TEXARKANA, Texas - The Texarkana College Culinary Arts Program is videoing the step-by-step preparation of a variety of authentic dishes for presentation, as part of a lineup of virtual events that are being featured on TC's website and social media pages to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, TC has had to transition to a more visual process of honoring Hispanic heritage. The cooking videos are one of many ways they will do so until Oct. 15.
Executive Chef Sheila Lynn said culinary arts students are learning about international cuisine, including the preparation of the meals and their origins.
Students put their knowledge and techniques to use to prepare authentic dishes, including elote (Mexican street corn), bionico (Mexican fruit salad with cream), Baja fish tacos and shrimp cocktails.
Not only did they prepare the dishes for consumption, but they provided the spread and presentation of the meals in Hispanic fashion.
"One of the classes in the first semester is international cuisine, so we get to learn lots of different cultures," Lynn said. "We not only get to talk about the food, but we get to talk about the difference in areas of the country that have different flavors, just like we do - like Northerners eat differently than we do in the South."
Lynn said she and her students look forward to diving into international cuisine every year.
"It just expands their vision for food from other cultures," she said. "As we learn the recipes, we try to learn about the cultures themselves. There's so many different things that go into it, as far as there being certain ingredients that you can automatically associate with another culture, through spices and seasonings."
Lynn said learning cuisine is pertinent to understanding Hispanic culture as a whole.
"It's very important," she said. "It's like I tell them with the cuisine we teach in the first semester, you have to know where you come from before you know where you're going. To know the history behind the dishes and how they came about, you learn that other cultures have influenced almost every cuisine."