Local cooks sharpen culinary skills

While most of us sought shelter from the heat this week, one group of students was willingly toughing it out in a room filled with hot stoves. But the sweat beading on their foreheads did not deter them from their goal of becoming more proficient at what they love best: cooking. News Five was invited to meet the aspiring chefs participating in a joint venture between the Belize Tourism Board, the Organization of American States, and the Culinary Institute of America. The students from all over the country were cooking up a storm and showing the visiting instructors the tasty ingredients this country has to offer.

Nicole Gordon
?We are making stuffed okras. And it?s going to be dipped in a batter and breaded with corn meal and deep fried. Should be pretty good.?

Ronald Astephan, Restaurateur, Dominica
?Things are going pretty well so far. The students are very eager, the course is a little more than they expected, so they are happy about that, they are getting the value and everything, today is our fourth day of production. And today is vegetarian day, so not everyone is so happy about that, but so far it?s stood up pretty well.?

Karla Heusner, Reporting
Most of the twenty-seven students had little experience with vegetarian cooking, and some just couldn?t help including a little bit of seafood.

Workshop Participant
?Not much besides the basic salads. But this is a new one, everyone is doing everything vegetarian, we are the only one using any kind of meat. We?re supposed to use hogfish, but we didn?t find any, so we are substituting with shrimp.?

Yvette Magana, Exclusivo Pastries by Design
?This is vegetable curry. This one here with squash and we top it off with fruit, mango and raisin with a little coconut on the top. We have here steamed rice with chives. It?s very refreshing for summer.?

Karla Heusner
?Have you done a lot of vegetarian cooking before??

Yvette Magana
?Actually I cook for my family, my parents, but I took courses in Chicago in decorating and now I have the curiosity in cooking, learning more about being a chef and I started to love it.?

Karla Heusner
?Are you working at a restaurant or a resort or are you doing this as an individual??

Yvette Magana
?I have a pastry place and do some cooking there, but mostly pastries.?

Carlos Cuellar, Tourism and Hospitality Instructor
?We are making calaloo bread cups made from regular white bread, rolled out and stuffed with sautéed callaloo, with tomatoes, onion, garlic, stir-fried in a butter. And then we bake the bread for about five minutes or so and then we just lift it up.?

Mark Ainsworth, Culinary Institute of America
?The course is really designed to use local ingredients and depending on whether we are in Belize or Bahamas or Antigua, we change the recipes to include the local ingredients and we found the local ingredients here to be very nice, very good.?

Lesby Martinez
?It?s a batter of pumpkin, you boil the pumpkin, you add eggs, butter, flour, then you mix it all and you fry it… the you eat it with this, you dip it and eat it with this. This is Creole sauce. It got tomatoes, onions, celery, bay leaves. I hope it tastes nice.?

Ronald Astephan
?This week we have a cross section of persons, persons who do private catering, instructors, we have individuals who work in restaurants and hotels, and we also have individuals who want to get into the business. So this is a good start for them to get an idea of what the industry is about.?

Orlando Shal
?I?m from Placencia, working at the Placencia Zebos Resort. I?m the chef?s assistant. I am making Jamaican vegetable patties.?

Karla Heusner
?What?s it got inside?

Orlando Shal
?Some veggies with zucchini, tomatoes, onions and seasoned with allspice, salt, black pepper and that sort of stuff. This is the sauce.?

Teresita Guerra
?I work at Mopan River resort. And I am the cook there, but I am not a chef, a cook.?

Karla Heusner
?What did you get out of the training? Did you learn to do anything different??

Teresita Guerra
? Yes, that is why I wanted to come, so I could learn more.?

Carlos Cuellar
I am from Stann Creek Ecumenical High School. So far we are the only high school here, today, for this week. Our aim is basically to improve the quality of service that we do offer in the service industry in the Stann Creek District.?

Nicole Gordon
?I basically have my own business. I operate right from home really and I have been cooking for quite a number of years. Basically that is the experience I have had. This is my first cooking class actually.?

After six days of intense training, the students received certificates issued by the Culinary Institute of America.

Mark Ainsworth
?Well we had a great response here and so I think there is a need. And I definitely think there is also a need for continued courses, both in the culinary arts and hospitality at different levels.?

?I think the students will be really inspired to hopefully continue with their learning and I also think that one thing they are going to have to do is to try to get the places that they work to accept the new ideas. We have really been working on a lot of presentation ideas as well as different cooking techniques, so that is going to be a challenge for both for the students as well as he properties where they come from, because everyone resists change. But you can?t get ahead without taking a step, so you know.?

The O.A.S./Culinary Institute of America Local Culinary Cuisine Course has so far been offered in Antigua, St. Kitts, Bahamas, Dominica, and St. Lucia. According to the B.T.B., members of the tourism industry recognise the need for improved kitchen facilities, as well as scholarships for training in the culinary arts. The sessions were held at U.B.’s Technical Campus on Freetown Road.