The Villages - November 2021 - 36

Food
TEACHING FUTURE
CHEFS
C
hef John Woods helps instill a love of cooking
and baking in younger generations.
As the
culinary arts
instructor at The
Villages High School for the last two decades, Woods
helps his students cook, bake, prepare and serve
restaurant-worthy meals from their fully operational
kitchen adjacent to the school cafeteria.
" My students start as 11th graders spending one
hour a day here doing basic things, and then in their
senior year, they get to choose either baking and pastry
or culinary, " Woods said. " Baking and pastry runs
through breads, cupcakes and cookies, and they learn
how to decorate cakes and bake pies and mousses. My
culinary class learns how to operate a restaurant. "
Operating the restaurant is a big part of the class,
and students get to learn all aspects of the industry -
from cooking to serving to cleaning after a meal.
" Students rotate through jobs so they get an idea of
what it's like to be in hospitality, " Woods said. " Some
things they find they like, and some they don't like, but
that's part of it. They might realize, 'I didn't want to
serve, I was nervous,' but then they're really good at it,
or working on the line or whatever it might be. I try to
give them some exposure (to the restaurant business). "
36
NOVEMBER 2021
CHEF JOHN WOODS SHARES
A LOVE OF COOKING AND
BAKING WITH STUDENTS AT
THE VILLAGES HIGH SCHOOL
STORY BY MARK ANDERSON | PHOTOS BY ROB WILKERSON
Because baking processes can take longer than a
two-hour class session, Woods says he has to get a little
creative with the baking portions of the class, preparing
ingredients in one class, baking and cooling in another
and then decorating in a final session. But Woods and
his baking students still manage to get it all done.
" Baking and pastry in particular is really difficult
to do in a high school setting because there's so much
inactive prep time with breads rising and cakes have to
be baked and cooled, " he said. " It takes us like a week to
make a cake. (Laughs). "
The culinary program at The Villages High School
is like no other. In fact, Woods says their program is
unique in the entire state of Florida.
" Our program is accredited through the American
Culinary Federation in both culinary and baking and
pastry, " he said. " We're the only such high school with
both in the state of Florida - that's a pretty cool thing. "
Woods says many of his students have gone on
to join the hospitality industry throughout not just
Central Florida, but the entire U.S. - spreading the love
of cooking and baking wherever they go.
Here are a few recipes provided by Chef Woods and
The Villages High School Culinary Arts program.
The Villages - November 2021

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