Josh Tefft enjoys food preparation and cooking, helping to
prepare the daily lunches offered to people located at The Arc of Delaware
County’s facility in Hamden, NY. He
didn’t have to think twice when an opportunity to attend a culinary class offered
by nationally recognized SUNY Delhi Culinary Arts program came along. “I’ve always liked food and wanted to learn
more about cooking.” So this fall Josh enrolled
in the Culinary Arts Basic Fundamentals Course taught by Judith Winters. In class he has enjoyed learning in-depth cooking terminology and cooking principles,
culinary history, proper storage/sanitation, nutrition, profitability, food
science and cooking methods for a variety of food products. Josh explained that a typical day in class consisted
of students working together in teams to prepare food, operating all of the
many pieces of kitchen equipment and experimenting with the new cooking skills they
have learned. While there are some recipes that Josh would rather not repeat,
he is open to tasting everything and has discovered several new dishes he plans
to add to his cooking repertoire. One favorite recipe is a Belgium Waffle dish
he recently prepared. “My favorite foods are breakfast dishes”, he added with a
broad smile. And his creativity
was apparent as he reflected, “ I think the Hollandaise Sauce I learned will be
something I can add to some of the dishes I (currently) make.”
When asked what his favorite part of the class was, he said
without hesitation, “I really like the people in the class!” Pam Walker, who
works with Josh at The Arc cafeteria and attends the same class affirmed, “He
really loves working with the other students, they are all very, very
nice”.
When Josh learned that his midterm grade was an A- he said
that he was a little surprised. “I
thought I was doing pretty good in class, but not THAT good!... It’s pretty
cool!”
