In The Press

Cooking at camp

By ZINNIA FARUQUE
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 11, 2004)

This summer, the young students of Chefs 2 Be, a camp for the culinary arts, will be taught lifelong cooking skills, including how to prepare their own food on a camping trip. But don't expect them to cook the standard fare of hot dogs and hamburgers.

"Are you kidding me?" said Kendell Brenner, president and primary instructor of the culinary camp. "We don't do hot dogs."

Instead, these aspiring chefs, ages 11 to 17, will grill fish, marinate steaks and assemble s'mores with imported Belgian chocolate over an open fire. They may even catch their own fish locally.

In addition to the weekend and after-school classes it already offers at the Nyack Center, Green Harvest, a private catering company in Nyack, is launching the new camp with daily daylong sessions set to start June 28. In each class, one chef and two teaching assistants will show students how to cook foods they can eat every day. They will also teach them table etiquette, healthy eating habits and the food sanitation guidelines of the Rockland County Department of Health.

Brenner, who has been an accredited chef for more than 20 years and has also worked at ABC studios in Hollywood, wanted to offer culinary education for children that went beyond what he called "finger-painting with food."

Alison Harrington, 11, said she made spring rolls and calzones in her first class and also learned proper knife handling and garnishing. Sierra Charpentier, 6, had only helped at home making brownies and cakes, but now she is expanding her repertoire. "I never made quesadilla before," she said.

"It was a high level of learning. It was creative cooking," said Ronnie Rugys of Nyack, whose son, Sean, 11, enjoyed his first experience so much that he is taking another four-class session.

Brenner, who has a degree in sports nutrition and is a certified personal trainer, loves to incorporate fruits, nuts and grains into his platters, often adding a tropical or Southwestern twist.

"He is showing them healthy food," said Von Charpentier of Nyack, whose two daughters, Sierra and Kayla, are enrolled in a class for 5- to 8-year-olds. The girls recently made "fruit kebabs" rolled in granola and coconut, a dish they might not normally be exposed to.

"But because they're making it themselves, they're willing to try it," Von Charpentier said.

Students who opt to take the maximum package of eight weeks will gradually make more complex dishes. An easier breakfast entree might be a frittata, which "teaches utilization of product," Brenner said. "It has a basic fundamental recipe, but you can use lots of different ingredients." The more advanced student will go on to make eggs Benedict with fresh hollandaise sauce.

On cooking days, each student prepares dinner that can serve up to three people. "We get to eat some there and some at home," said Kayla Charpentier, 5, who watches the Food Network with her dad and likes sharing her food with her grandmother.

At the conclusion of the eight weeks, the students will make a graduation dinner showcasing the skills they have learned.

Brenner is offering some scholarships for the after-school and weekend cooking classes being presented at the center. There are no scholarships for the camp for the coming summer, but he is hoping to make some available next year. Brenner said he participated in a discussion with a network of Rockland-based youth agencies to explore setting up more scholarships.

"From an educational standpoint, the children walk away with a sense of accomplishment," said Jeanette Shelow-MacDougal, the after-school coordinator of the Nyack Center.

Shelow-MacDougal, who taught science for 15 years at the Summit School in Nyack, helped design curriculum for the children's culinary classes according to age and skill. She also helped organize the summer camp's field trips to the Culinary Institute of America, the Hudson Valley farms, Chinatown and Little Italy.

"It's a hands-on class," said Sean Rugys, 11. "It has opened my perspective. I can now cut at different levels, shapes and sizes."