of ArtFields.
The students were invited to get real world experience by Chef La Tasha McCutchen, a Lake City high alumnus and winner of Hell’s Kitchen’s season 13.
The students were given various tasks, such as chopping vegetables, cutting fruit, separating and then beating egg yolks, rolling venison meatballs and making pork belly tacos. Students worked under the watchful eyes of McCutchen as well as several other chefs, including Andrea Heinly, one of three finalists on season 5 of Hell’s Kitchen.
“I realized how tiring it can be and how fast you have to work to get that much food prepared,” said culinary arts student Malan Wilson. “I learned so much – how to put together ingredients in different ways. The food was so good and working with Chef Tasha was awesome!”
McCutchen said the students helped prepare 11 dishes and a large cheese display to serve approximately 200 guests. “There are a lot of steps in preparing each item,” McCutchen said. “These students give us more hands to help with the time-consuming work.”
Although she could have brought more professionals with her for the event, McCutchen said she saw this as an opportunity to help culinary arts students from her alma mater gain useful experience. “It’s difficult for students to get this type of experience in a small town like Lake City,” McCutchen noted. “Today they will experience food preparation and will learn to plate. They also will learn the execution of doing an event like this,” she added.
McCutchen said inviting the students to work with her and the other chefs is a way for her to give back to Lake City High. “A lot of people see me coming back home to cook as giving back,” she said. “I cook every day, so I don’t see it as giving back. Having these students here learning is what giving back means to me.”
“I was so nervous about serving the food to the guests,” commented culinary arts student Jameeka Graham, “but once I got started, I felt at ease. I realized how important it is to know what the food is and what ingredients are in it so that I could tell the guests and answer their questions. It was really a fun experience – I was really tired, but it was fun.”