Culinary Work in the Community
On May 14th, the junior culinary catering team of Roberto Clemente Community Academy collaborated with the senior and sophomore teams to prepare, deliver and serve food for a community event. The Taino Project is an ongoing educational effort of the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance (PRAA) that teaches elementary, middle and high school students about the Taino history and heritage. This event allowed the culinary students to work together, to help plan a menu that would offer variety and authenticity. One food item that all the students agreed should be on the menu was the “Mini Jibarito”, a popular Chicago Puerto Rican street sandwich made with tostones (flattened and fried plantain), cooked onions and beef, chicken or pork).
This was a very important event for all involved, in that the senior culinary team was passing on the responsibility to the junior team. The juniors stepped in and showed all their learned skills, knowledge, principles and care, while the sophomores looked on and stepped into the juniors’ former positions. The Clemente culinary students learned quickly to communicate together when planning for catering or competition, as they must prepare and travel with very little time or space for error. The students also learned an important part of supporting community work.
