[This program may contain graphic content
which may be disturbing to some viewers.]
>> Announcer: Special thanks to the people
who have made production of the American Health
Journal possible. Toshiba Medical Systems
providing physicians with imaging tools to
improve diagnosis since 1914. This program
as been presented in part by Ledesma and Meyer
Construction building for a common vision
and generous assistance from HF Healthcare
serving the hemophiliac community. The American
Health Journal, bringing you the latest information
on medicine psychology, diagnosis, treatment
and prevention. Major medical advances are
made each week and each week the American
Health Journal keeps you up to date.
>> Roger Cooper: Welcome to another special
edition of the American Health Journal. I’m
your host, Roger Cooper. On this program,
we’ll have the opportunity of visiting Cerritos
College Culinary Arts Program to learn how
they’ve integrated healthy cooking into
their curriculum. It’s proven to be life
changing for their students. We’ll also
speak with instructors including the chef
instructor to learn about how this course
prepares their students for entry level positions
in the restaurant and hotel industry and even
inspiring many of their graduates to become
future restaurateurs. All this plus some healthy
and tasty recipes they’ll tell us about
later on in the program now on the American
Health Journal. Cerritos College has been
training students in the field Of culinary
arts for over 25 years. This long term commitment
has given the culinary arts department a strong
reputation for quality training throughout
the restaurant industry. Their department
chair and chef instructor, Michael Pierini,
discusses the healthier approach to cooking
that their students are now fully skilled
in preparing.
>> Michael Pierini, Cerritos College Chef
Instructor: I’ve been teaching for 18 years
and I’ve seen the introduction of the food
network and the glamorization of our industry.
When I first started teaching I had to beg
people to come into the industry. I had five
students my first semester. With Food Network
and Emeril Lagasse and everybody else that
is a part of that whole network, it has helped
us a lot. I do not have to do any advertising
marketing for my program. Unfortunately I
have to turn away 20-30 students a semester.
Culinary school is a place in America, little
bit in the European, has taken a traditional
apprenticeship program anywhere from six to
ten years in length and condensed it down
to one and a half to two year intensified
training program with a certificate With degrees…
and that’s the summary of a culinary school.
What it is to me is a vibrant, exciting, fast
paced environment that gives a very quick
shot to a group of students that are interested,
excited for the food industry for some reason
whether it’s Food Network, a grandmother
or grandma, a grandfather that they cooked
with as a child. It gives me a year and a
half to get them as many skills as I possibly
can within a year but mainly to give ‘em
the skills to be able to go into any kitchen
and get a job and to hold a job in that position
and also to build up the confidence and motivation.
Confidence I think is the key to what culinary
school should be giving ‘em. I still fight
healthy cooking in a commercial setting. At
home I’ve instituted it throughout my house.
Commercially, I was trained French, I was
trained French traditions with an Italian
background and the French tradition is not
healthy. It’s
just simply in moderations. We have much more
obesity than the French do, obviously, but
it’s portion control. Commercially, I still
add a lot of butter. I still add a lot of
fat. I experiment with my customers quite
often with light, healthy cooking, with light
and healthy dishes. We put calorie contents
and I typically find they never sell them.
If I tell them it’s healthy, they will not
buy it. If I do not Tell them it’s healthy,
and I make it appear to be not a healthy dish,
it sells really well. So, there’s kind of
an irony of it all. We have Weight Watchers
on this campus. We have all kinds of weight
loss programs that I’ve seen over the years
and they’ve always wanted me to put a four
or five hundred calorie dish on the menu and
I refuse, absolutely refuse because I know
that’s the least selling item. If I earmark
it as healthy and low calorie, nobody will
buy it. If it make it appear to be high calorie,
high quantity, high carb, high starch, then
they will go all over it. I just don’t have
to tell them it’s a low calorie item. We
have made changes in the United States with
food particularly in the last five to seven
years in the way we process, the way we use
chemicals to harvest our foods. Nowadays it’s
changed quite a bit. You’re getting hydroponic
farming. You’re getting a lot more areas
dedicated just specifically to organic farming,
so the well water is not contaminated. The
soil’s not contaminated, so, they’re going
in fresh and natural. I think it’s become
trendy to go to Whole Foods Market and buy
one bag of groceries for two hundred dollars
and get your little cloth bag and carry it
home. I hope a trend stays to be the norm.
