Of the many different courses offered at school, three of them allow students to make food in class.

Carrie Checkley said she teaches all three.

“There are Food Fundamentals, Baking and Pastry Arts, and Regional and World Cuisine. You must take Food Fundamentals before you can take the other two,” Checkley said.

Checkley said her purpose is to show the correct way to be in a kitchen.

“The overall goal in the food courses is to be able to safely and efficiently follow a recipe in the kitchen,” Checkley said.

Junior Adrianne Reim who took Regional and World Cuisine said she made food that supported her dietary restrictions.

“I liked making and trying every food we made, I didn’t have a favorite. I thought it would be more interesting to make foods from around the world. I am also gluten-free and there are more foods I can eat in regional and world cuisine,” Reim said.

Nicole Rosner, who only teaches the food course of Food Fundamentals, said she wants to teach students lessons they will use in the future.

“I just want each student to learn basic cooking skills and hopefully find som

e recipes they will [want to] make in the future. The main purpose of the course is to teach students the basic skills of cooking, from covering food safety, [as well as] sanitation, to different areas of the food groups,” Rosner said.

Checkley said there are a lot of influential things to learn in this class.

“[Students] learn basic safety and sanitation skills. As well as cooking and baking techniques to get students comfortable in a home kitchen,” Checkley said.

It is important to take this class, Checkley said. She said it is a good way to show students they can be self-sufficient.

Senior Elaine Duan said she finally had time to take a fun class and decide to take Food Fundamentals.

“I had a very packed schedule, so this year was my first year I was able to take a fun class and I am very glad I picked foods. The class gives me the ability to have a break during my day. I also really like making food at school. It also helps that my friends are taking food classes senior year, so I am with them,” Duan said.

“I learned different ways to cook different foods in each region. Each unit would be about a different region,” Reim said.

The classes are allowed to deliver food. Checkley said it is a good way to influence other students to take one of her classes.

“It is nice for students to deliver food to teachers to show off their cooking skills. It is also a free advertisement for our classes,” Checkley said.

Rosner said they deliver food in case a student isn’t hungry or doesn’t like the food they made in class. She said she doesn’t throw away perfectly fine food.

“We allow food to be delivered to others since sometimes the part of the day affects what the students want to eat. Sometimes students genuinely don’t like the food and we don’t like the food to go to waste. A lesson that is good with this is serving sizes, if you don’t want to keep overspending on food know the correct amount the food is going to make in order to save food and money,” Rosner said.

The classes cover a wide range of different foods, and Checkley said she has multiple favorite units.

“My favorite food unit for each course would be the yeast bread unit for Food Fundamentals, as well as yeast bread for Baking and Pastry Arts as well, and the Midwest and Italian units for the Regional and World Cuisine class,” Checkley said.

There are a lot of beneficial lessons to be taught in this class Rosner said, things they can use every day

“I think it’s important that students take this class because cooking is something that is going to be done every day. The basic food fundamentals course teaches the basic cooking skills that students will probably use frequently in the future,” Rosner said.

Rosner said she has favorites even though they do a lot of different labs.

“My favorite items they make in Food Fundamentals are Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Cheesy Lasagna Roll-Ups, Korean Beef Tacos, Buffalo Chicken dip, and the “Thanksgiving” lab we do where each kitchen makes a different item,” Rosner said.

Duan said she enjoyed projects such as the cookie lab in Food Fundamentals so much that she is continuing with Baking and Pastries for the second semester.

“I just took Food Fundamentals, and now I am taking Baking and Pastries for the second semester. It is super cool that I am able to continue on and make more cookies. My favorite things we made from first semester were definitely the cookies, but my favorite was the Apple Butterscotch Cookies,” Duan said.