College of the Canyons students are going from the book to the frying pan at the college’s new Institute for Culinary Education building.
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“The benefits are really clear. The point is that the culinary field is one of the fastest growing fields in the United States. there’s well over a 100,000 jobs to be made available,” said Chancellor Dianne G. Van Hook. “Santa Clarita is the third largest city in Los Angeles County. There are restaurants opening up call the time. What a great resource this is for the students to have this caliber of facility and instruction right here.”
The facility features a dining room, classroom, demonstration kitchen, savory kitchen, sweets kitchen, banquet kitchen, chocolate room, Wine Studies classroom, retail bake shop, instructor office spaces, a terrace, kitchen and herb garden.
The dining room, along with a few of the other rooms, is still under construction.
Some of the rooms can be used by the Santa Clarita Valley community members when there aren’t classes in session.
One student said he had been cooking for 20 years for his family while his wife was working.
“Now that I’m alone, I want to learn everything that I didn’t know before,” said Ross Pool, a COC Culinary Arts student. “I’m retired. For me this is fun and I get to learn. The Knife Skills class was an eye-opening experience.”
COC instructors will be offering 19 classes during this spring semester including: Knife Skills; Culinary Safety & Sanitation; Intro to the Culinary Arts; Culinary Fundamentals I, II and II; Principles of Garde Manger I; Principles of Baking I and II; Cake Decorating Essentials; Pastry Art; Chocolates; Food Service Costs & Controls; Wines of California, Wines of Spain; Wine Appreciation; and Intro to Wine in Restaurant. \
“I think that for us in the Culinary Arts and Wine Studies program at College of the Canyons. It’s going to be a new beginning for us because we are now on campus,” said Chef Instructor Cindy Schwanke. “We haven’t been on campus in eight years so for these students to feel a part of the campus community and to have all the access to all the college health, library and be with the other students.”
Currently, there are about 150 students in the program, she said. The facility could host nearly 400.
The entire project cost about $8.5 million.
ICuE students spend between $2,000 and $5,000 at COC where culinary arts students enrolled in private institutions could spend more than $50,000, Van Hook said.
The building was designed by Kruger Bensen Ziemer Architects, Inc and make to look like a “modern architectural style” and “echos the sophistication of fine dining experiences,” according to a news release.
“Now, we’re bringing hospitality,” Schwanke said,” and good food to Santa Clarita.”
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Really? A chocolate room? 🙂 Sign me up please!
I’m going to take Wonkanomics and the pre-req Oompa Loompa Song & Dancing 101