Golden State Today

Roger Thompson clapped his hands together. “You’ve got two hours to open. Let’s get to it.”

“Yes, Chef!” Andrea Rivera replied. She turned to a class visitor and whispered: “That’s so they know we heard them, and it’s fun too.”

With that, Rivera and five other food service workers left their classroom space at dining tables in Latitude and headed toward the dining facility’s kitchen on their way to becoming cooks at UC Davis.

Andrea Rivera chopped celery as she and other program participants prepared to serve one of 10 lunches for dozens of invited guests. Finishing the sixth of nine weeks in Dining Services’ award-winning Culinary Training Program, three teams would each be fixing 20 portions of the recipe they’d just reviewed — Cajun-spiced shrimp served on creamy Fontina grits and garnished with bacon, chili oil, and green onions — for a few dozen guests.

Now in its third year, the program was created to help address the challenge that UC Davis — like other institutions and restaurants across the country — has had in finding cooks since the pandemic. It was recently awarded the Grand Prize for Employee Development Program of the Year by the National Association of College and University Food Services.

Dining Services is working to hire 18 food service workers and 15 cooks beyond the 102 food service workers and 130 cooks it already has for the start of the fall quarter. They will serve about 30,000 meals each day during the regular academic year.

Of the 27 students who completed the program in past summers, 14 became cooks. The current students were selected through interviews to gauge their interest in and aptitude for being a cook. Graduates will be promoted into a vacant cook position they chose at the start of the program and increase their hourly pay.

“It made me realize I could do so much more," said Su-Mei Huang, a 2022 program participant who is now a cook at Latitude.

As food service workers at UC Davis for 18 months to six years, current students have washed dishes, scrubbed pots and pans, maintained food stores, tended beverage stations and salad bars or helped clean four dining facilities and Culinary Support Center.

“I heard good things about the class,” said Rivera, who has worked in dish rooms at Segundo Dining Commons and Latitude for almost six years. “I wanted to try something new.”

As a youth, Rivera helped plate food at her family’s Mexican restaurant in Woodland but said her palate hadn’t been exposed to many different cuisines.

Now here she was cooking at a campus dining facility dedicated to global flavors. “I’m learning to open my taste buds,” she said, adding she enjoyed Indian and Greek food she helped make in recent weeks.

“What I love is watching sparks ignite; watching passion for cooking build," said Roger Thompson, executive chef at Latitude.

In week seven of the program, students cooked 90 servings of paella — a Spanish dish with saffron rice, chorizo sausage, mussels, shrimp chili peppers roasted red bell peppers green beans

“Part of my objective is training students to be successful cooks here,” said Thompson who developed this program “We weren’t looking teach fundamentals French cooking mother sauces”

Instead focuses kitchen safety knife skills techniques equipment proteins meat alternatives produce recipes customer service

“It’s so good it makes you hungry We leave full belly every day" Taylor Hearron participant

Hearron started working UC Davis more than year half ago tended salad bar Tercero pot room Segundo home baker wanted learn techniques move up afraid burning herself getting comfortable around stove

Cooking guests

Weeks six seven cook invited including housing staff employees Guests sample rate quality presentation timeliness organization cleanliness platform

Just reviews recipes before heading shares feedback included chefs sous chefs facilities

Now second week working serve lunch open summer seeing really like feeding hundreds people”

Graduation

To graduate pass written exam prepare satisfaction professional others portions assigned dish protein starch vegetable

Su-Mei Huang shown Segundo completed became grateful Gokhan Aksoy general manager encouraged participate training now grew large family sister cooked joked specialized doing dishes”

“It made realize capable doing more”

Program appreciate mostly first-year commons away home first time not just meal also provides comfort