I hope it’s not just a trend. I hope it
doesn’t go away like most trends. With food
you tend to watch ‘em, keep an eye on them
and see if they stay and if they stay, they
become a cuisine. If they go away then it
was just a fad, then you just go on to the
next thing. Healthy cooking, healthy eating,
I hope is here to stay. I think the biggest
problem we had in America was in the eighties.
We removed the home economics out of the middle
schools. I remember going to home economics
in the seventh grade, seventh/eighth grade…
learned how to sew a backpack, learned how
to use a sewing machine. I learned how to
make breakfast, make soups, stews and sometime
in the eighties they dissolved all the home
economics classrooms, so people are graduating,
becoming adults without ever knowing how to
crack an egg, cut a chicken, make a roast,
to make a meal for themselves. So they rely
on fast food. They rely on convenient foods,
microwave burritos, AM-PM. The big hang-up
now is we got to get our portion controls
back in line. The quantity of food we eat
in America is just staggering. You go to Europe,
you go to Italy, an entrée doesn’t weigh
seven pounds. It’s a small portion of food
and it’s enough. It doesn’t stuff you
but it fills you up and it’s plenty of food
and it’s going to take a while for Americans
to shrink their stomachs, shrink their eyes.
The organics, a good start and healthy foods,
a little more less cooking on the foods is
a great start but quantities of foods is where
we really have a problem. In America with
the way health is going, the next generation
coming in is supposed to be the shortest lived
generation we’ve had in a long time and
I contributed to our food and the way we’ve
contaminated all of our food, our soil and
our water. In ten years, healthy food in ten
years will level off to a point where I hope
it’s not a trend where it’s a staying
power where it’s going to stay around for
15, 20 years. I hope we can resolve the psychological
issues that we have with food and comfortness
of food. Comfort is a survival thing. It’s
not anything else than it gives us energy
like putting gas in your car. You can have
it taste good or not, but either way it needs
to be healthy, quality good food.
>> Roger Cooper: Coming up we'll have more
on the Culinary Arts Program at Cerritos College.
>> Announcer: Need the latest news on the
treatment for depressions, addiction or sleep
disorders? Now you can go online at AmericanHealthJournal.com,
thousands of videos straight from doctors.
>> Roger Cooper: The culinary Arts program
at Cerritos College is a combination of strong
academics and applied knowledge through hands-on
applications. This includes fine dining, cafeteria
style, banquets and catering operations that
make for a well-rounded
experience. We spoke with instructor Amanda
Aiton about the goals for their students.
>> Amanda Aiton, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Instructor: Culinary arts students are
very passionate when they come into this program
which does make it a lot easier to work with
them because they all have the same kind of
common goal and ground, so, it makes it easy
for me as an instructor to help them and guide
them because we all have the same goal together.
My goal is to help them achieve greater success
in life in this career we're in and the students
are excited about that as well. Students in
the program are very focused in what they're
doing, very driven. They all have the same
common goal for their careers of being in
culinary arts and they are very passionate
when they do come into the program.
>> Mark-Jayson Dazo, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: Culinary school is culinary
school. I love everything about it like...
the way... especially here at Cerritos, they
teach you really well. They explain it in
detail to the point where it just snaps in
your head. I think my favorite right now would
be fabricating. It's like deboning chicken
or like breaking it down into like its portions--legs,
thighs, breasts, wings or like fabricating
a whole pork loin. We take the ribs out. We
take the tenderloin out. We take the sirloin
out and then portion it and give it to whatever
station needs it. I think that's one of my
favorite parts of culinary school right now.
>> Amanda Aiton, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Instructor: Some of the culinary arts
students are very health conscious. I think
over time through media and journals and everything
we've learned that eating healthier is going
to have a better life style. So it's becoming
more of a trend now because customers come
in wanting more healthy food. So we have to
learn how to create that healthy food for
them and also knowing what's going into our
bodies as well as the customers has made it,
to me, more fun being able to use more natural
ingredients, organic. I'm leaning towards
that, so, it's a very more... in demand and
popular.
>> Brian Clark, Culinary Arts Student: Healthy
cooking... it's actually a really big trend
right now. They're actually... for a whole
week in the kitchen they teach you about healthy
cooking using. Don't use heavy cream. Use
nonfat milk or don't leave the skin on the
chicken breast. Take it off. It saves about
120 calories. Today you hear about Paula Dean.
It came out that she had type-two diabetes
and she cooks with butter. It's tasty once
in a while but in the lifestyle that we live
in we don't get to exercise as much. Healthy
cooking is... it's a big deal.
