RCC's Culinary Program draws new chefs into the world of food
LUMBERTON (By Amy Baton Robesonian Staff Writer)
Felicia Hunt and Eleanore Paisley-Hall bustle through the kitchen.
They prepare an area where prospective students can practice cutting up fresh fruits and vegetables on their career day visit. Red, green, and yellow peppers and pineapples stack up on the cool, stainless steel tables. In between, Hunt, a Lumberton resident, and Paisley-Hall, who lives in Fairmont, bake cookies and mix sparkling punch for an event. The sweet smell of chocolate chip cookies blends with the sounds of swift footsteps, slamming refrigerator doors and clanking pans.
It’s another busy day in the culinary technology program at Robeson Community College, a two-year program, established in 1997, that serves 58 students.Hunt and Paisley-Hall, in their second semester, organize the events students cater for the college — including a recent meal for a RCC board of trustees meeting of crab salad and cakes, shrimp chili with rice, toasted pistachio cheese balls, beef enchiladas, cannolis and lady fingers.“Every day is a new learning experience, I enjoy the hands-on experience,” Hunt said. “I love the culinary program because it’s so diverse.
There’s so many areas I can branch out into.”Paisley-Hall said it is a “wonderful program, never a boring day.”The program offers classes in hospitality, sanitation and safety, food science, purchasing, baking, food and beverage, menu design, management, nutrition, and international cuisine. Courses are also offered in special operations, which train students in different aspects of running a variety of facilities — from fast food to a fancy diner. Culinary students wear chef hats and coats with hair and beard nets and clip their nails and hair to meet health standards.
Tyrone Atkinson, the director of the program, said he has had students graduate and manage a restaurant, work at a resort, or become a cook. He has never had a graduate complete the top certification through the American Culinary Federation, which involves an application and test.
Betty Pittman opened Betty Carol’s Diner on Second Street in Lumberton shortly after she graduated from the program in 2003. Pittman started classes after she was laid off from a textile job she had worked for more than 35 years.She considered working in a school cafeteria, something she did in high school, but decided to open a restaurant instead. She said her experiences in the culinary program were all positive.“It has enhanced my knowledge of food,” Pittman said. “If you really apply yourself, you can learn a lot. It’s a good program for anyone who wants to learn more than what they can in their own kitchen.”
One of the culinary instructors, Lester Locklear, grew up with a severe allergy to eggs and has to live on a strict diet. He said when he got older, he became interested in food, which turned into a passion.“The culinary field has a vast amount of opportunities,” Locklear said. “There are many different avenues one could go, but it is hard work and highly rewarding at the same time.”
Everything produced in the program’s kitchen is done from scratch. Atkinson’s philosophy is that if someone is running a restaurant, they should be able to make whatever they may run out of, such as tartar sauce. Atkinson said many restaurants today use pre-manufactured foods.“A lot of the chefs are getting away from the basics that make them a culinarian,” Atkinson said.Cooking from scratch allows a chef to improvise and innovate, creating “a new set of flavor profiles and tastes,” Locklear said. “I feel that cooking everything from scratch allows a chef to control all factors of a dish because he or she has firsthand knowledge of each ingredient in the dish.”
The two-year degree can go a long way. Atkinson said making $50,000 a year in the culinary business is easy if you know what you’re doing.
Since he came to RCC, Atkinson said he has had only two students drop the culinary program. “It’s not a cake walk — it’s very challenging,” Atkinson said. “It will change your life, the way you look at food and the way you eat.”
With its from-scratch beginning, the student kitchen has grown to include a walk-in refrigerator, freezer, thaw box and three-basin sink. Recently, the program expanded into a classroom that can be converted into a dining room that seats more than 40 people.Atkinson points at a small stove in a back corner of the kitchen. It is one of the few original pieces of equipment that was in the kitchen when it first opened.
“We keep that here as a reminder of where we used to be,” Atkinson said with a grin.The students now use a 10-eye gas stove, but Atkinson said they fire up the old oven every once in a while.Atkinson has been with RCC since 2002.
He started off in the United States Army and National Guard as a cook, then decided to teach others the craft of culinary skills.
“I really love to instruct,” Atkinson said. “I really enjoy training the students in doing this. ... It’s a really eclectic field. I’ve had people come in here and think it’s just about cooking — it’s the entire package.”
