SCC Hosts Culinary Students from Mexico

SCC Hosts Culinary Students from Mexico
2010 Apr 23
Scottsdale Community College Hosts Culinary Exchange
Students from Universidad Tecnologica de Hermosillo
Scottsdale, AZ (April 19, 2010) – Scottsdale Community College hosted a group of 14 culinary
students and faculty last month from the Culinary Arts program at the Universidad Tecnologica de
Hermosillo (UTH), in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
Students and faculty from UTH came to SCC for one week to shadow SCC's culinary students, share
cuisine, exchange curriculum and methodology, discuss tourism, learn new teaching models,
experience different restaurant models, and make new friends. The week ended with a "CrossCultural Luncheon" in which students prepared and served lunch to guests, including the Acting
Consul General of Mexico, Vice President of UTH, and SCC President Dr. Jan Gehler.
The exchange program was made possible through a grant from the International Consortium for
Education and Economic Development (ICEED), an organization comprised of education institutions
from Mexico, Canada and the US that develop exchanges that focus on community and economic
development. SCC and UTH are both members of ICEED.
The planning began about a year ago when the Director of International Affairs at UTH approached
SCC's Director of International Education, Therese Tendick, about the possibility of an exchange
between their culinary students. Tendick approached Karen Chalmers, SCC's Culinary Arts program
director, and together they submitted a multi-institutional grant for the exchange program. Upon
hearing that it was accepted, Tendick and Chalmers went to work to create the program.
"Even though we are exposed to a lot of Mexican cuisine here in Arizona, there is nothing like
actually experiencing the making of the soups, the meats, and the rice under the direction of new
friends who are equally as interested in food," said Tendick. "Part of the whole idea behind practical,
hands-on training is giving students projects like this, working with people from other cultures and
other cuisines, so that when they get out in the real world, they will have had some exposure to
cross-cultural experiences."
The UTH students stayed with current SCC students in their homes or apartments, and the UTH
faculty stayed with local families. Throughout the week, visiting students shadowed each culinary
rotation, including hot foods, garde manger, and bakery. According to Tendick, the SCC Global
Artichokes Club -- the International Education student club, hosted several fun events for their
visitors, but for the most part they were very busy in the kitchen, she said.
Dulce Espinoza, culinary arts faculty at UTH, was part of the exchange program. Espinoza, pictured
below (left in photo), graduated from culinary school in Florence, Italy in 2006 with a master's
degree in Italian food. She thoroughly enjoys teaching culinary arts in her role as faculty chef at UTH.
"I love it," she said. "I love my students – they are really good and they work hard. They ask
questions, and they're passionate about it, too."
Karen Chalmers, SCC's Culinary Arts program director, believes the exchange provided many
benefits for her students as well as visiting students. "It was a great cross-cultural experience, a
great learning environment," she said. "A benefit for the exchange students is the food. They are
using products they don't have access to there."
According to SCC's Culinary students, they most enjoyed working with people of another culture,
learning traditional cuisine and recipes, and finding out about the cultural differences in culinary
products used and how they are prepared.
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"Industries are quickly becoming more and more global, especially the field of Culinary Arts, and
giving our students cross-cultural experiences, exposing them to different ways of thinking and
learning, will only help them in their careers as they work with people, restaurant managers, and
ingredients from around the world," said Tendick.
Source URL: https://www.maricopa.edu/press/scc-hosts-culinary-students-from-mexico
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