>> Amanda Aiton, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Instructor: Although people want to eat
healthier and more organic and such, it's
hard for people to change their taste buds
what they've been used to all those years,
the fast food and greasy, fatty and still
being able to find something that they enjoy
but having to be healthy for 'em. So that's
where a big challenge comes for us as instructors
as well as for the students and then being
able to cater to that population out there.
>> Christina Garcia, Cerritos College Alumni:
Because of my background in nutrition, in
foods and nutrition in culinary arts, I have
that understanding that not everything in
life... not everything that you eat is healthy
but there are modifications that you can make
that are absolutely simple. There are things
in your cupboard, in your pantry that you
can modify at home at home. For instance,
like chocolate dipped strawberries. Most people
think of, oh, a delicious dipped strawberry
with rich chocolate on the outside but modify
it to dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is high
in antioxidants and it's so much.... It's
a slight difference but you know that when
you're eating it, it's something that's healthy
for you. Also, like making a grilled cheese,
nowadays there are so many options that you
have. You have low fat cheese. You can grill
it with whole wheat bread and low fat... low
fat cheese, whole wheat bread and there's
a low cholesterol butter, no cholesterol butter
out there... so many options now that are
so available to you at your local market even
like a Costco or Wal-Mart. You'll be amazed
at the kinds of things you can find to modify
any diet.
>> Amanda Aiton, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Instructor: Many kids or even chefs around
the world they understand that you can't come
up with anything new. It's all been... food's
been around forever. It's a matter of just
tweaking it, making it something, yeah, like
you say, taking the oil out and adding something
like maybe a... or even like a mayonnaise
I'll add in sour cream or a yogurt, something
like that. You're just trying not to alter
the flavor but just altering the calories
and the fat content inside. People are...
like certain things and don't like a lot of
change so if you can give 'em what they want
and kind of sneak in the healthy without them
really knowing it, then I think it's a win-win
for all of us.
>> Roger Cooper: Preparing foods for those
with dietary needs, especially diabetics,
is a challenge their students are prepared
for.
>> Amanda Aiton, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Instructor: We have to be prepared for
people who are diabetics walking into our
restaurant. We always have to make sure we
have something that we can provide for them
because it's not fair to them to not be able
to find something on our menu. We should also,
because we know more about our food and our
ingredients, be able to tweak things where
we can make it to accommodate them even when
it comes to desserts, even, trying to find
stuff that we can substitute... a sugar free
dessert for them... even people that can't
eat a lot of, with even diabetics, a lot of
carbs and being able to substitute that out
with something that they can eat so they can
still enjoy the same meals and not feel neglected
from the cafe.
>> Roger Cooper: We'll be back with some tasty
and favorite recipes you'll want to try. How
many servings of fish do you need to eat a
week to lower your risk for heart problems?
A. One serving, B. Two servings, C. Five servings,
or D. Seven servings? The answer when we return.
>> Announcer: Looking for the latest information
on breast cancer, diabetes, healthy diets
or a new hip? Now you can go online at AmericanHealthJournal.com,
thousands of videos straight from doctors.
>> Roger Cooper: How many servings of fish
do you need to eat a week to lower your risk
for heart problems? The answer is B. Two servings.
Eating fatty fish like salmon or mackerel
just twice a week can lower risk for heart
disease.
>> Roger Cooper: Cerritos College culinary
instructors and their students discuss how
the trends in healthy cooking encourages the
use of fresher ingredients in recipes.
>> Michael Pierini, Cerritos College Chef
Instructor: What am I trying to get my students
to learn in a year and a half? Basic operational
routines of any kitchen. We generalize it
to the point where you can go into a high-end
chain type restaurant and fit right into the
kitchen. You can walk into any ethnic styled
restaurant, be comfortable in the kitchen,
walk into any starred hotel or independent
restaurant and feel comfortable in the kitchen.
We try to generalize their education to where
they're comfortable anywhere in the world
cooking any type of food.
>> Roger Cooper: The program takes a hands-on
approach. The students work in an actual production
kitchen and operate the Cerritos College Cafe.
>> Michael Pierini, Cerritos College Chef
Instructor: A lot of what we do is build their
confidence. I know they're good by the third
semester. I know they can prepare anything
that I throw in front of them but it's a very
difficult task to get them to understand and
to be confident in themselves to where they
know they can go and prepare anything that's
put in front of them. We do a lot of mystery
baskets, blind tasting foods. We do a lot
of blind menus. Even today, I went to the
appetizers
station and said give me a platter of everything.
Make it nice. Make it presentable and give
me a good variety of all the appetizers and
I walked away. Then they just loved it. They
went into it and had a great time.
