Congratulations to the Southwest Assn. of Chefs...

Congratulations to the Southwest Assn. of Chefs and Culinarians.

This is a group of food service professionals who make up the Ventura County chapter of the national American Culinary Foundation. They recently were given an award by the ACF for their culinary education program.

The group’s 17-week course, completed in late July, featured lessons by certified chefs and others in the food service industry, based on the text “The Art and Science of Culinary Preparation.” Teachers included program organizer Harry Brockwell, the chef and owner of Oceanside Caterers, which handles concessions at San Buenaventura State Beach; Kay Corning, of Kay’s Gourmet Catering in Agoura Hills, and Abdoul Khairi, executive chef at the Radisson Hotel in Simi Valley.

Students were members of the local chapter, working toward various levels of certification in the food industry.

“We had regular cooks, military cooks, hospital cooks, executive chefs,” student Mike Lodi said. “The courses were very detailed--detailed in cheeses, sauces, vegetables, gravies, decorations, salad making, sanitation, nutrition, the whole nine yards.”

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More from Lodi: Lodi’s life became more stressful earlier this week when students returned from summer vacation.

“It’s quite a challenge to come through with 1,300-1,400 lunches in 37 minutes,” said the second-year cafeteria manager at Oxnard High School. “Hopefully, we can get them fed fast enough so they can sit down for awhile before running back to class.”

Lodi credits head cook Barbro Lindstrom for running things smoothly. It also helps that much of the food nowadays is of the commercial, fast-food variety. “In the old days, we had more cooks and more labor,” Lodi said. “Now we have more pre-made burritos, pre-made pizza, things are all made ahead.”

All that aside, Lodi has ample training for the lunchtime rush. “I was a cook in the Navy for 27 years,” he said.