“Anyone can cook” is much more than a phrase from the Walt Disney animated classic “Ratatouille” — it is a lesson ingrained in culinary students at Woodland High School from day one.
For the past 21 years, Nancie Wilson has taught the basics of cooking at Woodland High, giving her students hands-on experience in the kitchen, which culminates at Mid-Day Cafe events throughout the year.
The cafe program started about 10 years ago, and allows students to learn not only the cooking aspects of running a restaurant, but the hospitality and business sides of it as well.
Once a month, room 703 transforms from a simple classroom into a student-run restaurant experience, which welcomes dozens of students and administrators from across the district.
Before the cafe program started, faculty members had a separate lunch service from the students, but this program stopped due to budget cuts.
According to Wilson, the cafe “filled a need” in that “the teachers wanted a place where they can meet and socialize.”
As the cafe program grew from a few students to nearly 100, so did the restaurant”s clientele, and faculty from the Yolo County Office of Education, as well as teachers and administrators from other sites, frequent the eatery.
This month”s Mid-Day Cafe featured a Thanksgiving-themed menu, including turkey tortilla soup, fall pear soup, herb rolls and a double pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Beverages included a festive pumpkin spice coffee as well as a traditional iced tea.
While enjoying their Thanksgiving cuisine, district employees greeted each other with laughs and smiles.
The tables were draped with decorative cloth depicting red, orange, and brown leaves and miniature pumpkins were strategically positioned — all signs of the season.
Tom Pritchard, assistant superintendent of human resources, joined his colleagues for his first visit to the Mid-Day Cafe.
“I am amazed by the quality of the food,” he said after finishing his meal. “You can tell the kids paid attention to detail and preparation. Everything was delicious.”
Pritchard applauded the students” “positive attitude” while serving, noting he “will definitely come back” in the future.
Everything from planning the menu and purchasing ingredients to setting tables and serving guests is left to the students and cooperation is key.
“The students learn group work and if they are not working together, they really notice,” Wilson said, noting her course prepares students for work outside the classroom. “They learn cost analysis, safety sanitation, they receive their food-handlers card, and they learn the sense of urgency they need to have in a restaurant environment.”
Pritchard commented on this as well, stating the class “provides opportunities for real world experience” and it is “helping prepare them for life after high school.”
While some students were busy maintaining the restaurant, others were tasked with delivering meals to faculty members who are too busy to make their way down to the cafe during lunch.
Senior Francisco Rivas has been in Wilson”s culinary classroom for three years and was a member of the culinary club his sophomore year.
“I enjoy cooking, I enjoy the class, it”s fun,” he said. “I like the atmosphere, it”s pretty lively and I get to cook a wide range of foods, and my cooking has improved.”
For Rivas, he has considered a culinary career, but at this point he has other things in mind for his future.
Classmate Veronica Kearney had similar things to say, noting she enjoyed the competitions, including salad preparation, a competition Woodland High students dominated last year, where they won 1st place.
“I liked learning about new foods that I have never seen before,” Kearney said. “I also enjoy taking the recipes home and cooking them together with family.”
Although the cafe program has grown considerably in the past decade, students still face their fair share of obstacles. “As far as challenges go, one of the biggest ones is only having the advanced students for one class period. I would like to have a two-hour block period with the advanced culinary arts students,” Wilson said. “It seems that we are always time challenged and we have had to say no to many catering opportunities because of the time limitations.”
Space is another pressing concern.
“Our Mid-Day Cafe has grown in popularity over the years, but we are still using one classroom that we transform into a restaurant on Mid-Day Caf? days,” she said.
Wilson”s dream is to open a culinary arts education center off campus, where students who completed her other courses would work under a professional chef and provide weekday lunches for the community.
Contact Sarah Dowling at 530-406-6234.
