By Alemarie Ceria
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From 1987 until now, there have been many opportunities that allowed MHS culinary students to put their skills to the test. Instructors of the course made numerous practical activities available for their students such as assisting chefs and running restaurants, which has stopped operating in 2006.
“Money was better (back when I was teaching), so I was able to give them a lot more hands-on experience. We tried a lot of things in class, then we went out and we did a lot,” explained Health Services teacher Candace Chun, who was a previous Food Service instructor.
Students were able to gain more outside knowledge by working with professional chefs. Students were able to gain more outside knowledge by working with professional chefs. They were taken on field trips where they got to meet chefs such as Roy Yamaguchi, Alan Wong and Sam Choy and other big names in Hawaii’s food industry. “(Students were) assisting all the top Hawaii regional cuisine chefs, the original ones. They would allow each student who went to go work alongside them inside that area,” stated Chun. If the chef felt that the student was ready, they would allow him/her to help prepare the food. Present culinary classes continue to go on excursions that benefit students, for instance, working the back at Farrell’s in Pearlridge.
In school, for five years, Chun ran a restaurant known as The Hungry Trojan located in L-101. Students applied their skills in communication, production, portion control and quality control. “I wanted them to be able to practice the skills they learned in their classes,” expressed Chun. Students were put to work during lunch, which back then was an hour long and served many. In the same room, Health Services teacher Shirlen Tanaka, another former Food Service educator, ran a two week-long restaurant during the school year of 2005 to 2006. “We actually sent out and made free breakfast for the faculty,” said Tanaka. After a few years of running the restaurant, it was shut down due to a new schedule; it could not function with the split lunches and shorter lunch periods. ¬¬
Though MHS restaurants are no longer present, students continue to do other activities that display their skills such as competing in Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSO) competitions.
