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Amuse-Bouche: The children are our future
Published
8 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersBy Scott Mechura EBS Food Columnist
A chef’s world is often filled with challenges. But mentoring the young people of today about the prospects of becoming future chefs is not one of them.
While it’s true chefs can get caught up in their own windowless, stainless steel, overheated world, we also enjoy the times when we get to step into the light and spend time with the young people who will become our next generation’s workforce.
Given that the hospitality industry is the nation’s largest trade, statistically, several students will find themselves employed in a restaurant or hotel in some form or another. So on March 8, I had the honor of acting as one of the chef judges for the Montana Prostart competition, held this year in Bozeman.
Founded in 1987, Prostart is a foundation of the National Restaurant Association. Prostart is a two-year program with a mission to educate, mentor, and inspire high school students in the restaurant and hospitality industry.
The program has more than 118,000 students in 1,700 schools in all 50 states. Montana currently has 18 programs across the state, an impressive statistic when you consider we have approximately 1 million residents. Compare this percentage with California, which has just under 40 million residents and 100 Prostart programs statewide.
This annual competition allows students bragging rights, but it’s also the only event in a year-round program that fully immerses these young cooks in the culinary world. For the second year in a row, I joined a plethora of chefs from around the state to judge the state competition here in Montana.
The students are asked to prepare three dishes: a starter, an entrée and a dessert. They have one hour and just two butane burners on which to produce these three courses. I was a floor judge last year, but as a tasting judge this year’s competition, in the dessert category alone, two teams put out perfectly moist, structured cakes that some pastry chefs couldn’t duplicate even with expensive ovens.
Initially, the students spend months planning, discussing, and practicing their dishes. They decide on a menu first, usually trying to focus their three dishes on a theme: Italian, French, southeast Asian, or American, to name a few.
Next, they come up with dish ideas, while keeping in mind they have no running water and a mere two-butane burner cooking station for the allotted 60 minutes. When possible, restaurants like Buck’s T-4 Lodge invite students from the area to visit and spend a day with us. And, like sponge cakes being doused in sweet liqueur, these kids soak up the information we offer with fervor.
Besides the gratification of seeing these young people blossom into hardworking adults, the hidden bonus is coming together with other chefs from around Montana to mentor these youths. The camaraderie and respect is simply tremendous.
Personally, I was able to catch up with many colleagues, and exchange stories, anecdotes and jokes.
I feel fortunate to be part of an industry that mentors young people to this degree and allows them to see the fruits of their labors.
Scott Mechura has spent a life in the hospitality industry. He is a former certified beer judge and currently the Executive Chef at Buck’s T-4 Lodge in Big Sky.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
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Feeling worn out from the winter? Feeling bloated, low energy or foggy in the mind? Maybe it’s
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Feeling worn out from the winter? Feeling bloated, low energy or foggy in the mind? Maybe it’s just time to have a reset and boost your immune system!
It’s that time of year again, to refresh, renew and revitalize!
The community cleanse utilizes the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda in order to help detoxify the body and reboot the digestive system, plus going through the process with a community of others makes it all that much easier to get through it successfully. It is not a time of starvation or deprivation, we eat 3 (or 4) meals each day and take specific herbs to assist the process of releasing toxins. It is designed to be a two-week cleanse, but it can be customized to the length of time that you are able to commit to and dates can be flexible if need be. You are also welcome to do it from a distance if you won’t be in Big Sky this spring!
What it includes: digestive herbal supplement and body oil (specific to your needs), 4 cleansing and rejuvenating herbal formulas, 7 days of the Ayurvedic cleansing food, a booklet of information on the step-by-step process and some recipes, weekly meetings and daily email support through the process.
Investment: 1st Timers ~ $370 Repeat Cleansers ~ $340 | Register by Apr. 17th and Save $25
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1 (Wednesday) 12:00 pm - 14 (Tuesday) 12:00 pm
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Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
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Feeling worn out from the winter? Feeling bloated, low energy or foggy in the mind? Maybe it’s just time to
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Event Details
Feeling worn out from the winter? Feeling bloated, low energy or foggy in the mind? Maybe it’s just time to have a reset and boost your immune system!
It’s that time of year again, to refresh, renew and revitalize! The community cleanse utilizes the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda in order to help detoxify the body and reboot the digestive system, plus going through the process with a community of others makes it all that much easier to get through it successfully. It is not a time of starvation or deprivation, we eat 3 (or 4) meals each day and take specific herbs to assist the process of releasing toxins. It is designed to be a two-week cleanse, but it can be customized to the length of time that you are able to commit to and dates can be flexible if need be. You are also welcome to do it from a distance if you won’t be in Big Sky this spring!
What it includes: digestive herbal formula and body oil (specific to your needs), 4 cleansing and rejuvenating herbal formulas, 7 days of the Ayurvedic cleansing food, a booklet of information on the step-by-step process and some recipes, weekly meetings and daily email support through the process.
1st Timers ~ $370 Repeat Cleansers ~ $340 | Register by Apr. 17th and Save $25
Time
1 (Wednesday) 5:30 pm - 14 (Tuesday) 5:30 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
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Join us on May 10 – 12 to pick up pet waste and seasonal trash to keep our rivers and trails clean.
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Join us on May 10 – 12 to pick up pet waste and seasonal trash to keep our rivers and trails clean.
During spring runoff, pet waste left behind by a long winter has the potential of making its way into our local streams and eventually into the Gallatin River if not picked up and properly disposed. Join the Gallatin River Task Force and our community partners the Big Sky Community Organization (BSCO) and the Big Sky Sustainability Network Organization (SNO) for a community clean up to keep pollution out of the river.
With pet waste representing the fifth-largest source of water-quality degraded pollution across the upper Gallatin River, we need your help! Join us in an effort to keep these harmful pollutants from reaching the Gallatin. Get a group of friends together and sign up to participate.
We will be at the Big Sky Community Park for supply pick up from 9am-5pm, and then you/your team can choose from some of BSCO’s beautiful trails to help clean.
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10 (Friday) 9:00 am - 12 (Sunday) 5:00 pm
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Big Sky Community Park
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Gem, Jewelry, Mineral, Fossil and Bead Show May 11th, Saturday, 10 am-6 pm and May 12th, Sunday. 10 am-4 pm Adults $3.00
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Gem, Jewelry, Mineral, Fossil and Bead Show
May 11th, Saturday, 10 am-6 pm and May 12th, Sunday. 10 am-4 pm
Adults $3.00 with children under 10 free
Gallatin County Fairgrounds
25 Gem & Mineral Display Cases
Spectacular Fossil Stand and more raffles
Silent Auctions, 19 Vendors
Sponsored by the Bozeman Gem and Mineral Club
Time
may 11 (Saturday) - 12 (Sunday)
Location
Gallatin County Fairgrounds
901 North Black Bozeman, MT