>> Roger Cooper: Cerritos students share some
of their favorite recipes.
>> Mark-Jayson Dazo, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: The favorite salad that we serve
here at our school would be probably the cobb
salad. It's romaine lettuce with grilled chicken
and tomatoes, avocado, blue cheese and onions
and then.... I usually get the salad without
any dressing so I can taste the vegetables,
of course, to keep it natural because I think
dressing is... hides the flavor, the actual
flavor of we eat. So I think that's one of
my favorite salads here at school.
>> Carlos Valdez, Culinary Arts Student: It's
a grilled mushroom goat cheese sandwich that
I make here. It's really good. First it's
the grilled cheese then you put sun dried
tomatoes, a little bit of garlic, some salt
and pepper and then for the mushrooms you
saute them up with some onions and then you
put on some bread with some lettuce.
>> Tirsa Monterroso, Culinary Arts Student:
I think I enjoy making pasta dishes. Obviously
being a cook and wanting to go into that profession,
you can cook pretty much anything, anywhere,
but there's always that special dish like
you were saying that you have. I think for
me it's pasta, just being able to throw the
pasta into water, making the sauce. It's not
even complicated... tomatoes, herbs and it
comes out to be this wonderful dish. You put
some cheese on it. Everybody loves cheese
and garlic and you're good to go. So, that's
what I like.
>> Michael Pierini, Cerritos College Chef
Instructor: We're running a business. We're
running three businesses. Next semester we'll
be running a fourth sit down formal restaurant
as well, too. That's what a restaurant is.
How can I teach reality, hands-on skills without
telling them about money, without showing
them plate costs, showing them what POS system
is and how to treat your customers out front?
By showing them one component which is the
actual cooking of the food, that's setting
them up for failure. That's not setting them
up for reality. I tell them the first day
of school, a chef is not a cook. A cook is
a cook and a chef is a chef. A chef is money
man, he's a business man. All of you need
to have an MBA in business from hopefully
a reputable college if you want to be a good
chef because a chef is about money. He's not
about being creative and artistic.
>> Jerry Cheung, Culinary Arts Student: It
feels good. It feels like I'm a professional
and when someone looks at me, they know that
I'm a cook. Everybody eats and if it's good
food everybody will enjoy it. I think that's
the most rewarding thing is... having other
people know that I can feed them and they
will
enjoy it, hopefully.
>> Esteban Salgado, Culinary Arts Student:
I really enjoy cooking and it's always been
something that I really like to do. Health
wise, I guess I got into it as well as that
because I want to learn food itself. I guess
the more you know about food the more you
know what to stay away from, what to eat,
itself. I like to stay in conditioning more.
I like to be in healthy, in a healthy state
because when you're not... when you don't
feel healthy or whatever you feel very bloated
or very, just sick. That's one of the reasons
I kind of got into this.
>> Alba Sanchez, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: I love to cook and I like to
cook healthy food because for me cooking is
a pleasure. I enjoy it. Also, for me, it's
like art that you can create. Also, like I
do different things, like if I learn, if somebody
give me a recipe and I say, "Oh, no, no, I
can do it this way and switch this." For me
it's fun.
>> Jerry Cheung, Culinary Arts Student: I
love to cook. I think I love working with
my hands. I do construction. I love to build
things like furniture. Knife skills with cooking...
that involves a lot of hand work. I just love
using that and to make a meal for someone
that you love, that just... I mean, I guess
that's love.
>> Roger Cooper: Stay with us to learn about
careers in culinary arts.
>> You're watching American Health Journal,
the show that brings you the latest information
on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research
from doctors throughout the United States.
Watch the American Health Journal each week
on this PBS station. And now back to Roger
Cooper and the American Health Journal.
>> Roger Cooper: Job opportunities are excellent
for students who receive the associated arts
degree or certificate of achievement in this
program. Graduates of this program will be
prepared to work in entry level positions
of the restaurant industry. Instructor Amber
Major tells us how prepared these students
will be after they graduate.
>> Amber Major, Cerritos College Banquet Chef:
Usually, when the kids get out of school,
they are seeking entry level employment somewhere.
We try to focus on trying to send the kids
to a higher end type of facility, a restaurant,
hotel, a cruise line, different things like
that. When they come out of culinary school
you can go into the kitchen. You can be a
line cook. You can be a pantry cook. You can
be a pastry cook or a baker. You can work
specifically, if you are working in the banquet
type of facility, you can be a banquet cook,
work your way up to the position of chef but
everybody starts out as an entry level cook
depending on the place you're at or what you
want to specialize in.
