Now, going back to the week that followed the post on the Food Truck Bazaar. The second half of that week my classmates, Mo and Laura, and I volunteered at the First Baptist Church of Orlando as prep cooks for the Ligonier's Conference being held there. It was both interesting and mundane. What did we spend the bulk of our time doing? We made sandwiches and put together lunches. Why was it interesting? (I assume I don't have to explain why it was mundane.) I have never worked or been in a commercial kitchen before. For me, it was a new experience just to try to make something fast. I felt accomplished too that we were able to work ahead of the head chef's schedule. I'm proud of myself for not having any big mishaps or mistakes. I learned how to use a shrink wrap machine. I also gave myself a nice burn underneath my elbow as a reminder. The last day of volunteering there was very little rushing, they kind of had to find things for us to do. We ended up helping to put together platter of various food items. I got to do a cookie one. :)
The week that followed was all prep for finals and some tests. One of the things that sticks out is the day the chef instructor in Culinary Foundations made lobster bisque. It's memorable because I feel one of the students showed herself to be a poor culinarian. The lobsters for the soup were live so that 1) the soup would be better and 2) he could educate us. We are attending Le Cordon Bleu for an education in fine cuisine. He picked them up, pointed things out, and taught us basic knowledge on lobsters. Then the lobsters went into a pot of water and were cooked. One student refused to eat the soup that resulted because chef 'murdered' the lobsters. I disprove of this, particularly because I believe she ate the mussels that were steamed alive the next day.
There is more reasoning behind my disapproval though. I have no problem with people who only want to eat plant materials, that is their choice. I dislike people who say they don't want to eat animals because they don't want to kill living things. Plants are living, growing things just as much as animals. To me anything made up of cells is a living organism and deserves some kind of respect. Every living organism needs to consume things in order to survive. The killing of those lobsters was done for sustenance, it was not murder, and you don't get to be picky about it like that. Further more I expected better of Cordon Bleu students. You are committing yourself to a life of making good food, you learn how to make good food by trying lots of things and educating your palette. You should be a little more open minded.
I'm going to leave it there for now because I need to chill. Writing about that got me a little worked up. I promise to be back very soon though with pictures.
