June 2022
Filling the Knowledge Gap : Returning to college to learn about plant-forward cooking
The day I signed up for this course back last summer I was excited to what lay ahead for me. While having my own café in my local village I felt it was time to digress a little further. Plant-forward thinking is very much in vogue and the Botanical Cuisine course in TU Dublin ticked all the boxes for me. However, I was apprehensive as it was a long time ago since my college days. I need never have feared.
September arrived, backpack on, laden with paper, pens, and laptop. The anxious excitement arose. All the ‘what ifs’ swirled around in my head. We were all in the same boat, I guess. Waiting anxiously just outside the revolving doors to the college. Tom greeted us in his jovial manner. There was a sudden sense of calm, ease, and excitement. We all followed the master like little lambs to the kitchen, taking in the hustle and bustle of the college corridors. Inside the kitchen doors I suddenly felt at home, familiarity to all the cooking equipment, appliances, and dry goods.
A review of the year ahead with expectations of what was in store was given to us, the class by the lecturers Tom and Annette. In awe yet wondering what I had let myself in for, self-inflicted too! A quick introduction by each student was given. My nerves at having to speak out in front of people. I rose to the challenge and gave my speel. A sigh of relief when finished I may add. So many interesting like-minded people surrounded me. Listening carefully to each story and venture from my fellow students. I knew I had made the right decision back last summer signing up to the course.
Breaking Down Barriers Through Applied Learning
The course in Botanical Cuisine is a must if you are a chef
Buzz words throughout the year were biodiversity, sustainability, food waste and plant-forward. How did I feel about these words? I am as a chef very much on the pulse with food waste. In my café I have very little food waste in which I owe to careful menu planning, using seasonal foods and pricing. I suppose that stems back to childhood growing up on a farm and seeing how food is grown and the effort and time that is required from the farmer to grow and mind the food before it even goes for production. In the cafe I noticed a big turn with customers mindset with plant food and drinks. Coconut, oat, and almond milk coffees were the ‘new’ invention over COVID-19. Shelves were stocked with plant-based milk, gone were the days of dairy milk sitting alone in the fridge. There have been many fads throughout the year, vegetarian, gluten free, vegan etc. I do think plant is here to stay though and variety and choice of both plant and animal foods has a huge impact on our health and future.
The course in Botanical Cuisine is a must if you are a chef and wishing to improve your knowledge from growing the plants for the kitchen garden or home use to cooking the foods, trialling new dishes, learning from fellow students and gathering all that wonderful information from the lecturers. They are so supportive and push your limitations to beyond a place of recognition. I never forget my first presentation to the lecturers and students back in December. The idea of standing up in front of a class and speaking had my stomach in turmoil. That washing machine feeling, a bag of nerves, that was me. Standing there talking about nettles, their medicinal uses, culinary uses. I knew it backwards, why was I so nervous? I was pushed beyond my boundaries but hey I had to do it. I was marked on it for my exams. I couldn’t let myself down on that hurdle. Courage built up, off I went, and I did it and didn’t die!
To anybody out there thinking of doing this course, you will not regret it for a single moment. Don’t get me wrong it was no walk in the park. It does take hard work, determination, and time. My advice is starting the reflections, assignments and menu plans the day they are given to you. The work does pile up so do keep on top of it. By putting the effort in, the hard work pays off in the end. The lecturers, Annette, Tom, Vourneen, Colm and Paula are so helpful and genuinely have the student’s best interest at heart. To that I must take my hat off and thank them. Most lecturers leave you to your own devices but not them.
The Power of Learning
Reflecting on my professional practice, knowledge and future-food focus over the year, I have clearly grown in confidence. I now have a new perspective on food. As a fellow student said to me from day one to the end I had blossomed like a flower, just like the ones we had sown in the polytunnel in Airfield Estate throughout the course over the year. Never say I can’t do it, can’t means will not. We are all capable and it is good to stimulate the mind and keep learning. We are never too old to learn. As the old saying goes ‘A Day without learning is a day wasted’.
I'm proud of myself for having taken that first step last September!
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