>> Mark-Jayson Dazo, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: I would like to have my own
restaurant, of course, but I would like to
specialize in Japanese cuisine because I lived
in Japan for seven years as my childhood and
that's where, like, my mom... like I tell
my mom I like this dish from a Japanese restaurant
and she tries to replicate it. I would like
to specialize in Japanese food but I want
to move on into, of course, everything.
>> Art Galaviz, Jr., Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: I eventually hope to get a bachelor's
degree in culinary, maybe work in a five star
hotel, get some experience, save some money
and open up my own restaurant.
>> Esteban Salgado, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: Once I graduate here I'm still
in the baking program, so I have another year
to finish that. So once I get both certificates,
I'll look for a job somewhere.
>> Jerry Cheung, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: I've been in this program...
this is my third semester, so, a year and
a half and after this program I plan to hopefully
get an internship at a few restaurants where
I can learn how a restaurant is actually run...
and then... well, that will probably take
many years. My ultimate goal would be to run
a restaurant where I can feed people.
>> Tirsa Monterroso, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: I work in the food industry
right now but not as a cook. So, I'd like
to make that transition into being a cook.
I was going to Cal Poly for a while for restaurant
management. The way things are going now,
it's definitely important for higher education.
[I] probably will return there to finish my
bachelors and just take things as they come.
Opportunities will always be there.
>> Christina Garcia, Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Student: I'm actually an alumni now.
I was in the program for three semesters.
It was an amazing experience. I chose that
particular program because first of all it
was within my budget compared to the other
surrounding schools in my area and I just
thought it was an opportunity to be in an
environment that's really hands-on. The instructors
really built a one on one relationship with
their students there and I think it's more
intimate and you get to learn more from the
experience opposed to other students that
I've met that have gone to larger schools
like Cordon Bleu or AI. Food is life and it's
amazing and I actually have a degree in food
and nutrition and I'm really interested in
cooking so I thought why not bring in food
and nutrition and cooking together and bring
something to the community that's relevant
to
life. Most people nowadays... the food industry
is so big on marketing things that are so
easy to... accessible to students, single
moms. Why not invest in my future to something
that's going to help the community, that's
going to promote healthier living, that's
going to promote that.
>> Amber Major, Cerritos College Banquet Chef:
I believe you create your own security and
that's with your knowledge, that's with your
dedication and with your passion and that's
how you can create your own job security even
if you decide not to want to work in somebody
else's kitchen anymore, you can take the route
of personal chef or open your own catering
business. Cater to small groups of people.
You don't have to do all sorts of large scale
anymore. You can do... oh I just want to do
intimate dinners for people or I want to do
only large scale. It doesn't matter 'cause
a lot
of people can take that route. You can go
personal chef. You can work for yourself.
You can
create your own menus. You don't have to be
restricted by anybody. You can do whatever
you want to do.
>> Roger Cooper: We hope you enjoyed this
special edition of American Health Journal
and we want to thank and acknowledge the instructors
and students at the Cerritos College Culinary
Arts Program for their participation that
makes this program possible. If you have any
questions regarding any of the topics you've
seen here today please call us at 1 800 303
3200. Thanks for watching our show and as
always we'll continue to bring you the best
in health care news for your better health.
For the American Health Journal, I'm Roger Cooper.
[music] [Host: Roger Cooper; Reporter: Lora
Windsor; Camera Steve DeCuir, Joe Mazur; Segment
Producer/Writer: Pearl Y. Limon, Scheduling:
Chantal Humair; Animation: Rob Reistad, Nelson
Richardson; Narration: Ford Mullins; Makup:
Nathalie Probst; Studio Engineer: Tim Balint;
Assistant Editor: Rebecca Rowley; Special
Thanks: Mark Wallace, Amada Aiton, Jerry Cheung,
Brian Clarke, Mark-Jayson Dazo, Art Galaviz,
Jr., Christina Garcie, Mariana Juarez, Amber
Major, Tirsa Monterroso, Michael Pierini,
Esteban Salgado, Alba Sanchez, Gabriel Velarde,
Carlos Valdez; Producer/Writer: Brad Wallin;
Executive Producer: Roland W. Perez. This
program is presented as a community service
and is not intended to be a substitute for
medical advice. Audience member having questions
about their
health should see their physician. Any opinion
or statements made during the program are
those of the individuals or physicians
and not necessarily the opinions of the producers,
hospitals or underwriters. Windsor Broadcast
Productions, all rights reserved]
