Schaumburg HS fundraiser really coooks

Schaumburg High School's hybrid of a class, the Chemistry of Foods, for the last eight years has shown students the delicious link between science and cooking.

This month the students donned Santa's Helpers hats and aprons, serving up a soup lunch to anyone who brought in a gift to be donated to the Elgin Community Crisis Center. In past years the class donated to Toys For Tots.

This year the students wanted to do something a more local, said teacher Kerry Frost.

With television shows like "Top Chef" and "Iron Chef" growing in popularity, more people are curious about cooking, and terms like molecular gastronomy, which you won't find listed in "The Joy of Cooking." About 30 students are signed up for the double-period class.

"It's the most awesome class ever," Frost said,

Frost came up with the soup recipes, taking some restaurant favorites from Olive Garden and others, and adding her own touches. The students prepared and served the soups like chicken and wild rice and cheesy potato. Another class, Partners in Entrepreneurship, or PIE, handled the making of the baked goods.

Senior Alfredo Gamez said students may have sneaked a taste of the soup in prior weeks. He said learning the business side of the restaurant was one of the more intriguing parts of the class. Students were rotated between serving, cooking and dish washing. Gamez staffed the dish washing station for the first lunch session.

"The cleaning part is not fun," he said.

Teachers also showed students how to properly use a knife and other ways to prepare food.

"I learned a lot of different techniques," said junior Jacky Fedorik.

Another topic covered are how tastebuds evolve. From example, the Frost's favorite soup, split-pea, wasn't popular among the student crowd in past years, thus it didn't make the cut this year, and wasn't among the seven served.

The class was started to give students another science alternative, as not everyone's needs were being met.

"Not every student wants to take AP Physics," teacher Ken Turner said.

Turner is from the science department, while Frost is from family and consumer science. Team-taught classes are considered gold for schools, but coordinating the science and culinary aspects of the curriculum didn't happen overnight. Much like perfecting a recipe, there was a good amount of trial and error.