CAST Culinary Program

Barbara Manzoplous '26

The North Fork CAST Culinary Program is a 12-week program for high school students that deals with workforce development. The program partners with numerous restaurants, hotels, and hospitality facilities, with their chefs as instructors. 

This year’s program began on January 6th, 2025, with a visit to Maroni Southold, where Chef Joseph taught students how to roll their own sushi. The students learned how to make California rolls that had rice, imitation crab, avocado, and cucumbers in them. For some of the students, it was the first time tasting sushi, which made the experience very special for all the students. After that, the students were served tasty meatballs and sauce, concluding the day. 

The following week, on Monday, January 12th, Chefs Melvin Recino and Estela Palacios of Lucia’s Restuarant visited the the group to make delicious pupusas! The students started by molding the masa flour by combining it with warm water and kneading it then adding the filling inside. Following this, the students practiced their knife skills as they prepared Curtido, a tangy cabage slaw that is tradionally served with Salvadorian papusas. 

The day after, on Tuesday, January 13th the group was visited by Chef Balo Alvarez owner of Balo’s Foods. Chef Alvarez owns and operates a latin-seafood food truck. In this session, the students learned how to prepare shrimp-róse fettuccini. The class started first by preparing tomatoes, onions, and other ingredients for the róse sauce. The shrimp was then pan-seared slightly, then fully cooked within the sauce following that. This dish was a group favorite! 

This program will continue until March 2026 when the students are awarded with a certificate that will allow students in the group to work at local restaurants. The students in the group are looking forward to creating more dishes and learning how to work the kitchen from more professionals!