PHS Culinary Arts Gets Cooking

As Pioneer students return to campus, our Culinary Department has hit the ground running by getting its students out of the classroom and into the world. Mixing community service and learning by doing, Pioneer culinary students have been assisting with Woodland’s Dinner On Main.

Each weekend from September 11 - October 3, Dinner On Main provides ticketed meals from local restaurants and chefs, using locally sourced ingredients. The farm-to-fork style, five-course dinners showcase the rich variety of both culinary and agricultural specialties offered by Yolo County.

The executive director of the event reached out to Pioneer’s Culinary director, Mr. Morse, to inquire about getting his students to come out and help with the year’s event. As an opportunity to gain experience and work in the community, students show up on the weekends to help set tables, clean up, interact with customers, and even work with and observe some of the chefs cooking at the event.

“The experience is good,” says Huy Nguyen, one student participating. “I’ve liked all the people I’ve got to work with. Each night is a different restaurant and experience. Sometimes they’ll have you work back and prep the foods and other times you’ll help serve people. It’s a good chance to learn serving or catering.”

Normally, the event is only one weekend long, and with all of the customers attending at once. This year due to COVID safety precautions, the event has seen reduced attendance, and has been spread across four weekends. Despite this larger time commitment, Pioneer students are taking care of business and doing great work to help their community.