THE home of celebrity chefs, the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) in Manila proved true what Auguste Gusteau of Ratatouille passionately claims—“anyone can cook”—through its six-hour kitchen-immersion program known as Kitchen Discovery Class (KDC), a short program where students can learn the basics of cooking for the first three hours while dedicating the three remaining hours to the rudiments of baking.

What was once a part of application procedure for CCA students is now a meaningful program that can impart opportunities in the sphere of food service and the hospitality industry.

GMA’s Unang Hirit Chef and CCA alumnus Tristan Encarnacion piloted a recent Saturday session in a professional kitchen to mentor 15 students. Rosebud Benitez of Q-11’s Ka-Toque will also handle some cooking sessions in the future.

Encarnacion stimulated the students’ interest with kitchen lectures, interactive cooking and baking demonstrations, hands-on kitchen production and skills assessment.

He exclaimed before his first teaching session, “Teaching is one of my goals that I have now achieved.”

Chef Ria Lingad, CCA’s continuing education-programs manager, explained that KDC is not a certification program for kitchen dilettantes. “We score students in various criteria—50 percent for attitude, 30 percent for knowledge and 20 percent for skills,” she said.

Chef James Antolin added, “Discipline is very important. When food is not served on time, customers in restaurants will go away.” Furthermore, Chef Bong Ignacio advised, “Students are also taught to have their food dynamics relevant especially in the area of wellness to make their cooking better.”

The KDC program is made available by CCA every Saturday for P3,800 inclusive of apron, shirt, cap and side towel to encourage food lovers and kitchen enthusiasts in the realm of culinary arts. The certificate of completion is awarded as soon as the class is finished, and the student also comes away with the ingredients for all featured recipes and other related kitchen handouts.

Pons Santillan, CCA’s student-affairs manager, told reporters that demand for culinary jobs is high, admitting that they cannot fill both local and global demands. She added, “There are age considerations in a culinary career, which is why we advocate an early appreciation of the profession.”

Some 18-year-old students of CCA have landed careers in hotels and restaurants right after graduation. The pioneering culinary school monitors where their teachings have brought their students.

“Many are in huge dining establishments of European countries, local hotels and international cruise lines, and 60 percent of our graduates establish restaurants of their own,” CCA vice president Marinela Trinidad told the BusinessMirror.

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