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Culinary Arts
Program
 Who
better to give us the “real story” than frequent diner and kitchen
worker, Melissa Cashen? “Some people live to eat,” Melissa laughs.
“It’s really, ‘eat to live.’” Melissa explains that we need
nutrients in our body to keep us going. A starving body will go into
survival mode, she says. “I wouldn’t say I eat healthy,” Melissa
confesses. “I’m a pasta, chips, and mac & cheese kind of gal.”
Melissa takes her vocational training in culinary, making
desserts, packing orders, cleaning, cashiering, and doing salad
prep.
When she’s making desserts, she’s working with Sr. Magdelina. “I
like working with her, but she can be hard,” Melissa confides. “She
only does that because she knows you can do it. She is the sweetest
person, very respectful. She is fussy. She makes sure everything
gets done, neat and clean.”
 Salad
prep is supervised by Mary Daily and Joyce Fanning. “We will do
Greek salads, chef salads, cheddar/bacon salads, or sometimes we put
lettuce on a separate plate for multigrain turkey on a roll. Joyce
is flexible, negotiable, polite, a sweet, kind woman. She helps me
out. As long as it’s not below the line, you really have to try hard
to upset her.”
The kitchen is usually a very busy place. “Culinary is different
during vacations. There are less students and more work. In the
summer it’s boring. It’s hot. There is air conditioning, but it’s
still hot.”
Melissa explains that working in the kitchen comes with rules.
“Always wear your hat and your apron. The uniform is white pants,
blue shirt, blue apron, blue hat, sneakers, and gloves depending on
what you’re doing. When you’re cashiering, no gloves. For rules,
wash your hands if you touch your nose or your hair or your face.
When you first come in, wash your hands. Flexibility is the key in
culinary. Always be willing to do something, go someplace else.Be
understanding and go
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