I had just retired from the corporate rat race and wanted to do some educational work with students. A Hospitality group, a teaching opportunity, something to get me back in my old chef rhythm. After all, with all the streaming shows, contests, gameshows and the like, there had to be a group of folks that wanted to learn more about basic method.
'Go see Sarah at EEE' my chef colleague and friend, Jamie McFadden from 'Cuisiners' said. 'EEE is part of the Emeril Lagasse foundation, and they work primarily with grade school and junior high school students that want to experience and learn about cooking. Plus you may get to work with our old friend Chef Kevin Fonzo who does wonderful work with groups using the kitchen there. They have an organic garden connected directly to the Kitchen house , grow an abundant amount of vegetables and have a world class kitchen for teaching and entertaining. ' So with Jamie's advice, off I went. Wasn't sure what I would find, but it sounded interesting. What I didn't know was that I was about to meet a group of like minded colleagues that would allow me to give something back...and as we started working together, would allow me to once again become a student myself. There is a great group there...Chefs, Horticulturists, Instructors, Certified Nutritionists, Masters of Public Health, you name it.
My first adventure was to simply help proctor a class with about 20 students as we helped them go through recipes that EEE had prepared for them. They arrived, were introduced, went through a quick knife and safety class and then off they went to their recipes. Watching them read recipes, working together to put together their dishes and then beaming as they finished made me remember what is was like when we were kids and were learning from our grandmother, and after that at our family's restaurant with Executive Chef Raphael Trento. We slowly got more responsibility in producing a dish or dinner and each success gave us the appetite to learn more( Each of the grandkids from the Rodriguez and D'Agostino tribes all worked at the family restaurant. I started when I was 8 (!) peeling potatoes and cleaning lettuce). All that positive energy fueled me to want to do more there...and now as part of my ' retirement' I get to instruct at EEE, produce some new recipes, work with a great group of kids, adults and the good folks that work there. It's like going back in time and I can't wait for the next class.
I would enjoin you reading this to visit EEE ( www.edibleed.org ) and see what good can come from just a little friendly discussion.
