DECATUR — Nate Brohard is among the Richland Community College Culinary Arts Institute students looking forward to eating and seeing how authentic Italian food is prepared.
Brohard has a goal to open an Italian restaurant with pizza baked in a brick oven. A spring trip with 18 students to Italy will be an experience that brings back memories for Brohard, who spent time as a child there and in other countries.
“You really can't make a restaurant authentic unless you experience it,” said Brohard, who now lives in Warrensburg. “We don't have many gourmet authentic pizza places.”
The immersion trip May 28-June 12 in partnership with Millikin University is just one of the many experiences Richland offers its culinary arts students, said Chef Brian Tucker, Culinary Arts Institute director. It has more than 60 students participating in the program, he said.
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Richland has offered similar trips in the past, including two to China and one last year to Malaysia and Singapore, Tucker said.
“We had a translator for the students in China, but they understood what was going on as they watched,” Tucker said. “Food is part of a shared international experience.”
The students return to the U.S. after the trips and relate their experiences with other students and share what they learned through events such as a recent scholarship dinner the students organized, Tucker said. The scholarship dinner featured a 10-course meal based on cuisine from Malaysia and Singapore, including shrimp noodles and pork dumplings along with chicken and rice.
Tucker said the group will start in Urbania, then travel to the Emilia-Romagna region to learn about prosciutto, Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar.
“They will pass on what they learned at next year's scholarship dinner,” Tucker said. “It makes the students more well-rounded. They've experienced a different cuisine. It will be life changing for some students, some who have never flown before.”
Ember Workman of Moweaqua is one of the students who has never left the country. She's eager to experience the Italian culture and will hold a sponsor dinner for those who have supported her studies based on what she learned sometime after the group returns.
“They throw us into it,” said Workman, who works at the Bistro Five Thirty Seven student-operated restaurant along with the Coffee House at Richland. “The whole experience is hands-on. The more I do something, the better I get at it.”
Workman is hoping to go into catering once she finishes culinary classes.
Tucker said running Bistro Five Thirty Seven is beneficial for the students, who learn all aspects of operating a restaurant from food preparation to service. He said the restaurant puts everything they learn throughout the program together.
