Students get a taste of reality
It’s a career where carelessness can kill customers. It involves intense deadlines, sharp objects, high temperatures, long hours on weekends, holidays and evenings, and a stress level that could make the toughest cookie crumble.
Cooking shows and rock-star chefs like Wolfgang Puck and Jamie Oliver have made the restaurant business hotter than ever, and today dozens of teams from Washington high schools complete their final competitions at the 2008 Boyd Coffee ProStart Invitational cooking contest at the Red Lion Inn at the Park.
“It’s so great to see all the kids here and see them be so excited about what they are doing,” said Frankie Dietz, general manager at Anthony’s Spokane. She’s a judge and also helped a group of Spokane students prepare for the competition.
The ProStart Invitational is one part “Iron Chef” and one part “Jeopardy,” with a dash of debate team. Teams of students compete in several contests: preparing a three-course meal, knife skills, general knowledge and case management.
“In case management, the students get a scenario and then they have to come up with the best solution,” said Susan Moberg, assistant coach of the six-student team from Moses Lake High School that has been practicing since November.
Whitney Taffin, a freshman at Washington State University majoring in hospitality business management, competed in the ProStart Invitational when she was a junior and a senior at Lewis and Clark High School.
She still talks about her fictional case-management experience.
“It was just awful: There was a storm, so the power in the kitchen was out, we had overbooked, there was a soccer tournament and all the families came in because of the bad weather,” Taffin said. “There was a bar mitzvah and the food wasn’t kosher – it went on and on – it was pretty traumatic.”
Julie Litzenberger, a culinary arts instructor at Spokane Community College and this year’s lead judge in restaurant management, nodded her head in recognition: “I came up with that one,” she said, laughing. “You just take all the worst days you’ve ever had and add them all together, and that’s what you give them.”
It’s the joy of cooking and creating a memorable experience for other people that drives the contestants.
Emily Chapman, 17, a senior at Shadle Park High School, works at McDonald’s but has bigger dreams.
“I like baking and cooking, and I hope to own my own bakery at some point,” she said. She’s been accepted into SCC’s culinary program.
Anna DelRiccio, 17, a junior at Shadle Park High School, dreams of joining the high-profile chefs.
“I would love to work with Wolfgang Puck or someone else who’s a legend,” she said, adding that she felt drained after Friday morning’s competition. “I’m a huge fan of ‘Ace of Cakes,’ that show where they bake those incredible cakes – I’d love to work there.” Her goal is to make it to the Western Culinary Institute’s Le Cordon Bleu program in Portland.
Both girls were part of the group tutored by Dietz and Litzenberger.
“This means a lot to the students,” Litzenberger said. “Traditionally, the restaurant industry has not been much of an educator industry – people just worked their way up from washing dishes.”
The winning team from the two-day event will go to April’s national competition in San Diego. Prizes – asides from the honor – include scholarship opportunities from the Culinary Institute of America, Johnson and Wales University, Walla Walla Community College and the Western Culinary Institute.
Students and judges agreed that TV shows, cooking classes and fancy cookware stores have stimulated the industry.
“It’s pretty sexy right now,” Litzenberger said. “And it’s starving for educated people. It’s a great career choice because it’ll never go away. People will always need a place to eat and a place to stay.”