Anna, a rising ninth grader at Explo Chef, is glad to be at a program that can mention learning and fun in the same breath, and is also excited to get to do some actual cooking.
I chose Explo Chef because all the other programs and camps I looked at were very kid-y, like "Oh, let's make some chocolate chip cookies." I was looking at the Explo website, especially the quotes, and it seemed like a place that mixed fun and education really well. It seemed very well balanced — not super educational to the point that you just want to leave, but also wasn't going to be a place where people don't actually care at all. At one of the cooking camps I went to when I was younger, my teacher didn't even know what an herb was. Explo was the real deal, something that could actually help me in my education, and eventually in becoming a chef when I grow up. I want to own a restaurant at some point, maybe a comfort food place, or a French restaurant.
My first class today went really well. We made salmon in two ways as well as a picante sauce, and also worked on knife skills. Compared to a camp where I wasn't allowed to touch a knife, be in the kitchen when a heat source was on, or touch any raw meat... well, let's just say I broke all three of those rules today.
Liam Brooks