Petoskey and Boyne City High School came head-to-head for a friendly competition between their CTE Culinary Programs. The second annual Food Truck Wars took place last week.
“Well, the course itself, were open to doing work-based learning and this is part of it. So, any competition and any time we’re producing food for the public or for any kind of competition that falls right into that. So, they all get a grade for doing this and they really enjoy competing. It’s very similar to a restaurant situation where I got to produce food now, people are here, you know, the fire is on,” said Bill Sommerfeldt, Petoskey High School Culinary Arts instructor.
And while it may seem more fun than a standard school test, the pressure is on for these culinary students.
“The goal is to have them take it from scratch. I gave them very little direction, so our students, they got the concept, they had to come up with a mission statement. So, we’re talking about business now, too. And then a concept for a food truck. It’s not, hey, I want to serve a couple of dishes. No, Let’s talk about what a food truck takes. And so, they had to come up with a full menu. And then from that menu, pull two items that they’re going to serve today. So, my end goal game here is that they’ve got a little bit of knowledge of what it takes to start a food truck and know what it takes to have limited space and push out good food to do it and try to do it all from scratch,” said Sommerfeldt.
It’s a project that allows the students to use their own creativity and tastebuds to whip up something delicious.
“Food trucks are kind of fun in general. There’s pretty awesome food truck culture up here in Northern Michigan. The other really fun thing about this is, you know, a lot of times in class we’re cooking recipes that I’ve selected. This is the first chance that the kids get to cook things that they have found the recipes for. So, you know, they could make anything. We’ve got pancake sandwiches. We’ve got, you know, fish tacos. We’ve got all kinds of different fun stuff,” said Cole Thornton, Boyne City High School Culinary Arts instructor.
It’s a program that not only gives students a different course to try, but also teaches them cooking skills to take into their future.
“Going into this, I didn’t know like anything, even like the basics. I feel like it just teaches you like the basics, I think. And you know, if you want to do this, you don’t have to do this food truck. But I liked it a lot,” Culinary Arts student Peter Krussell said.
“Being able to cook, getting back there, having the freedom to cook what you want too for food truck wars. Cause we’ve had as much room as we want with this, so I feel like it’s been good experience” said Culinary Arts student Jacob Greene.
Some students do it for a different experience and some come to the realization that this could be more than just a class in high school.
“They are very well prepared. I have several students that go to culinary school after this, and most are well prepared. I’ve got a former student that’s in his first year at the CIA Culinary Institute of America out in Hyde Park, New York. They’re No. 3 in the world. And he was well prepared when he got there,” said Sommerfeldt.
Lots of delicious food was prepared for people from the community to judge. It was a tough competition. But this year, Boyne City’s Meals on Wheels took home first place for their fish tacos and lemon desserts.
