While most MCCC classes are operating remotely, Mercer’s culinary programs, led by Chef Douglas Fee C.H.E., and Chef Frank Benowitz, MSCHE, have adapted new procedures and protections to keep classes in the kitchen.
The most significant challenge has been maintaining communication through their layered face masks and face shields.
Chef Fee, the coordinator of the Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management Program says, “We have the kitchen noise from pots and pans, from hood vents, from compressors for the refrigerators and freezers, and the general conversation. So when you get to that teaching moment, you really have to talk very loudly in order to be heard. By the end of the day I’m ready for a warm cup of tea, and to let my throat chill.”
But he adds, “If that’s what we need to do to be here, then we’re fine with that. We’re a flexible industry. We’ll do what it takes.”
Current Culinary Arts students in the Hospitality 102 Food Prep class prepare meals to serve to facility and maintenance staff members who remain on campus.
The regular Viking Cafe isn’t open, but they’re still preparing the same amount of meals they did pre-covid. Their class produced 42 meals on Thursday, March 11, plus a little extra for the chefs-in-training to take home and enjoy.
They are using new to-go containers that are microwave and freezer safe so that patrons can maintain social distancing by taking their meals home. But they still practice arranging or “plating” the food.
Chef Frank says, “We still do plate-ups as if we were doing [the campus dining] here so that students will know what it’ll be like. Even when they’re putting food in the [to-go] boxes, they’re trying to make it look good, they’re trying to keep it tasting good. It’s an important lesson.”
Among the foods the students are preparing there are gluten-free and vegan options. A recent menu included items such as a vegan and gluten-free carrot and ginger soup, pulled pork with pickled onions and jalapenos, gluten-free confit potatoes, and a dessert of milk chocolate creme brulee.
Xadea Green, a dual enrollment high school and Mercer student says, being in the kitchen “allows me to get ahead of the game. Because me coming in as a freshman in college, really I’ll be like a sophomore, I’ll have the mentality of a sophomore, so I kinda have the advantage of coming to college first.”
Chef Frank, himself a Mercer alumn, knows how valuable that in-person experience can be when training for the real thing.
“As the old saying goes, the show must go on,” says Chef Frank, adding, “We’re happy with what we’re doing. We’ve got a little bit smaller class size, but still the same high standards to sanitation, to safety, and to the quality of our food.”
