Pandemic drives culinary program to improvise

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/02/2021 (1966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Improvisation is a word often associated with drama classes, a creative state of continually inventing and iterating.  

The term aptly describes our state of COVID-19. We eat, walk, jog, gather, play, shop, work, and teach in ways we couldn’t fathom a year ago. Nothing is as it was. Rules continue to evolve.

No educational institution has had to improvise its programming more than the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre (ATC), a school that annually attracts over 200 students in 13 industry-driven programs who choose applied, ‘hands-on’ and technical training along with community internships.

‘Hands-on’ is especially challenging with social distancing and incessant handwashing.

The culinary arts program has been hard hit, as it usually boasts some of the most active community outreach activities in ATC. They include work internships at restaurants and hotels, a cafeteria program with restaurant quality meals for the community-at-large, spring and fall buffets, an annual seniors dinner with for 400, and a divisional powwow for over 1000 people.

Along with a rigorous apprenticeship curriculum, students emerge from the program as skilled and experienced culinary practitioners ready to begin careers in the foods and hospitality industry.

Red Seal chef Jeremy Bender proudly notes that “the program has launched many food and culinary careers in restaurants and hotels in Winnipeg and a variety of exotic locales including New York, Lake Louise, Whistler, and the U.K.”

Then came COVID-19. No more community patrons frequenting the cafeteria; banquets or catering for large groups ended; take-out ebbed to a trickle of student and teachers ordering food.

Public health orders, social distancing, and safety protocols took a toll on students’ access to real customers and on the practise cycles needed to prepare and cook high-end entrees and desserts.

Chef Bender had to improvise new ways “to meet learning outcomes, build student culinary skills and offer authentic learning experiences in the culinary industry.”

Solution: ATC purchased a commercial food sealer to allow “the community to order restaurant-quality meals they could heat and serve at home.”  

The ATC Food Market was born, a program in which students, staff, and the community-at-large can order many of the program’s signature meals and pick them up safely in the foyer of the school with COVID-19 protocols intact.

The students have never been busier. The initial launch of the Food Market just before the Christmas break rang up almost 300 turkey dinners and a variety of restaurant-quality meals and desserts.

The culinary team believes this improvisation will become a permanent piece of program curricula.  

These frozen entrees go fast.

Email atc.foods@lrsd.net to join the contact list and keep abreast of upcoming sales and promotions.

Chef Bender also notes that there is space in the program in the second semester for students who want to join the culinary student cohort. Contact your local high school or email ATC at todd.tyler@lrsd.net

Adriano Magnifico is a community correspondent for St. Boniface. You can contact him at anomag60@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: @AnoMagnifico