KAMLOOPS – Ten TRU students will take their cooking skills on the road this semester: the ice roads of the Yukon to be exact.
The students, all in Levels 2 and 3 of TRU’s Culinary Arts Program, along with Chair Kimberly Johnstone and instructor Derrick Moffat, will be in Whitehorse Feb. 22 through Mar. 9, preparing meals for the athletes and volunteers at the 2007 Canada Winter Games Athlete’s Village.
This is the first time Games organizers have called upon the skills of students in culinary arts programs. TRU’s students will join students from Northern Lights College, Northwest Community College, Malaspina University College and Yukon College, for a total of 65 student chefs and eight chef instructors, who will prepare the food for athletes and their coaches alongside 95 other food-service volunteers.
During a regular day at TRU the students are responsible for 300 to 350 meals per day, Monday to Friday in the university’s culinary arts cafeteria. For the Games, they will be feeding upwards of 1,700 at each meal at the main kitchen at Yukon College and several off-site facilities, working over 100 hours each to prepare over 85,000 meals during the 17 days of the Games.
“It will be an amazing experience for our students,” said Johnstone. “Not only will they learn first-hand the logistics of preparing so many meals, they will have full access to all the sporting venues and an expense-paid trip to Canada’s North.”
As great fun as a northern field trip may be, Moffat and Johnstone are making sure there is a course component.
“We looked at the menu and schedule in November in order to ensure the students will receive as much experience in the different styles of food preparation as possible,” Moffat said.
“They’ll be working at production prep, handling large volume thermal systems, buffet set up and service, as well as cook-to-order stations like stir-fry, pasta bars, deli bars and omelet breakfast stations, where the students will cook to order in front of the guests,” he added.
“The quality of food at the Whitehorse Athletes’ Village will surpass that provided at any Canada Games to date,” said Stu Mackay, Yukon College’s Dean of Professional Studies, who has been instrumental in developing the culinary arts collaboration. “None of these chefs are novices and they’ll be putting in long hours during the Games.”
Depending on the meal they are assigned to prepare, the students’ days could start as early as 5 am and end as late as 9 pm. Students will also have to keep up with course work as well with daily debriefs and Web CT assignments.
But it won’t be all work. For the few spare hours the students will have, Games organizers have arranged a dogsled tour for them to see the highlights of Whitehorse, and the student chefs will also have the opportunity to participate in recreational activities at the Athletes’ Village, view some athletic competitions and experience Yukon hospitality.
For more information, please contact Kimberley Johnstone at 828-5356.
